Creativity Archives - Nikki Little

Make sure you read this post through to the end! There’s a little surprise waiting for you.

Let’s play a quick guessing game (it’s super easy – I promise!). Business A and Business B have had their doors open for 50 years. Both have had some tough periods since the economy went crazy in 2008. Business A sticks to its original strategy. The CEO directs leadership to keep doing things the same way because it’s too risky to make a change. Things have been working for 50 years, and even though it’s a bit hit-or-miss now, the CEO is confident things will pick back up if everyone just keeps pushing forward and doing what they know has always worked.

Business B takes a different approach. Business B decides to take some calculated risks and shift the business strategy to appeal to new demographics. The CEO realizes times have changed and what worked 10, 20, 30 years ago no longer works. Customers want to be reached and appealed to in different ways. They want new products in the store that reflect the more modern times. CEO of Business B gets that. So he and his team come up with creative ways to get the business booming again.

Which business do you think will thrive? I told you this was an easy game. Business B, of course!

For many, many different reasons (including increased competition, the economy and customers increasingly using the Internet to learn about and buy products), businesses have to find new ways to retain current and attract new customers in order to keep their doors open. So what do you do if you’ve been in business for 85 years? Well, you do something similar to my Business B example above.

Now I’ll give you a real world example. I had the opportunity to visit the newest La-Z-Boy concept store in Sterling Heights, MI to check out the products and learn how the 85-year-old business has evolved to appeal to new customers. The team at La-Z-Boy realized there was a stigma associated with their company. People hear La-Z-Boy and they immediately think recliners (I did!). Many don’t associate the company and its products with contemporary design and fashionable home decor. La-Z-Boy has worked hard to add a huge selection of home accessories to its product offerings, but not enough people (particularly women) know that. So what has the company done? Got a little more creative to change the business and the demographics of its customers.

From a macro level, La-Z-Boy brought on Brooke Shields as a spokesperson in advertisements and brand ambassador to speak to that new target audience the company is trying to reach. They added an accessories rewards program where you get $25 in free accessories when you spend $200. They created a free in-home design program where an interior design professional will come to your home and help you take that picture in your head and make it a reality in your home. The designer provides an entire floor plan (like the one below), along with 2D and 3D designs. Did I mention that program is free?! I so wish I knew about that when we first moved into our house. I love clothes fashion, but I am nowhere near as privy to home fashion as I am people fashion.

They’ve also focused more on creating an experience for customers at their new concept stores. The store felt very inviting from the moment I walked in. Immediately to the left of the front door, there was this vibrant display with accessories.

It immediately drew me into the store. This display will change with the seasons. You don’t even see recliners until you walk further into the store, which is smart. If you want customers to know you’re more than just one particular product, you better show them what they’re missing the minute they walk in the door. La-Z-Boy did a great job of that.

There were so many vibrant colors and interesting looking pieces that I had a hard time focusing on one thing for too long because I quickly found something else that appealed to me. There is still a section with all recliners, but the majority of the store I visited was filled with mini rooms (like the examples below) complete with furniture, accessories and rugs. I saw many examples of how I could design a room with La-Z-Boy products. Granted, I was taking pictures for this story, but if I wasn’t, I would have spent a lot of time in there because I saw so many products that I wanted to work into my house.

The sign in the above photo pretty much sums up how I would describe many of the products – timeless pieces with a contemporary twist. How perfect, right? An 85-year-old business doesn’t have to completely revamp its product offerings to appeal to new customers. It just has to put a new and more modern/creative twist on them.

On a micro level, La-Z-Boy has invited people like me to their new concept store as part of a blogger outreach program to see all the product offerings (particularly the accessories) and to learn about the creative things this company is doing to set itself apart from competitors.

This is such a no-brainer. If you are a company that has physical products, why wouldn’t you reach out to relevant people in your community and invite them into your store? Having a manager or owner take 20-30 minutes to spend with people showing them the store, educating them on the company and its products can do absolute wonders for a business trying to expand into new demographics. It helps if those people like to take photos and videos and share them with their online communities, like I do.

Additionally, they’ve done some creative things like bringing what they call Swatch Guys to the Columbus Art Festival. They were decked out in suits made from La-Z-Boy fabrics. Such a fun idea!

When I asked Mike, the store manager, what else sets La-Z-Boy apart from its competitors, he shared that his sales team doesn’t work on commission. They operate under a “no pressure selling” method. They keep records of all their customers’ interests and purchases, so you don’t have to worry about finding the same salesperson if you leave and come back another day. Their products are handmade, made in America and have a lifetime warranty. They’ve made almost all of their products customizable so you can mix and match and basically create your own product. La-Z-Boy will be opening three other concept stores in Michigan in the next year.

Here are a few products that I thought were super cool and would LOVE for my house:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the beading on this couch.

So what’s the moral of the story? Adapt or die. That’s a bit dramatic, but it’s so true. Businesses must, must, must get creative and find new ways to keep staying fresh and relevant and appealing to new customers while still retaining their current ones.

