If you've ever shopped on Amazon before, you surely know by now that they are hosting their 2nd annual Prime Day today, July 12th. You really can't miss all the ads on the sidebar of every website ever. Last year's Prime Day was met with high anticipation from customers hoping to score an awesome deal, only to find that most of the products offered were things they didn't really care to purchase, even at 40% off. The #PrimeDayFail hashtag was quite a fun one to follow, and begs the question, will this year be different?
We were actually asked to apply to have a Prime Day deal on Spray Pal products, but our products weren't selected this year. My guess is that 1) we weren't able to discount our items as deeply as they would've liked, and 2) after last year's #PrimeDayFail fiasco, they're probably looking for items that are considered more "mainstream" and "exciting" to the average customer.
So while there are plenty of cloth diapering moms and dads who would be THRILLED to take advantage of a discount on the greatest poop splatter shield on the market, Amazon probably just didn't see it that way. Which actually worked out well because we wanted to provide a sale or discount but we didn't want to undercut our retailers. So, we decided, instead of a discount on Amazon, how about we support our small business retailers with a sale instead?? For this year's Prime Day, we'll be sharing a list of retailers who are offering an approved sale on our Spray Pal products. Stay tuned on social media for this list!
Running a cloth diapering store is hard work and comes with lots of overhead, especially if you have a physical brick and mortar location. But these stores are invaluable resources to their local communities. Just think how many families they can educate, support, and build a community with in their local area. Without these stores, cloth diapers wouldn't be nearly as mainstream as they are today. One of the best things we can do to help #makeclothmainstream is to support our local stores by shopping (and BUYING) locally. We hope you'll consider checking out their deals on Spray Pal and adding a few other cloth diapering items to your cart when you shop, because who really needs another cheaply made phone battery pack at 40% off anyways? ;)
Every day is a Prime Day to shop small. :)
Now that Prime Day 2016 is over, please check out our list of retailers to find out if you have one near you and support them by spending your dollars locally! You can find them HERE on our retailer map!
EDITED APRIL 2017 TO ADD: Every sprayer now includes a non-return valve at no extra charge!! You asked and we listened! :)
The time has finally come. After nearly a year of testing various sprayer adapters, we're launching the same great diaper sprayer that has gained massive popularity here in the USA, just with the correct fittings to easily install it on your Australian toilet! No more dunk and swish down under! No more spending extra money on liners that can damage your plumbing! The Spray Pal system makes nappy clean up so easy and mess-free, you'll be dancing in the streets telling all your friends and family how awesome cloth diapers can be...even when dealing with the poop! ;)
Cloth skeptics, beware...the cloth advocates now have one more tool up their sleeves to convince you that cloth CAN BE DONE. And easily, too. :)
We're mostly excited that we can start saying cloth nappies legitimately now!
Special bonus, when you shop on your website, your flat rate international shipping will qualify for anything else we carry on our website, so be sure to stock up on any other cloth diapers or accessories you need! Also, to make things easy, you can change the currency on our site to AU$ and it will automatically convert things for you. Happy shopping!
If you’re in a group on Facebook, you may have noticed an
influx of notifications over the past 24 hours letting you know that a group
admin as deemed you to be one of her BFFs. In other words, she changed the
setting of the group from something like “closed” to “close friends” in the
hopes that you would see more of her posts in your news feed.
You likely also noticed that many of the groups that made
this change are trying to sell you something (LulaRoe, anyone?!), so it makes
sense that they’d want to get those posts in front of you to increase
interaction and thus (in theory) increase sales.
Is this a good move? I suppose the jury is still out. As
someone who is a Facebook groups shopper as well as a small business owner, I can
see this from both sides. I completely understand the need for small businesses to get their message out there to the millions of daily Facebook users
without wanting (or being able to) pay for ads or promoted posts. In fact, I’ve
recently been testing out some theories on the latest Facebook algorithms over
on our business page for this exact reason. But, I will admit, I haven’t tested
any of these theories in our chat group…this was solely on our business page.
