Lip-Sticking

Shopping Tips from A Personal Shopper

Personal shopper tip: Size doesn’t matter, but fit does.

Do you only try on one size, and if it doesn’t fit you give up on that piece of clothing? Instead of passing on that item, why not try it on in another size, even if that means going a size up.

For instance, when looking for the right fit in pants or a skirt, look for a smooth fit at the hip, and if needed have a tailor take in the waist . Men use tailors all the time, and you never hear a man complain about what size they wear.

Women, on the other hand are very self conscious about what size they wear. I see too many women pass up on getting a great fit simply because they won’t wear anything not in ‘their’ size. There is even a women’s clothing line that does not put the size label in a visible spot on their jackets, so that women do not feel uncomfortable when the jacket is resting on the back of a chair. So cut your size label out if you cannot stand the sight of it, but remember that nothing looks or feels better than a good fit.

Want to have an organized closet?

Look into my closet & get my easy to follow tips on how to organize yours, and be able to find what to wear with my Closet Organizing Guide.

http://www.scarlettimage.com/closet-guide/

“I’m the first one to tell people, when they compliment me on how I look, that I have a secret weapon: Wardrobe Stylist Scarlett Debease. I’ve worked with Scarlett for years now and recommend her heartily to family, friends and colleagues. She not only shops with me for beautiful pieces to add to my wardrobe, but she also comes to my home and coordinates the new purchases with the rest of my wardrobe, then photographs the outfits to create my own personal look-book. I NEVER have to think, “What will I wear today?” I simply consult my look-book and get dressed. I know I’ve saved time and money using Scarlett’s invaluable service.”—Jane Pollak

Jane Pollak, Inc.

Fans of Visit Philly are invited to design their own prize in a Pinterest Contest

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

The With Art Pinterest Contest, sponsored by Visit Philly, invited fans to pin an artful weekend getaway in Philadelphia to be entered for a chance to win it. The actual Philly weekend getaway prize would be designed by the winner. Here's how it worked:

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (aka Visit Philly) launched the contest on April 25 and started promoting it on their Facebook page.

Participants were asked to first follow Visit Philly on Pinterest then create a board titled “With Art Philadelphia”. The board needed to contain at least ten pins taken from the following:
• 3 pins from the Visit Philly With Art website
• 2 pins from the With Art Philadelphia Pinterest Page
• 2 pins from the Visit Philly Eat & Drink Pinterest Page or of restaurants from the Visit Philly website
• 2 pins from the  Visit Philly Stay In Philadelphia Pinterest Page
• 1 repin of Visit Philly’s official contest pin

Each board needed to have at least two restaurant pins and two hotel pins so that Visit Philly could compile the winner's prize from what they pinned on their board. Once the entrant’s board was completed they had go to the Visit Philly Facebook page and click on the link to the Contest application. If they were not a current fan of Visit Philly they had to first Like the page to become a fan in order to access the Contest entry form where they would enter the URL address of their “With Art Philadelphia” Pinterest board along with their name and email address.

The contest ended on May 24 and a panel of judges reviewed all the submissions and chose a winner that was based on creativity and originality. That grand prize winner,  Lyn Benonis, was just contacted and she is so excited to plan her Visit to Philly! You can view Lyn's Pinterest board here.

There were also five runners-up chosen by the judges that will each receive a membership to one of Philadelphia’s art museums.

We worked with Visit Philly's agency, Sparkloft Media, on this promotion. They specialize in assisting tourism and convention and visitor bureau (CVB's) organizations with their marketing needs. They have been keeping track on blog of where CVB's stand on Pinterest and, as of May 30, Visit Philly had 4,062 followers and was ranked #12. We have done several promotions with Sparklfot Media  for some of  their other clients such as the Beaches of Ft. Myers and Sanibel Florida. Some of these have also included Pinterest, however, this was the first one where a prize was designed by the entrant themselves which I thought was highly innovative.

Congratulations to Lyn. Hope she and her guest enjoy their weekend getaway in Philly.

