The power of influence: Nordstrom Rack’s newest addition

20th April 2012

Shopping bags in hand, success. Thanks to @Ktmel for the photo.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend a Tweet up for the opening of the new Nordstrom Rack store in Alpharetta. It didn’t take long to convince me that making the trek outside of 285 would be worth it: wine, appetizers and shopping the pristine merchandise selection before the store opened later in the week, yes please.

As a digital marketer myself, I am always captivated by the use of influencer marketing by other agencies and companies. “Influencer” seems to have become a social media darling buzz word in 2012 (and heck, 2011 for that matter) in our industry. It’s the golden opportunity: don’t market to the masses, but to the groups who are passionate and will have an impact on your brand beyond a passive Like. Like any golden opportunity, influencer outreach is much easier and prettier when on a powerpoint slide than real life.

Nordstrom Rack’s social team really hit this one out of the park. The conversation began with a personal conversation through email (not through DM or Tweet) inviting me to check out the event. Key word here: personal. I quickly replied to the team thanking them for the invite and (but of course) had to ask where they had come across my information. The team shared that they had found my Twitter handle and blog across a few Atlanta Twitter lists. Check box number two: this team did their homework. And a lot of it. Each attendee was allowed to bring one guest and was asked to share that guest’s social credentials as well.

The event itself could not have been more impressive. The store is gorgeous, Store Manager Marcella, could not have been more welcoming and the staff attended to our every need with more energy and excitement than I think I’ve ever seen in retail.

Throughout the night we enjoyed shopping (with a $50 gift card to each attendee for a little help, I was seriously blown away by that gesture), cocktails, appetizers and music from a DJ.

The entire night continued the theme of personalization and hospitality,exactly what you hope to feel when translating a brand to real life. At the end of the night, we each walked away with our fair share of deals and steals and the feeling that this would be a beyond 285 repeat adventure.

Finding influencers is hard. Making them fall in love with your brand (and not just for the prices and goodies) is even more difficult. Nordstrom Rack in Alpharetta delivered on it all and I can’t wait go back and experience it all again very soon.

Check out the store on Twitter for updates, sales and upcoming events.

The definition of busy

13th February 2012

Life in the agency world moves a million miles an hour. OK make that a bazillion. There are few days I spend more than a few hours at my desk and without my two monitors and mobile phone, I don’t know how I could juggle all of my open projects. You could say things around here keep you a bit busy.

Last week, I challenged myself to rid the word busy from my vocabulary.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself stressing more about what I have to get done than actually tackling the projects in front of me with a smile on my face. The negativity leaves me dreading tasks rather than excited at the challenge. The truth is we are all busy, but what I’ve come to realize is we all have a different definition of the word busy.

A coworker and I had a discussion about this topic a few weeks ago while out for an afternoon run and came to the conclusion that you are really only as busy as you want to be. You can always make time for the projects you want to work on, the afternoon runs and the quick conversations that mean the most.

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”  – Marcus Aurelius

After cutting the word (and a few others) from my vocabulary and focusing on what I could accomplish and how to get there, I found myself not only a lot more productive, but also more positive and less exhausted at the end of each day.

Clearly just cutting a word from my vocabulary isn’t going to force action, but luckily, there are quite a few tools out there to help you along the way.

  • Wunderlist – I keep note of all of my ongoing projects and tasks with this desktop app
  • Evernote – How did anyone keep track of multiple notebooks before this one? My favorite extension – seamless sync across devices. This means even my grocery list ends up here as I think of things throughout the week
  • A good old fashioned technology break – I know, crazy. Sometimes I am the most productive when taking a break from work. Trying eating lunch outside for 15 minutes this week, it will change your outlook, promise

There are some days that can’t be helped. Sometimes you just need to vent and sometimes there really are not enough hours in the day, but what I’ve realized is talking, thinking or stressing will not to accomplish any of it. Guess what? Next week I’m going to learn a whole new definition of busy, so what better way to prepare than to avoid the thought of it all together.