On the flip side, here’s what went through my mind when I
woke up this morning to THREE TIMES the normal amount of notifications on my
personal page:
“Whoa!! 25 notifications overnight?! Is it my birthday?? No…hmmm…something big
must’ve happened. Let’s check…OK, so like ¾ of these are about LulaRoe groups.
WTF? Wait…they’re all changing the groups to “close friends”?? Why?? Wow, how
the heck was I in so many of these groups?! I need to clean up this list.
Click. Leave group. Click. Leave group. Click. Leave group.”
So, as you can see, in my case it was not a great move for these admin to do
this all at once because it brought attention to the fact that I was in way too
many groups to begin with. But, you might look at that as a silver lining. The
people who are going to leave are the ones who are done shopping and aren’t
going to be your customers anyway. If changing the group setting increases your
visibility to those who are actually going to buy your stuff, then it’s worth
it to lose a few “duds” in the process.
Before you make any changes, decide what your end goal is.
If your goal is to have higher numbers in your group, I say don’t mess with it.
If you’re ok with losing some members in order to target those who are actually
going to shop, then go for it! But, one more thing to consider before you make
the switch it this: Does the setting of the group actually increase
engagement? I’ve heard from some LulaRoe consultants that it has, but my
thought is that it could just be residual from those notifications going
through. If people weren’t (like me) just leaving the groups as they got
notified, they may have actually clicked the notification to check out what was
going on in the group and then interacted with a post. It doesn’t necessarily
mean that the group setting change made the difference. Only time will tell. Of
course, by the time we have this figured out, Facebook will probably change its
algorithm again. ;)
Now that summer is here, 1.0 and I have found a show we can both enjoy which (thankfully) doesn't involve princesses or ponies. It's the Food Network's Kids Baking Championship! I'm super excited that she's as into cooking shows as I was growing up, and I especially love that we can watch a show together before bedtime that doesn't make me want to gouge eyes out. No offense to all the Bronies and MLP fans out there. ;)
The other benefit to watching this show together is that it's encouraging a love of cooking and food exploration in her. Now when we go for groceries, she likes to pick out an easy recipe off Pinterest so she can try it at home. For this video, we adapted our own version of a watermelon popsicle to try out, and she loved it!!
Here's what we used in case you'd like to try this out with your kids:
1/2 bag of frozen strawberries (you can probably use fresh as well)
5 c. seedless watermelon
2 mangos
1 can of coconut water (we used grape flavored)
We only have 4 push-pop type popsicle molds, but this made enough to fill probably 10. We decided to drink the leftovers smoothie style and it was really good that way, too! The frozen strawberries helped keep it cold, so if you use fresh you may need to chill it first or add ice.
She really wanted me to make a video of her showing how to make this, so here you go! Enjoy my silly, sassy chef. :) And if you try this out, let us know how it goes in the comments below!
I wanted to share this with you this morning. A lot of times
before the kids wake up (I'm not trying to say my kids are sleeping in by any
means, I'm just a naturally early riser), I'll spend the quiet time just looking
around on social media. It's my ME time. I sip my coffee and follow my clicking
fingers down rabbit holes that often take me to some pretty interesting places.
Today I did my morning story watch on Snapchat. Lately, this
is how I begin my "me time" routine. (At least, ever since I've
started getting the hang of this crazy Snapchat thing I swore I'd always avoid.
Totally eating my words.) I've been particularly loving watching Hillary
Rushford's snaps from the Italian Riviera as it is giving me the perfect
opportunity to practice my Zen as I try not to feel complete and utter jealousy
and focus on the beauty that she is sharing while living vicariously through
her Sabbatical.
One of her snaps this morning mentioned hopping over to
Instagram to leave a comment on a post (great social media engagement tip,
BTW). Dutifully, I went right over and starting scrolling through her IG feed.