Reflections on this year's Mother's and Graduation Day

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Mother's Day is just a few days away. I personally will have a unique way of celebrating the day this year. But before I get to that, I wanted to first share this promotion we have been administering for Lane Bryant.

The Mom and Me Love LB Photo Contest kicked off back on April 22 and invited their Facebook fans to submit a photo of themselves with their mom, or with a woman who has been a mother figure to them, wearing some Lane Bryant styles.

Then starting on May 4 the contest moved into its voting phase where participants now (up until Friday) are encouraged to share their photo and invite their friends and family to like their submission. The three photos with the most likes will move on to the judges who will then determine the final winners based on the creativity, uniqueness and expression of passion in the photo.

The Grand Prize winner will receive a trip to Full Fashion Week in New York City for two including airfare, hotel accommodations and two $500 Lane Bryant Gift Cards. The first runner up will also receive two $500 Lane Bryant gift cards and the second runner up will receive two $100 Lane Bryant Gift Cards. You can view all the photos here on this Facebook tab page and vote for your favorite. There are a total of 179 photos display in the photo gallery that have been submitted to the contest.

So now for sharing my personal story regarding this year's Mother's Day. I will be spending the day attending the graduation of my youngest daughter, Alex, from the University of Buffalo. My other daughter, Kelsey, who graduated last year from New York University, will be coming up from NY to also attend. We haven't all been together since Christmas, so it will be a special day. Not only is Alex graduating with a degree in biology, but she has been accepted into vet school. This year she will start attending the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine located in St. Kitts,

We are all so very proud of her. I keep saying that we're now going to have a doctor in the family for the first time. I wish my mom was here to share this with, but I know she will be smiling down at us from heaven. This is the third Mother's Day that she is gone and it continues to be such as bittersweet day. My mom gave me, along with both my daughters, the will and determination to accomplish anything that we set our minds to. Alex, congratulations, you did it! Thanks again Mom.

Huggies essay contest encourages moms to sign up for Dollar General text alerts

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Last week I wrote about some new research on how moms are using their mobile devices for shopping. Here's some other new insights that find that moms are 20% more likely to use social media across all devices than the general population.

BabyCenter, with comScore, revealed this new data that states 91% of moms now use social media regularly, a 20% increase since 2010. And, 22% of moms say that if friends or family don’t participate in social media, they are not as much a part of their lives. Mike Fogarty at BabyCenter, says “... before mom clicks to buy, she’s posted, pinned, tweeted, and shared... so much a part of a her life... (she checks) social platforms... before first cup of coffee... now fundamental to... moms’... lives...”

Here's another new promotion that we're involved in that is targeted to these moms. The Huggies Little Hands, Big Plans Contest invites participants to write an essay about the big plans they have for their child. Two lucky winners a month for five months will each reach $5,000 to help them make their dream come true. This contest is sponsored by Huggies' parent company, Kimberly Clark, Corp., in conjunction with DollarGeneral.com.

We are again working with Triad Retail Media who specialize in creating and managing online media programs for major retail e-commerce websites such as Dollar General as well as Walmart, Sam's Club, CVS and Toys R Us. They create custom digital ad campaigns for a variety of national brands to help them reach their customers and engage with shoppers while they’re doing researching and making final purchasing decisions.

The entry form for this contest asks participants to provide their mobile phone number and then invites them to sign up for DG Mobile Text alerts to receive text messages about Dollar General's events and coupons. This is one initiative Dollar General is using to grow their mobile phone message list in order to reach these key customers. Last week's survey stated that SMS was the only category that a majority (52%) of moms said they used to incorporate mobile into their shopping experience.

A panel of judges will be reviewing all the contest submissions and twice a month pick the top two winners based on the following criteria: Creativity/Originality (25%); Quality of Submission (25%); and Fit to Contest Theme (50%). There are already 60 entries from the first week of the contest. It will be interesting to see the number of entries and how many new mobile text alert subscribers Dollar General gains. Contest ends September 30, 2013.

This appears to be the year that retail e-commerce marketers are definitely focused on mobile marketing, especially mobile marketing to women!

