Video Marketing Is Fun and Profitable

Hello everyone, Bill of Kim‘s Upholstery here.

Shooting video in our home.

Our Video Set

For the last couple of years I have been learning to use video to promote our business.  Kim’s Upholstery  and Soft Home Furnishings.  At first I would travel around to surrounding towns like Northampton, Hadley, Longmeadow and many others up and down the Pioneer Valley, and ask business owners if the would like me to shoot a short video of their business establishment.  I  offered to put the video on a YouTube channel or Facebook, for free, just to see what happened. I was really hoping I would get a call back and be asked to shoot video again maybe with a little cash incentive. Well as you can imagine most of the people I talked to thought I had two heads. You wana do what? What is social media? What is a YouTube? I did manage to video a few places and post them to the social media sites. Not much happened after that. I never got a call. I didn’t give up though. I started to video my  business. Kim’s Upholstery. At first it was slow. I started to pay more attention to YouTube.  At first I couldn’t even find the videos I had posted on there. Whats up with that? I started to do some digging. I found out I needed to be ranked in order to be found. What in the world is “being ranked’? Well that means your videos are being found, viewed, liked and commented on. I can’t find my video , how is anyone else going to find it? Well you need to use key words in your title. Whats a key word? Next you need th write a description of your video that contains keywords that are relevant to your video, without the over use of your keywords. Huh? Uploading your video properly is also a big help. Ugh! You need to use the  proper size for best viewing along with the proper codec and speed. Ohhhh Crap, I havent even figured out what key word to use! GeeWhizz, I think I will buy a new camera that can do all that for me. Nope, that didn’t work! I kept at it and now I have gone from not being able to find my own videos to having over 370000 views in less one year. A few of my video appear on the first page of a search on YouTube. I constantly read and attend webinars on video and especially video marketing. Yesterday I listened to one at got me very excited. I was all hyped up and ready to sign up for this mans video marketing course. I decided to sleep on it. Today I went back to his offer and decided to check out his YouTube channel. Very impressive. I looked a little closer and saw that he has 101 subscribers to my 1050, 51 videos to my 62 and 49000 views to my 370000+ views. Wait a minute. This guy is offering to teach me! Maybe I could teach him a few tricks!

 Would you do me a favor? Would you take a look at a few of my videos on the Kim’s Upholstery channel on YouTube and let me know what you think? Be honest, if you don’t like what you see, or you have suggestions for changes, please let me know me know.

In the past year  I have learned quite a bit about how to ‘Get Your Business Found With Vide0′. We receive emails comments and phone calls every day about our videos. If you are trying to do this for your business maybe we can talk. Email me (bchaggy2@yahoo.com) with your questions or ask them here in the comment section of this blog. Check out my Kim’s Upholstery YouTube Channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/KimsUpholstery While you are there ,would you mind subscribing to it?

Thanks Bill Chagnon

Headboards-Building And Upholstering In Greenfield MA

The last couple of months have been very busy for us here at Kims Upholstery in Greenfield MA. As many of you may know or not know, I am teaching an Upholstered Headboards  class in Chelmsford, MA at the Radison Hotel and Suits on March,16,2013. This Upholstered Headboard class is being offfered by me and  Innovations Boston in association with four other industry professionals. Donna Skufis, Sam Sloan, Joanna Braxton and Ginger Thoerner.

 As for our part we have been building the headboards and preping them for the class. ImageBill has also video taped the  process of building, 

 padding,  upholstering and closing the backs of the headboards   I plan on handing out DVD’s  of the entire process of building and upholstering a headboard to anyone that attends my class at Innovations Boston.

I’d like to show you a few of the things we have done. Here you can see Bill cutting and assembling the headboards.Using a foam saw to trim foam.

In this Shot I am gluing the foam to the headboard.Guuing foam to the headboard frame.

Here we have Bill drilling holes so that I can do my tufting.Drilling foam to permit deep tufting.

Some of the pictures and video you have seen here may be from other headboard projects that we have done. Don’t want to spoil my presentation at Innovations Boston you know! You will have to sign up for the class to see it all.

If you choose to join us you will also have access to vendors and their demos both days. These are some of  the very suppliers we use for our businesses.

Log on to http://www.innovations boston.com and register for one of the many classes offered.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Your Sofa May Be Bad For Your Health

Foam used in cushions.“Your Sofa may Be bad For Your Health?” an article in The Baltimore Sun  reprinted by The Recorder in Greenfield MA on December 11,2012 was brought to my attention yesterday by a concerned client. This client had contracted us to replace the foam in her cushions. She referred to the Sun article and said she was worried about the foam we use. I knew that our foam was safe but decided to contact our supplier for more information on the foam just to reassure our client. What I got in response was a white paper and 90 second video that I would like to share with you.  Don’t Worry Be happy!

Here is the link;       http://certipur.us/pages/for-consumers/

Acording to the supplier we use, the foam we buy from them carries this
 safty assurance.

