Busy Season

Whew. We've been busy. Store sales are holding their own, and we're doing our best to stay on top of projects to prevent having to charge rush fees for our customers that want to deliver very special and personal gifts to loved ones.


2008 Time Capsule Available Soon!
Looking to hold on to a little piece of history? The Fodeo 2008 DVD Time Capsule is exactly what you're looking for! It's full of interesting news events, surprising movie info, top music artists, etc. And each chapter begins with a fun trivia question, with the answer to follow - it's amazing how much our world has changed in a very short time!

The Fodeo Time Capsule will be available on amazon.com January 1, as well as various retailers. You can have a sneak preview now by going to http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001O04LF0
If you know of a retailer you think would be interested in selling the Time Capsule, please let me know.


Lots of Websites
I was advised to work on getting our product and our website on as many review sites as possible. There are a ton of them! I had no idea so many websites exist - mom reviews, photo product reviews, baby product reviews, etc. This effort will keep me busy for quite some time!


More to Research - Affiliate Programs
While looking to put a coupon code on various coupon websites, I kept coming across info about affiliate programs. Most coupon sites won't allow you to list a code with them unless you use some type of an affiliate administration program. I discovered this info last night, and just haven't found time to research yet.

By the way, since you're reading this blog, I'll let you in on a little secret. On December 19, we'll be providing a code that will give you 50% off online purchases - Fodeo Custom DVD Packages and photo prints - for 24 hours. Just go to https://www.fodeo.net/specials/holiday-2008/ and enter your email address to receive the code. And send me a note that you saw it here!


Trying to Figure Out Twitter
Anyone know much about twitter.com? I've signed up to follow a couple of interesting people, had my phone authenticated, but still no messages. I'm missing out on a lot of HARO info I'd like to receive, but am not sure what else to do. I just replied to the authentication message I received last week, so I'm hoping to get some help, but I'll take any supplemental assistance available!

Little Things Matter

I was just reading a blog at www.preemiepresents.blogspot.com and feel compelled to share how Sara Nunn turned her scary experience of giving birth prematurely to her son, Henry, into something positive for other families.

Sara is using her time and effort to collect gifts for families whose premature babies must remain hospitalized during the holidays.  Until reading Sara's comments, I never realized the torment it must be not to be able to hold your newborn, let alone go days without being able to see him or her.  Sara had some kind comments for our donation of 30 Fodeos to help with her efforts, but you might know of something that could benefit these families as well.  If so, please take a look at her blog to see how you might be able to help lighten the burden during a tough time.

Looking Forward

I can't put into words how excited and optimistic I am for the PPAI Expo in Vegas in January.  I'm thinking this will be a great chance to kick off our two new products - the FodeoFlip and the Fodeo Time Capsule.

We've got a great new display that will help us look and feel like a real company, as opposed to just a table with some posters and signs.

Many Thanks

A special thanks to Ray and Heather at La Grange Camera in La Grange Illinois.  They embraced our Fodeo Custom DVD Package at their shop and promoted it in a big way over the weekend during La Grange's Christmas Walk.  I'm interested to talk with them tomorrow to see how everything went, but they were pretty sure the product would be well-received by the families waiting in line to have pictures taken with Santa.  We're hoping we were able to keep the kids entertained and less antsy during that time as well!

Way, Way Up!

Amazing How Things Happen

Remember the sales rep I mentioned in a previous post?  It turns out the info we received was "mis" represented, and things weren't quite what they seemed.

In short, we have a meeting scheduled with a "partner" of the first rep that can indeed get the job done.  This is exciting for us because we just need to get our foot in the door to show how great Fodeo's product and customer service really are.

Foot in the Door, Indeed!

We received an order yesterday for a prominent celebrity golf tournament (so prominent that we're not allowed to use names or images), as well as Fodeos to be sent to the Superbowl!  We're working on that household name thing - you know, the part where Fodeo becomes a household name!

FodeoFlip

The FodeoFlip is simply becoming more and more fun!  New designs, new ideas, lots to consider!  I can't wait to launch this new product!

Way Up!

Chris's Big Idea

In our morning meeting, Chris Donato came up with another brilliant idea!  At our trade show in January, which is the biggie for the promotions industry, we'll be able to have distributors email a sample logo to us, and then our amazing graphic designers will create custom FodeoFlips that they will email to me.

I will be able to print out custom Fodeo flips right at our booth in Vegas.  This will give us a chance to talk with the distributors a second time, plus provide them with a sample they can then take directly to their client.  How fun is that?!

Did Somebody Say "Patent?"

I'll back up a bit, though, because that's not the only exciting news.  We found out yesterday that after doing a search, the patent attorney we were referred to believes we can patent the FodeoFlip.  WooHoo! 

I really believe this is going to be a fun product that multiple clients can afford.

Time Capsule Sponsor Needed

We've not given up on finding a sponsor for our tremendous Time Capsule on DVD product.  The YouTube contest tied to this product could be an unbelievable promotion for some happy company out there.  If you know of any big companies looking for a promotion directed at graduation high school or college students, please have them contact Fodeo.