Mobil 1 and Walmart free oil change sweeps invites customers to sign up for mobile care care tips

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

A new study by Alliance Data found that more than half (51%) of smartphone or tablet owning moms use their mobile device as part of their shopping experience either daily or weekly with more than a third (35%) using them daily, base

They surveyed women who have one to two children, and found the top reasons that most of them (56%) use mobile devices to shop is that it’s fast/easy, they have no time to go to a mall or store and they can more easily compare prices. They found that the number one way that moms incorporate their mobile device into their shopping experience is that they like to receive SMS/text messages from retailers. In fact, SMS was the only category that a majority (52%) said they used to incorporate mobile into their shopping experience.

With that information I wanted to share a new promotion that recently kicked off that I've been involved with for almost a year. We've been working with Triad Retail Media who specialize in creating and managing online media programs for some major retail e-commerce websites such as Walmart, Sam's Club, Dollar General, CVS and Toys R Us. These custom digital ad campaigns are created for a variety of national brands to help them reach their customers and engage with shoppers at the right time while they’re researching brands and making final purchase decisions.

For 40 days Mobil 1 is giving away free oil changes from a Walmart Tire Lube Express. All Walmart customers need to do is visit the Walmart.com Mobil 1 website to enter the sweepstakes and sign up to receive car care tips on their mobile device from Mobil 1.

The entry form includes a short survey to help gain additional insights into these customers such as gender, age, how often they may use a Walmart Tire Lube Express, type of oil used, age of vehicle and who is primary decision maker for auto care in the family.

Besides the entry form, banner ads are also inviting customers to enter via text message by texting Mobil1 to the shortcode 50101. Those that enter the sweepstakes by this method receive an additional text message inviting them to opt-in to receive the future car care tips.

We are again using the Signal platform to create and host our sweepstakes promotion which collects the different methods of entry, both the SMS and the web landing page, into one database. It then allows us to maintain an SMS list of all the subscribers in order to send out the car care tips to them via their mobile device.

We will be drawing 40 winners, one per day, and at the end of the promotion. All winners will receive a Walmart gift card good to cover the cost of a oil change at a Walmart Tire Lube Express along with a Mobil 1 hat.

It will be interesting to see the final stats and gain insights into female vs male participants and who they say is their primary car care decision maker in the family. In my household it's definitely my husband. However, he's not the norm. This is someone who recently rebuilt the engine of a 1985 Spitfire that he owns.

I'm the one though that does do the majority of the food and household shopping and using my iPhone and my iPad more and more these days!

Sales Strategies for 2013....Getting Prospects to Act

By Guest Blogger Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Today I will be heading out to attend another luncheon event put on by Women TIES. You may have read some of my previous posts about this organization. TIES stands for "Together Inspiring Entrepreneurial Success" and the organization's leader, Tracy Higginbothom, strongly believes in the power of women supporting each other in their businesses.

Tracy started out as an event planner in her business and launched Women TIES back in 2005 which has now grown to reach many women in upstate and western New York. I was honored almost three years ago to be the speaker at her first Rochester Chapter event and was invited back to speak again this past October. Here's the post I wrote about my topic which was How to use Facebook to Build Your Brand and Grow Sales.

The event today is sold-out! Tracy had to cut-off the registrations at 70 since that's the total the restaurant can fit in the room we have.This now makes the 4th Women TIES event this year that has sold out in various cities throughout upstate New York. It appears that 2013 is going to be the year business women and entrepreneurs are ready to achieve great success! Today's event is perfect timing for mid-February. We're already over a month into this year and we all could use a good reminder that without sales, you don't have a business!

We all have business prospects from contacts made in 2012 and new ones we already made in 2013. The key to sales success in the New Year lies in getting these prospects to act and purchase our products or services. Vicki James will be our speaker today  who will explain how the "Marketing Hourglass" can help us move prospects through a series of Know, Like and Trust phases at their own pace to bring us more sales success. Vicki is going to demonstrate how to create our own "Marketing Hourglass" by no longer pushing prospects but instead allowing them to make the journey on their own terms and ultimately, removing the need to sell.