If you see anything in these photos that you like and you live in southeast Michigan, there will be a grand opening celebration at the new concept store in Sterling Heights (address is 14405 Lakeside Circle, right by Lakeside Mall) this Saturday, July 27. La-Z-Boy is offering customers 25% off storewide to celebrate.

AND…La-Z-Boy is letting me give away a fun product! One lucky person will receive the below Leo Ottoman. The winner can choose any fabric he/she likes. All you have to do is visit the La-Z-Boy site and tell me what one of your favorite pieces is in the comments (it can be any product you see on the site). All comments must be posted by 5 p.m. this Friday, and I’ll notify the winner after that. Please leave an email and/or Twitter handle in your comment so I can contact you if you win. Good luck!

Disclosure: La-Z-Boy invited me to check out its new store and share my feedback on its products. I’m receiving $1,500 toward home furnishings. However, these are my true opinions about my experience. I only do this type of work if it’s completely relevant to who I am and what I write about on my blog.

Agree or disagree with this statement: Learning never stops.

Hopefully you agree, because even if you’ve mastered something, you can always learn more, or work on learning something related to what it is that you’ve mastered.

I love soaking up as much information as I possibly can, especially related to the work I do, so I’m constantly reading articles, blog posts and books related to PR/marketing and social media. As much as I’ve learned thanks to all the reading I do, I started to realize that I may be doing a serious disservice to myself by only reading material related to my career. Reading about things of interest to you that are completely unrelated to what you do can oftentimes spawn creativity, as well as ideas related to your work.

Just as I made the decision to add more reading into my life that did not relate to my career, I read this post from Gini Dietrich about how reading fiction helps your career. It makes so much sense, doesn’t it?

I did some research on the best books for 2011, and thanks to a list NPR compiled, I settled on The Illumination. I just finished reading it (highly recommend it!), and while I can’t give you any evidence just yet as to show how it strengthened my career, I can tell you it was a welcome respite from my typical daily reading. It was also a good way to slow my brain down at night and tire myself out with some reading material that didn’t make my head spin with ideas for work. As much as I love when that happens, it not exactly a good idea to read that type of content before bed.

Continue reading “15 Sites to Get You Reading Content Not Related to Social Media”

I first learned about Scott Meyer when he and his brother, John Meyer, spoke at the 2011 FutureMidwest Conference in April about marketing across the digital divide. Then, Scott was on the west side of Michigan a few months ago and made his way over to Detroit to join the Tweetea crew for a great discussion. I’ve been a fan of Scott and his philosophy on improving business through digital literacy ever since.

A little background info for you…

Scott Meyer is a bro-founder of 9 Clouds, a digital marketing and education firm that improves the digital literacy of businesses. He’s a frequent speaker and teacher and has taught around the world helping businesses and organizations of all sizes find effective digital solutions for their specific markets. He combines his passions of technology and travel by writing how to live and work anywhere in the world at 9clouds.com/blog and makes a mean Spanish tortilla.

Sounds like an interesting guy, right? Keep on reading.

Continue reading “Creative Q&A: Scott Meyer of 9 Clouds”

Today’s Creative Q & A feature is with Mark Ostach, founder of mymentalspace – a free tool to help manage emotions from Internet use. I met Mark more than a year ago when he joined our conversation at Tweetea one evening. I was really intrigued by the concept of mymentalspace and how it could help people who are negatively affected by the Web. Mark has been working hard to get the tool launched, and I recently snagged some of his time to have him share more about who he is and what his company is all about.

What’s the story behind mymentalspace? How did you come up with the idea, and how long have you been working on the launch plan?

The idea started when I was studying psychology and neuroscience at Albion College. At Albion, I received a great foundation to how the human brain works and common trends in human behavior.

I also noticed trends in the way classmates and friends would use websites like Facebook, sometimes to an addictive degree. After going to Walsh College to study information systems management, I realized how I could merge the psychological aspect of treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with the curriculum I was learning at Walsh. Continue reading “Creative Q & A: Mark Ostach, Founder of mymentalspace”

Working in a creative industry is great because aiming high is encouraged and finding ways to successfully pull off wild ideas is invigorating. Approaching each new project with creative freedom is fantastic…except when you’re in a creative lull. You know what I’m talking about. It’s when your creative side forgets to show up to the party. Everything else is in place, but it’s like your creativity is stuck in a serious rut and needs help to get free. Sound familiar?

After the July 4th holiday this past weekend, some of my followers on Twitter who returned to work tweeted about having a hard time getting back into the office routine, or feeling like their brains were mush and it was difficult to get back in their groove. This seems to frequently happen after a vacation (which is ironic, because vacations are supposed to refresh us, right?). It’s hard to kick start our brains and get our creative and motivated sides pumping again when we just come off a relaxing few days of no work. Lack of creativity also happens when we get burnt out or become too accustomed to one way of doing things. Sometimes we get so stuck in our routine that it’s hard to look at something with a fresh set of eyes.