I went from posts showcasing beautiful scenes of the Italian Riviera down to a
photo of an open page of a book that caught my eye. Clicked to learn more about
said book. Clicked the book's hashtag. Found some more photos of this book,
then my eye landed on a photo of three books (the original book in question
plus two more) laid out on a furry rug. I clicked this photo to learn more
about the new books. One was written by Elizabeth Gilbert of "Eat, Pray,
Love" fame (hello, crazy Sabbatical coincidence!) and the poster had
tagged her. So I clicked through to her account. That's where I found this:
And this was the fruit of today's random clicking because it
inspired me. This little graphic inspired this entire blog post. And here's the
craziest thing you should know about me: I can tie PRACTICALLY ANYTHING back to
cloth diapers, including an inspirational Elizabeth Gilbert quote. #talent
In the case of this quote, it struck me as the perfect
mantra for anyone using cloth. You know how you'll get friends asking about
your diapers on play dates? Or you'll post a photo of your baby in fluff on
social media and a random Internet person will see it and ask what the diapers
are all about? Well, this is your opportunity to be an influencer. Whether
you're Instafamous, a blogger, or just a mom sharing a cute photo of her baby
in cloth, how you respond matters. Whatever you say WILL be contagious. You may
not realize it, but your response will be heard or read by many more people
above and beyond the person who originally asked the question, so keep that in
mind as you reply. Your play date friend may strike up a convo with another mom
about it down the road. And on social media, if your account is public, many
more people will read the conversation on your post than you realize. If you
stay POSITIVE, it WILL be contagious!
Let's play pretend for a minute. Imagine you just posted a
picture of your darling in the latest print you've obtained and someone
comments with, "Wow, that diaper is adorable! I wish I could do cloth but
it just seems like so much work. My friend tried it and she said she was
CONSTANTLY doing laundry." :::Insert fed up non-smiling emoji here::: It
looks like someone who didn't read this blog post has already been spreading
their influence. But fear not! Positivity is much more powerful!
Now let me give you two sample replies, and you choose which
you'd rather see be contagious. Because they both will be, no question.
Response option #1: Yeah, the diapers are super cute, but
the laundry can be tiring if you let it get out of hand. It's worth it, though!
Response option #2: Yeah, aren't they cute?! I was actually
nervous about the time commitment when we started with cloth, but it's been a
lot easier than I expected! Just a few extra loads of laundry a week. If you
ever want to give it a shot, just let me know! I'm happy to help.
Both responses are honest, right? But just that slight lean
to the negative side can be very off-putting. Response #2 is only worded a
little bit differently than #1, but it makes all the difference in motivating
and encouraging someone who may be on the fence.
And while I am applying this quote and this concept of
influence to cloth diapers, it's honestly something that applies to all areas
of life. "We all have more influence than we realize" so let's choose
our words accordingly.
We love giveaways. We really do. And we especially love when we combine our love of giveaways with our love of spreading the word about cloth diapers to help #makeclothmainstream. So, that's why I've been wracking my brain lately trying to come up with a fun and NEW way to accomplish this!
Earlier today I went live on our Facebook page to crowd source some ideas from you, and of course, you took my crazy, hair-brained idea and refined it into something that makes sense! So, using your suggestions, here's what we came up with:
Basically, the point of this challenge is to show the general public on social media that cloth diapers
can be easy, cute, and fun! You can enter as many
times as you'd like (well, up to once per hour) on Instagram, Facebook, and/or Pinterest. Just share your photo, tag @spraypal, and on Instagram be sure to use the hashtags #spraypalgiveaway and #makeclothmainstream. Please note, the photo prompts do not need to be in any particular order, and if you feel like repeating any of them, go right ahead! Just keep in mind that the mission of this challenge is to show people that cloth diapering is cute, easy, and fun, so let's keep the messages in the photos nice and positive! :) Also, while you and I may understand that poop is just part of the picture when you have a baby...the general public may not want it to be a part of *your* picture if you catch my drift. ;)
YouTube
video entries can only be submitted once but will earn you 10 chances to
win since we know these take more time. If you're in the mood to create a video, feel free to cover any or all of the prompts we've given. Or, you can freestyle it and just talk about your cloth diapering routine in whatever way makes sense to you! You have complete creative license there, just be sure to tag Spray Pal in the description so we can show your video some love!