Most of us women don't like to "sell". We may be passionate about the business that we are in, but when it comes to sales, that's were the majority of us really need help. Learning about new sales strategies should be an excellent investment of our time today. Vicki's own company is called Stand-Out-Results focuses on mentoring small to medium size business with their marketing and sales strategies.

The event is co-sponsored by Joleene Speaks which is run by Joleene DesRosiers Moody. Joleene is known as the "Unstuck" Consultant - helping women entrepreneurs strengthen their selling power to make money enthusiastically and fearlessly. I heard Joleene speak last September at the Women TIES Annual Retreat and she was highly motivating. So I am looking forward to seeing her and hearing her speak again.

My hope is that 2013 will be a great business year for myself and all my friends and colleagues and readers, not just women. We all use a different mix of marketing and sales tactics to achieve our success. Having the support of others, whether it's a collective group of women, such as Women TIES, or our own individual mentors and advisers, it helps us to become stronger together than we are as one. As Tracy always signs-off..."In Entrepreneurial Spirit".

Marketing to Women Online in 2013

by Yvonne DiVita

I started this blog in 2004 to support the idea that marketing to women online is a practice more businesses should be focused on. Since then, a lot has changed. The Internet has changed, for one. It's grown... Facebook and Twitter were not part of my original writings, and to dismiss them now would spell trouble across the board. People are knowledgable about marketing to women, recognizing the inherent differences in how women shop, how we think, and what our role is in the family. Interestingly, another factor plays into the marketing to women concept these days - the fact that many people are promoting gender neutral marketing - in other words, just market. Don't target women or men. 

I'm not one of them. I still firmly believe women are different than men, we shop differently than men, and we use the Internet differently. We're unique. 

Holiday promotions for women from Palladium Jewelry and Lane Bryant

 By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Today I thought I'd share with the Lipsticking readers a couple of holiday promotions that I've been working on for clients. These two in particular are very simple, straightforward sweepstakes. Both are marketing to women and offer a chance to win some very nice prizes that all us females should love.

First is from Palladium Jewelry called the I'm Dreaming of a Palladium Christmas Sweepstakes. Participants can enter from this sweepstakes tab off their Facebook Page. I'll be drawing one Grand Prize winner who  will receive a pair of these circle drop palladium earrings made with .96tw white diamonds. Winner also receives a Marie Claire beauty gift package and a $500 gift certificate. Total approximate value is $3,550. All you have to do is Like their page first to become a fan and then fill out your contact information in the form.

Palladium Jewelry has been running a sweepstakes promotion pretty consistently over the past year. We started off the year with the "Bling in the New Year" Sweepstakes which offered a pair of Inside-Out Palladium hoop earrings. This past summer they partnered with Who What Where and offered a chance to win palladium bangles by Sorella Jewelry along with a gift card for a high-fashion shopping spree. Total prize value was $5,000. Then for the fall season their Fearless Fashion sweeps gave away a pair of palladium "grape" cluster earrings by Michele Mercaldo. All these sweepstakes helped them to grow to a current fan base on Facebook of over 79K.

The other holiday promotion I wanted to share is from Lane Bryant who we also help manage many of their sweepstakes during the year. They currently are offering 3 grand prizes which consists of a trip for winner and guest to NYC. The trips must take place over March 1, 2013, so that the winners can attend the grand opening celebration of Lane Bryant's 34th Street store. Prize package includes round trip airfare, hotel accommodations, $300 to use towards ground transportation and a $500 Lane Bryant gift card. So a pretty nice package!

Lane Bryant is also asking participants to Like their Facebook page first in order to enter. They are requiring a mobile phone number in the entry form and giving fans the option to opt-in to receive approximately 4 text messages a month from them. This opt-in is not mandatory. On top of the sweepstakes fans can also play the Fashion Bash Game by scanning a QR code. To play, participants launch snow balls at fashion don'ts each week to receive future offers. Here's a screen shot of the app.

