The Day
Oh my… what a day that was! I wish I had a website live at that time so I could have written this blog post then; whilst it was all hot off the press. There was SO much energy and love that day that I couldn’t have asked for everything to have gone better. We shut down the street, had queues out the door with barely any space to move. Yet, everybody who attended was buzzing off the good time they were having rather than how overcrowded we became.
Giving Back
The Perfume Closet had been running for approximately two years, around the time I decided to give back to my customers and organise an event for them. I had built up from having ventured into something completely new in the local area where my first boutique was, to surviving the first two years of business and growing a loyal fan base of customers. I wanted to let them know how much their support had meant to me.
Choosing a blogger
This one wasn’t tough for me at all. This was because a lot of bloggers actually eliminated themselves from my event by their own behaviour and attitude. In the blogging world, and the world of social media I wasn’t known… (yet!). So when I approached a blogger or a insta-famous personality their persona and interactions with me would put me off from wanting to select them. Some of them over emphasised their own importance, others underestimated mine. I wanted to put an event on for my customers – this had to be one for the people and so this was the most important thing on my mind when planning the event. Finding a blogger that could take one for the team and really help me in giving back to the people who had supported me was my main aim.
Why I picked Modest Street
I don’t hire someone if I have to pretend to like them. This non-pretentious approach (rare within the blogging world) has meant I have only worked with people who are real with me and who I could be real with in return. Personalities who, when they work on a project with me actually want me to win and who I can help to win too. I found this in Modest Street and so she was hired.
Why a Shop & Meet and not a ‘Meet ‘n Greet’
Not only did I want to give back to my customers, I wanted to do something for the brands I’d collaborated with and stocked at The Perfume Closet too. I’d met some amazing business women on my journey, their support for me had been phenomenal. Modest Street was already blogging about the products I stocked and so the idea of the Shop & Meet sparked up within me.
A generous 23% sale was launched to mark the occasion as the Shop & Meet was held on the 23rd of that month. The idea was that you could shop with Modest Street about the items she was using. Products which you had seen her post about on her snaps and stories, and that she had been recommending to you. Meeting her in-store meant you could ask her any burning questions in person before parting with your cash. It was the first event of it’s kind in the blogging circles I had moved in, and everybody appreciated how everything was so clearly set out. It wasn’t a ‘meet n greet’ disguised to get you to buy things, it was an intentional ‘Shop & Meet’ and everybody loved the transparency and real approach about it all.
Power to the People
Cliched I know, but in this case team work really did make the dream work. I pulled out all the stops for Modest Street and the entourage she brought along to support her. In return, her and her friends gave my event every effort I could have asked for. Let’s not forget the local businesses and freelance creatives that worked with me to pull off all the bells and whistles – they were invaluable to me too. You will see from the selection of pictures I’ve posted below, just how many people pulled together. It was an amazing day and one that goes to show when you want good for people and truly work together – magic happens.