IMPORTANT: Once you've shared your photo or video, make sure you come back here to get your entries on the Gleam giveaway widget below! The winner will be selected there, so you MUST complete this step to have your entries counted.
Contest starts May 27, 2016 and ends on June 5, 2015 at midnight. All content (photos/videos/etc) shared must be newly posted/uploaded during the giveaway time period to be counted. This
giveaway is open worldwide and the winner will receive a $100 gift card to our shop. You can use this toward any "in stock" item we carry, including our cloth diaper exclusives! Spray Pal will notify the winner within 48
hours of contest close, and the winner will then have 48 hour to reply.
If the winner fails to respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be
selected.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below! Let the #makeclothmainstream games begin! Enter below:
On May 14th and 15th I attended the New York Baby Show along with
Melissa Huynh, founder of Lalabye Baby Cloth Diapers. This huge,
mainstream baby expo took place right in the heart of NYC, and they
claimed over 20,000 people were in attendance. I can't verify those
numbers, but I can say it was definitely crowded both days. Now that I'm
home and I've had some time to reflect, I have a few thoughts I'd like
to share.
Huge crowds at the 2016 New York Baby Show.
1. The New York Baby Show was definitely well
attended, but I was shocked by how few people knew about modern cloth
diapers. Many people walking up to our booth assumed we were selling
reusable swim diapers, and in fact, some people bought some Lalabye Baby
diapers solely for that purpose.
When we would
start to explain that they were modern reusable diapers for everyday
use, we would get a very mixed reaction. We had a few looks of, "Wow,
really?!" followed by more questions on how they worked. Unfortunately,
I'd say the most common reaction from the surprised group was, "Oh.
Nevermind." followed by a quick spin on the heels and a shuffle to the
next booth.
2. Some families were actually interested
in learning about cloth! For every family who walked up surprised to
learn that these were not swim diapers, there was another family who
walked up with an eagerness to learn. They had seen our brands listen in
the show program or had seen our posts on social media and started off
with, "I'm so excited you guys are here. We've been thinking about using
cloth diapers, but there's just so much information out there that we
were feeling overwhelmed."
This is huge. And it's
actually the reason we paid the hefty price tag to attend this event.
Rather than selling, we were educating. I can't even tell you how many
time I must've given the spiel on using cloth diapers. Let's put it this
way. My voice was pretty much gone by Sunday afternoon. ;)
This was one of a small handful of families who came by our booth and was actually already using cloth diapers at home! They bought the Spray Pal shield on the spot to make spraying their diapers easy and mess-free.
3. We weren't the only ones to notice that there was a noticeable absence of major cloth diaper brands.
It
seems in the past few years the focus by cloth diapering brands (including ours) has
been attending shows like MommyCon that cater to a more natural
parenting mindset. And don't get me wrong, we still love the concept
behind MommyCon and are still attending a few so we can interact with
our amazing customers! But this year, after a very successful cloth
diaper resource booth at the 2015 Miami's Ultimate Baby Affair, we
decided to make an effort to test the waters with the more mainstream
events.
Our goal is not to sell product, although it's always great when someone makes the decision to switch on the spot and buys what they need to get started. In fact, we
didn't even ship anything in for this show, we just brought what we
could fit in our checked bag so we would have items to demo with. Our
goal is to reach families who don't already know about cloth diapers and
show them that it's easier than they think. Mission accomplished, I
hope!
On the other hand, the disposable diaper brands along with big box stores are always at these events in full force. I hope that by having more of a presence at events like these, we can show families that they have options when it comes to diapering, and cloth diapers don't have to be intimidating!
If you have a big baby expo taking place
locally that you feel could use a little more "fluff love" and cloth
education, please let us know in the comments! We'd love to check it out
and help #makeclothmainstream. :)