Today they also launched on their Facebook Page the Unwrap a Surprise app which offers Lane Bryant's 12 Days of the Most Wonderful Surprises. Fans can unwrap a different surprise offer each day up till December 16. Here's today's offer which is 50% off all tops! So you can check this out as well.

So from now till the end of the year I will be sharing some more holiday related promotions. So hope you stayed tuned it.

Support PINK October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

The month of October is starting to wind down and we have been enjoying many of the beautiful fall colors here in western New York. We're also still seeing quite a bit of PINK since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I usually dedicate a least one "PINK" post to highlight some of the brands and organizations that have been supporting the cause. So here's a few I've seen this year.

The first signs of PINK come from watching NFL football. I think it's great that the league and the NFL Players Association get behind this cause. But it still strikes me funny seeing these big football players, along with the coaches and referees, wearing pink gear. The NFL's campaign, "A Crucial Catch", is in partnership with the American Cancer Society and is focused on the importance of annual screenings.

All Pink apparel worn at games will be auctioned off at NFL Auction with proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society's Community Health Advocates National Grants for Empowerment (CHANGE) program. The CHANGE program provides outreach and breast cancer screenings to women in under served communities. You can support the cause by purchasing some of this pink gear and apparel at the NFL Shop.

Yoplait's Save Lids to Save Lives program is back and has expanded to include many more General Mills brands such as Cherrio's and Fiber One. Click here to see all participating products. I always look for an excuse to buy more Yoplait, whether it's this cause or a coupon. For every lid or code submitted, General Mills will donate 10 cents to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, up to $2,500,000!

Caribou Coffee is selling its Amy's Blend coffee, tea, and other products as a tribute to their Roastmaster Amy Erickson who passed away from breast cancer. 10% of the sales will go to the nonprofit organization CancerCare. The products are available in stores and online through November 7th. Plus, for every "Like" that Caribou's Facebook page receives, they will donate an additional dollar.

I am lucky to have a Viking Range in our kitchen along with a husband that cooks up some amazing meals with it. We actually redesigned the kitchen around this stove. The Viking Range Corp. has partnered with the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) to auction off a Pink Viking 3D range along with it's matching ventilation hood. This E-bay auction runs until Oct. 25 with 100% of the proceeds going to the NBCF.

Driscoll's, my favorite berry brand, is sponsoring the Berry Pink Sweepstakes in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month and is offering a chance to win two Pink Kitchen Aid Mixers. The antioxidants in berries are known to help prevent the development of cancer since they protect cells from free-radical damage. So go on and eat more of those strawberries, blueberries and raspberries!

Before the month is over please make sure you support some of these brands and organizations. It's so important that women get their annual screenings. We all have personal stories to share. Last year two of my friends each had double mastectomy surgery are now doing very well. Unfortunately though I lost my mother over two years ago to breast cancer. Getting my annual screening is now a major priority and will be for my two daughters as they get older.

Hopefully with all the research and communications encouraging early screening we will begin to see a decrease in the amount of women this cancer affects.

New Ideas for Using Facebook to Build Your Brand and Grow Sales

By Guest Blogger Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Today I was the speaker at the quarterly Women TIES Greater Rochester Luncheon which was titled "New Ideas for Using Facebook to Build Your Brand and Grow Sales". Women TIES is a regional organization that is based out of Syracuse, NY, but has regional events through upstate and Western New York. I met Tracy Higginbotham, the President of this organization, over three years ago through Yvonne DiVita who was a speaker at the Women TIES Annual retreat back in September, 2009.

Women TIES stands for "Together Inspiring Entrepreneurial Success". I have stayed in touch and have become a member of this group because I believe in Tracy and her mission which is to support women entrepreneurs and to encourage women in business to work and support other business women. Tracy reached out to me the year after we met and invited me to speak at the first Greater Rochester Chapter event that was actually held in Canandaigua, NY in the Finger Lakes area. At the time I spoke on the "New Social Media World" which was then very basic. So when she asked me to speak again this year we decided that I couldn't cover everything to do with social media in just 30 minutes. So we decided to focus it on Facebook since it's the largest social networking platform, and also the one that I am the most familiar with.