Okay, back to work!

The Ups and Downs

This post was started on Thursday, Nov. 20.

Whew.  

Getting  a new business off the ground is fraught with ups and downs!  So let's start with the down of today to get it out of the way.  

We met with a very experienced sales rep a couple of weeks ago that was confident he could get our product into small and mid-size photo shops.  It's the perfect market for us because they have knowledgeable sales people, and the customers are already interested in photos.

But now we've hit a road block.  The owners of these stores aren't understanding our demographic.  Sure, there are MANY people that will stand at a kiosk and put together a photo montage, just as there are people that will complete the same task at home.  But that's not our Fodeo market.

Someplace in my house, I have an iron.  Now, do I use that iron?  No, because I know there are people that can do a better and faster job ironing than me, and I'm willing to pay for this service.  That's what we are - a service.

So, the best thing would be for me to have an opportunity to speak with at least one of these owners with the sales rep listening in on how I answer their questions, but who knows if I'll have that opportunity.

Now the positive . . . . !

We've found the "magic" material we've needed to create our Fodeo flip! One of our investors, and an unbelievably great friend - Julie Skulborstad, came by today to drop off a new Fodeo project.  She was in my office when I opened my material samples that came from China, and asked about what we were doing.  I explained the Flip concept, and her response was, "Oh, you need to talk to Steve Kruchko!"  And talk I did!

Steve has a guy that can provide adhesive similar to Post-It notes.  Combined with a lightweight vinyl, this should work perfectly!  I can't wait to see some samples tomorrow morning . . .

Great PR support

HARO

If you're trying to promote your business, and you haven't heard of HARO yet, definitely take a look at helpareporterout.com   I found out about this site from Cindy McClure of dressthedrink.com  If you're in the market for a really great "Girls' Night Out" gift, take a look at her site!

Helpareporterout.com allows you to sign up to receive 3 emails per day that all include queries from reporters/blogs looking for products and or sources to be used in their publications.  Each day, I think I respond to 5 or 6 subject appropriate reporters, and so far, we will be featured on about 6 different holiday gift guides (most are blogs and 2 are radio stations).

Research has shown that blogs with loyal followers tend to drive more direct business to online stores than national media coverage.  It could be that clicking on a link in a blog provides immediate access to the source of purchase vs. thinking "that sounds good, I'll have to remember to check it out."

Savor The Success

Savorthesuccess.com is another site that provides PR opportunities.  Plus, if you're a woman running a business, it's geared to our girly side -- lots of advice and tips from other business owners.

National City

Received a call today from National City bank saying they are interested corporately in sponsoring Fodeos for breast cancer walks.  WooHoo!  This could be a big account given the number of women that walk to raise funds for cancer each year.  The fact that our breast cancer demo is pretty emotional definitely helped!

Promotion Is Going Great!

Our promotion of offering a 10% savings on transfer services when you buy a Fodeo Custom DVD package is going over great!  Customers are appreciating that they don't have to round up all of their media before the holidays in order to take advantage of the savings.  

I think we're going to see some pretty great holiday Fodeos as a result!

Welcome!

This is the first installment of many to come!  Thanks for taking the time to follow Fodeo on our path to providing the most widely used photo product ever developed!

What's new right now?  Our website!  We're almost there with MAJOR changes!  You'll see many functions already working - photo upload, including options to create multiple chapters.  Our customers have already begun using the site and are sending us rave reviews!

In the works:

--  2 new products that came out of focus groups established due to a challenge from Honda.

--  FodeoShare:  a website that will offer the top-selling photo gifts, as well as some unique ones we came up with all on our own (well, our investors had some suggestions!)

--  Great holiday promotions available through our retail store.

New Products

Fodeo Time Capsule

This suggestion came from our always creative sales rep, Mike Rapp, and his focus group of Missouri high school seniors who said they'd love to have their year in review on DVD. So we're taking the top stories of the year --  News Events, Sports, Technology, Music, etc. -- and combining it with some basic annual stats:  Prices for a gallon of gas, a loaf of bread, an average home, a basic car, etc.  

We realize this product also has appeal beyond graduation seniors -- parents of newborns, milestone birthday celebrants, corporate anniversaries, etc.  Therefore, we're probably going to offer this product on a wide scale, and you can customize it with photos.  Please send a message to me at val@fodeo.net if you have suggestions or would like to reserve your copy!

Fodeo Flip

Our second focus group here in Chicago (Thanks to Ron Meyer, Sean Felden, Megan Callahan, and Matthew Connelly) said they wanted to be able to decorate the outside of their laptops.  We've searched high and low for a material that would stick to both metal and plastic casings.  My source in China says she has just the right material, and I should have it in my hands by the end of the week.  We think it might something similar to the old "Cloroforms" we played with (well, some of us are that old) as kids.  

We'll be able to print a promotional 4-color ad on the material, but more importantly, we'll add a 4x6 photo pocket.  The product will provide the "decoration" the seniors wanted, as well as the advertising the corporate sponsors want.

We'll keep you posted as the project progresses.