Newsletter 17 (February 17th 2006)

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2006.
Lots to tell you about: new Directory, the ‘Bigger Ad’, new membership stamp, forthcoming promos…

It was great to see so many Artisans at the Christmas Social and we enjoyed meeting some of our new members for the first time. We thought The Rainbow did a great job with the food, and the caption competition was won by John Pomfrey for a very witty entry (but unfortunately we can’t remember now what it was!)

New Members

Welcome to our newest Artisans:

Hannah Scarlett – Registered Homeopath
Helen Willis – Massage Therapist
Sally Holder - Gardener
Stephen George - Photographer
Tessa Whippy - Reflexologist - who has re-joined
Michael Watson – Castlegate Technology – IT Consultant
Kevin Warwick – B & S Alchemy – Wood Carver and Furniture Maker
Melanie Verity – Pure Health & Beauty – Beauty & Massage Therapist
James Wilson – Painter & Decorator

To all members who have recently renewed: thank you very much for renewing your membership, and for responding promptly to our letters. It’s much appreciated - our ‘nag’ in the last newsletter must have done the trick! Just a reminder to those who still have blank web pages - please let Simon have some text and/or images to put on your page. With the new directory coming out the site is likely to be getting a lot of new visitors wanting to know about your business. It's a promotional opportunity not to be missed.

Publicity: new Directory, Farmers’ Market

Our brand new, full colour directory is out at the beginning of March! Now in its 5th edition, the printed Directory is one of our most popular publicity tools. It will be distributed to all households and businesses in Lewes as an insert to the March edition of Lewes News. We will also be having a display table at the March Farmers’ Market where we will hand out copies of the Directory. (We need volunteers to help with both these events – please see below).

Advertising:
Big Ad, Lewes Handbook

As you know, around Easter is when we usually have a full page promotion in the Sussex Express and invite Artisans to place their own display ad on the page for a nominal fee. (We call this the ‘Big Ad’.) This year we are thinking of extending the idea to the Lewes Handbook. Although it’s only been going 6 months, we know that several Artisans already advertise in the Lewes Handbook and the cost of doing so is very reasonable. It gets wide distribution and has a longer ‘shelf life’ than the Sussex Express.

Because of our group buying power the cost will be no more than £30 to appear in both publications - if you are interested in taking part in this ‘Bigger Ad’, please let Simon, John or Robin know by the end of the month.

Forthcoming promotional events

Lewes Artisans will be taking part in a fundraising evening for the Friends of Priory School on March 16th. We will be giving out the new Directory and will have a small display table showcasing pages from the website.

And on 8th July we’ll once again be taking part in the Lewes Societies Fair, organised by Ruth O’Keeffe, at the Town Hall. This was a well attended event last year, but it’s a long day – we’ll be asking if any Artisans can volunteer to help out this year. It’s a great opportunity to meet potential new customers, tell them about Lewes Artisans and promote your own business in the process.

Help needed!
Lewes News and Farmers’ Market

If you can spare an hour or two on the mornings of March 4th and/or March 11th, Lewes Artisans need you!

On Saturday 4th March we will have a small table at the Farmer’s Market from 9.30am to about midday and would love it if you could help ‘person’ the table for part of the time. It just involves telling people about Lewes Artisans, handing out leaflets etc. One of the founders will be there all the time so you won’t get stuck with anyone or anything difficult and there’s no hard sell.

As part of our deal with Lewes News, our Directory gets inserted into every copy – but we must bring at least 6 people to help out with folding and inserting on Saturday 11th March from 9am to about midday. It’s sociable and not nearly as boring as it sounds – please let one of us know if you can come and help.

Membership ‘Stamp’

We’ve made it extra easy for you to mention that you are a member of Lewes Artisans in your stationery, adverts or publicity material. Remember, if you don’t have your own website it’s particularly important to tell people that you are on www.lewesartisans.com as many people search the web for information before picking up the phone. So Simon has created a membership ‘stamp’ that can easily be added to any of your ads or literature, regardless of size or whether it’s colour or black and white. Because of the high recognition value of our logo we are hoping that Artisans will see the benefit of including it in their ads even if they have their own website. The membership stamp is available from Simon in print or electronic format, or you can download it from lewesartisans.com/members/stamps.html

‘Buy With Confidence’

We’ve been asked by the East Sussex County Council Trading Standards to pass on to you a message about their ‘Buy With Confidence’ scheme. You may be familiar with it – the idea is that the Trading Standards team vet small businesses and if they meet certain criteria then they are promoted on the ESCC website as ‘approved traders’. Unlike some other commercial schemes you may have seen leaflets for, this is a national, government-backed initiative. Some Artisans are already members. For more details, visit www.eastsussex.gov.uk/business/tradingstandards/buywithconfidence/ or call Trading Standards on 01323 418201.

That’s it for this newsletter – thank you for your continued support for Lewes Artisans. Don’t forget to let us know if you would like to promote your business in our ‘Bigger Ad’, and if you can help out on March 4th or 11th!

PS To save on costs and time, and to make it more interactive, we are moving the newsletter to email.
Artisans who have not supplied an email address (around 25% of members) will continue to receive it through the post.