Bill C

Grommets For Window Treatments

Installing grommets in a window treatment is one of those jobs that makes me very nervous. Think about it. Kim has just finished  the curtain panels. She has many hours of work and lots of money tied up in fabric and supplies. I’m about to mark the fabric and cut large holes in it. Does Kim have the spacing right? Do we have the correct number of holes? Will I make a mistake while cutting? One little mistake could easily cost several hundred dollars not to mention the lost time. For those of you that need to install grommets in your window treatment projects, I have just put up two videos of how we do it here at Kim’s Upholstery. In the videos I am using a Grommet/Button press and #12 Cutting/Setting dies purchased from the Rowley Company in Gastonia NC. For those of you not in the upholstery and window treatment  trade Rowley Company has launched   a new site, Rowley DIY. You can buy supplies there.

Well that’s enough rambling on. Here are the two videos.

How To Upholster Kim’s Upholstery YouTube Channel Gets 100,000 Views

Kim's Upholstery channel on YouTube

Over 100,000 views.

Our How To Upholster videos on our Kim’s Upholstery YouTube Channel just hit 100,000 views. OMG, I would have never imagined it would grow so BIG! What started as a hobby of Bills has had quite an impact on my business. From our modest studio here at 162 Federal St. in Greenfield MA we have become the go to people for many of you. We receive calls, emails and web hosting inquiries daily. It really has been a lot of fun so far. YouTube has offered us partner status and let us know that we could monetize our channel by letting them place ads on it. This is something that Bill does not want to do. His reasoning is that people are hit by advertising everywhere they turn, and he knows just how annoying that is. So for now we will remain commercial free.

We welcome your comments on our videos and love answering questions for both the newbies and those with upholstery  experience. The requests for new videos are great and we will get to them as soon as we can.I would love to see someone do a video response to our video channel. You could show off your projects and talk about some of the experiences you have had in your upholstery journey.

Thanks To Our Fans And Keep Watching

Kim

Long Distance Cushions

Hello Everyone,

Window seat cushion made using a simple paper template.

These three cushions were made by using a simple paper template.

Here at Kim’s Upholstery I get quite a few inquires about making replacement cushion covers for a client in another state or even country.  Well the answer is YES ,we do this.  The process is simple.  You  remove the covers off of your existing cushions and send them in the mail.

Kim opening another box of cushion covers sent by long distance client.

Another long distance order.

We use your existing covers to make the template, so don’t launder the covers prior to sending them as they may shrink, making the new covers too small.   What about the new fabric, you say .  Well, you could send your own material if you have something you would like to use, or you could  follow the fabric links on our website (www.kimsupholstery.com).  What you would need to do there is email me (kimberley@kimsupholstery.com) with the names of the samples that you would like to see and I can have memo’s sent to you in order for you to make sure the color is appropirate for your space.   Once a final fabric choice has been made, the rest is simple.

Okay,  so in this situation you don’t have exisitng cushions but have an area such as a window seat that you have been wanting cushions for.  That’s easy too!   You can simply make a paper template and stick that in the mail.

Paper cushion template.

Cushion cover made from customer template.

The main thing I would need to know out side the template is how thick do you want the cushoin or cushions?  Again, the fabric options would be the same.  There are many items that we do this way with our clients,  things such as table skirts, pillows,  bedding, window treatments and headboards.

Button tufted headboard, designed, built and upholstered by Kim's Upholstery.

Frame ,designed and built and upholstered by Kim’s Upholstery

Yes, headboards!  Headboards require special delivery as they sometimes can not be sent UPS.  This may cost more, but when it comes to having that gorgeous custom look, it is well worth the extra expense.  So what ever it is that you have been putting off because you just didn’t know how to go about it, now is the time to take action and Get It Done!!

I can’t wait ot hear from you and see what project we will be working on together!

Have a good one,

Kim

Window Treatments,Upholstery And Interior Decorating In Western Mass

Welcome to Kim’s Upholstery And Custom Window Treatments of  Ma.. With over 15 years experience,  Kimberley of Kim’s Upholstery is rapidly becoming the number one go to person for help with interior decorating, upholstery and custom window treatments, in Massachusetts. We specialize in custom-made. All upholstery and window treatment projects are fabricated here at 162 Federal St. in Greenfield Mass.. We do not subcontract our work out to other workrooms. This insures that the products that leave our workroom, to be installed at your home or business, are made to your specifications. Speaking of specifications, we also make custom window treatments  and custom leather and fabric cushions from our clients own  measurements and  templates. This is very popular with our Out Of State clients, especially for our custom-made  leather chair cushions.
  So if you are looking for someone qualified to help with your interior decorating projects, that can also produce what you require, look no further. Call Kimberley at Kim’s Upholstery, 413-772-0013 open 8 am to 5 pm (eastern standard time) or email  kimberley@kimsupholstery.com. Be sure to check out our website at http://www.kimsupholstery.com