The Echo Chamber: Words Are Everywhere Blog

How to find a product that you can’t otherwise find? Chicago screws (also known as interscrews, binding screws, snap posts or as I like to call them ‘those things that no one sells’) are great for binding a restaurant menu, photo album or sample swatch. Just try to buy ten, and you’ll gain a new respect for these little posts that screw together. Sure you can buy them. In volume, from specialist printers who wanted to supply hundreds of publications to go with them.

If you want to embarrass a shop assistant go into Ryman’s or any large stationery shop and suddenly announce you want a screw. And no they don’t stock them. Nor do arts supply shops, specialist bookbinding services or any of a number of high street stores.

Thereby lies the conundrum. How to find a niche product? Hail, the power of the internet. Those same search engines that narrow our world view can also make it easy to sort through many products. Much like sifting through a big bag of assorted nuts, bolts and screws. And there I found a supplier, who would not be in business were it not for his focus on the niche. If he focused on selling in volume to the mass market he would have gone out of business when Brunel finished his stint on the railways. Instead he sells less of more; finding that more people more can be reached by selling online, making low volume profitable. I bought ten of the little blighters.

The lesson? Often our search is restricted by what we already know. It pays to look at the bigger picture. Or if you want an entirely practical suggestion, consider how your website is optimised. Which words or phrases (search terms) do you think potential customers would type into a search engine if they were seeking a business that could provide your services/products? You may be surprised. I was Googling ‘chicago screw’. Therefore the suppliers of ‘interscrews’, ‘snap posts’ and ‘binding screws’ lost out on my custom. Would you benefit by getting inside your customers’ brains? Do you know what search terms bring traffic to your website?

Failed to keep your new year’s resolutions? Well it’s not too late as millions welcome the Chinese New Year. Along with losing weight, cutting down on the drinking can I suggest you start the Year of the Dragon by resolving to choose your words carefully.

Let’s start with the Chinese. According to The Sunday Times ‘vintage has yet to find a big Chinese fanbase because of a cultural distrust of things that have been used. Carmen Haid of the vintage emporium Atelier Mayer, has a neat solution. She sends every item off to be feng shuied before selling it’.

We have our own qualms when it comes to ‘second hand’, hence the wordy sleight of hand to call items ‘pre-loved’, ‘vintage’ or ‘memorabilia’.

Or as I’ve found, on a search for a rescue dog who is looking for a ‘second chance’ and a ‘forever home’ the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is in need of a rebranding exercise.

The problem: Keeps bad company with drug dealers, and prepared to chew your face off as much as looking at you, if it wasn’t chained up on the balcony of a high rise flat.

The challenge: Give it a chance, and discover a family dog known for gentleness with small children.

Rebranded: Peter Pan’s Nanny

Consider your words. It can make the difference between a sale and a snub. Sounds a bit fishy? Remember the Cornish sardine was once a humble pilchard.

What are the modern manners for sending Xmas cards? After how many years of not receiving a card back, should we cross a name off our list? And is it becoming a dying art? As overheard in a cafe: “Do you send cards?”. “Only to my gran. She still expects to get one.”

Bless, a card sent for the benefit of the recipient. It’s a rarity. Because as with Xmas presents it’s less about what they would like to receive, and more about what you want. Choosing how to send season’s greeting is often about us, not them.

Not doing Xmas card this year? Prefer to decorate your house with lights, and text instead? Fair ‘nuff.

A text costs nothing, all address book contacts get it with a simple press of a button. A one-to-many broadcast, shows you care but doesn’t look that great on the mantelpiece.

Such a passive communication can lead to passive aggressive behaviour. Our heroine sitting in front of a pile of cards, year after year, a grim frown of concentration as she vows to treat others as she would like to be treated herself. Except it’s not reciprocal. I send a card. I get an email back. Next year, I send a card. And get a text on the day.