Those tweets got me wondering about the different approaches people take when they get into a slump and need to re-energize and refocus. I asked my networks on Facebook and Twitter and got some pretty interesting answers. I hope you can take a few of these suggestions and try them the next time your creative side is being stubborn. Continue reading “17 Ways to Reignite Your Creative Side”

The very anticipated Startup Weekend Detroit will take place May 14 – 16 on the campus of Wayne State University. For those of you not familiar with Startup Weekend, it brings together a hodgepodge of creative and ambitious developers, Web and tech geeks, startup enthusiasts, marketing pros, business developers and jack-of-all-trades. Attendees are charged with building out a business idea in one weekend (essentially 54 hours). The concept of Startup Weekend centers on learning by creating. Quick decisions and non run-of-the-mill thinking are key to Startup Weekend. The goal at the end of the weekend is to be as close to possible as launching a business.

Sounds intense, right? It is, but there will be PLENTY of fun, humor and friendship at Startup Weekend Detroit. I attended last year, and it was definitely worth giving away an entire weekend. My group’s business idea never came to fruition, but I met some awesome people who have since become close compadres.

I decided to do things a bit differently this year. As a PR and social media pro, storytelling and content creating come second nature to me. Rather than participating in the business development, I will serve as Startup Weekend Detroit’s “official” content creator on behalf of my agency, Identity, which is a gold sponsor of the event. I plan to chronicle the happenings during the three days through blog posts, tweets, photos and video.

Here’s what I want to know: What type of content do YOU want? Whether you’re attending or planning to follow along at home, I want your feedback. Do you want blog posts throughout the day that detail the groups and where they’re at with their business plans? Do you want quick two or three minute interviews with attendees? Do you want tweets throughout the day that keep you updated on the groups’ progress? Do you want to know what’s working and what’s not working as the groups hash out their business ideas? Do you want photos of Henry Balanon roundhouse kicking a drink in someone’s face (true story, that HAS happened!)? Leave your suggestions in the comments.

And if you haven’t registered yet, click here to get a move on it.

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Live to Give Foundation (L2G) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is rebuilding the state of Michigan in a personal way. The organization’s goal is to make the charitable experience more personal by showing the path of each donation from an initial fundraiser to the final recipient it actually benefits. I first learned about L2G about a year ago when I attended a charity Tweetup that raised money for the organization. I researched it a bit more and was immediately impressed by the founders’ creative vision toward running and raising awareness about a nonprofit.

I reached out to Ryan Doyle, founder and inspiration director, to learn a little more about L2G.

How did you and the other L2G team members come up with the idea for the company?

During my junior year at the University of Michigan, I was watching a 60 Minutes special in my apartment and it dissected American economic classes as they relate to giving to charity. To my surprise, the lower class gave the more charitable contributions as a percentage of their total paycheck, followed by the middle and upper classes respectively. I thought it was so honorable that the poorest group in our country was giving more of what they had than the richest. It forced me to look in the mirror and ask myself why I hadn’t given more considering the fortunate lifestyle I was blessed with. So, I opened a Word document, starting writing and I ended up starting my own nonprofit.

Continue reading “Q&A with Ryan Doyle from Live to Give Foundation”

I’m introducing a new feature on my blog: Q&A’s with creative types who are doing something interesting and unique that deserves attention. Cara Rosaen, Ann Arbor resident and owner of a handcrafted vintage button jewelry company called Sweet Plum Vintage, kindly agreed to let me feature her first.

**Note to readers: Cara is graciously offering 25% off your first Sweet Plum Vintage purchase. Mention that you read this post in the comments section of the checkout and you’ll be refunded 25%. Ladies – it’s a good excuse for a Valentine’s Day purchase for yourself!

Now, on to the questions…

Continue reading “Sweet Plum Vintage Jewelry Company Owner Dishes on Inspiration and Her Business”

I read an interview with Bobbi Brown (the makeup artist) in today’s New York Times and thought her answers were very intriguing and different…in a good way. The first part of the interview focused on what Bobbi looks for in an employee and her hiring process. Two of her answers stood out to me:

When talking about what qualities she looks for in an employee, Bobbi mentions the ability to communicate. As someone who works in a creative industry, I can relate to what Bobbi said. Communicating. To me, this is probably the biggest thing. If it’s the right person, I can barely speak and they understand what I’m saying. But if it’s not the right person, they have trouble understanding, because creative people are not like other people. Any other creative C.E.O. will understand what I’m talking about.”
The interviewer asked Bobbi if she could only choose two questions to ask in an interview, what would they be? One of her responses was “what do you love”? All too often, interviews focus too heavily on the job and not enough on the person. It’s important to mix in personal questions like “who do you admire/look up to”, “what are your passions?”, “what do you enjoy doing in your spare time” to learn more about who the person REALLY is.

You can read the rest of the interview titled “High Heels? They Just Don’t Fit” here.

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