Jeremiah Craig

Foreign.

Glenn the Geek

You are listening to the Horse Radio Network, part of the Equine Network family.

Glenn the Geek

Well, hi, everybody.

Glenn the Geek

We're back here with the Retail Roundup.

Glenn the Geek

And I'm so excited for today because we're going to be talking about boots and I think it's a fun topic to talk about.

Glenn the Geek

We all own them.

Glenn the Geek

We all look at them every time we go to the store.

Glenn the Geek

We all pine over the ones that they just didn't fit quite right or, okay, they were too expensive, you, you know, or whatever.

Glenn the Geek

The reason is I love boots.

Glenn the Geek

You guys love selling boots, but there are some challenges as a retailer to boots.

Glenn the Geek

So we're gonna talk to the guy who knows a little bit about representing boots and talking about boots and.

Glenn the Geek

But first, this is Glenn the Geek, founder of the Horse Radio Network and host of Horses in the Morning podcast for the last 14 years.

Glenn the Geek

Welcome to the WESA Retail Roundup.

Glenn the Geek

The Retail Roundup is your go to virtual hub for all things retail.

Glenn the Geek

Join panel discussions, learn from webinars, share your thoughts.

Glenn the Geek

We do These Q&As every once in a while where I get to have some fun, too.

Glenn the Geek

Plus, we host a virtual event or shared educational content every Monday via the Retail Roundup Facebook page.

Glenn the Geek

If you're not a member there yet, just search for Retail Roundup on Facebook and join today's session.

Glenn the Geek

We're going to talk to Jeremiah Craig and he is the guy.

Glenn the Geek

He's a storyteller.

Glenn the Geek

He's a musician.

Glenn the Geek

I wish I could play some of his music today, but we have to talk about boots.

Glenn the Geek

Maybe we'll play some of your music on our other show.

Glenn the Geek

And then, you know, he has retail expertise and really he has more retail expertise on the social media side because he is a YouTuber that has done very well with his YouTube channel.

Glenn the Geek

I just looked over 13 million views between boots and music and all the other content that he does over there.

Glenn the Geek

Very well done.

Glenn the Geek

He's a western boot expert, a content creator, a country singer.

Glenn the Geek

He's done it all.

Glenn the Geek

And I want to welcome you to the show today.

Glenn the Geek

I'm looking forward to today.

Glenn the Geek

This will be fun.

Jeremiah Craig

Thank you so much.

Jeremiah Craig

I'm really looking forward to this too.

Glenn the Geek

It's always fun to have to talk to fellow content creators.

Glenn the Geek

You know, we are all in this together.

Glenn the Geek

We all do the same kinds of things, right?

Glenn the Geek

But you know, when I talk at podcast conferences, I always say that the money's in the niches.

Glenn the Geek

You know, that's where the money is, is in the niches.

Glenn the Geek

Well, you chose a niche of a niche of a Niche, Right.

Glenn the Geek

You have a sub niche in boots.

Glenn the Geek

How did you ever become interested in cowboy boots?

Jeremiah Craig

Well, you know, it's kind of funny.

Jeremiah Craig

I grew up in the country, in the farm and doing lots of farm work and just sort of messing around the woods like country kids do.

Jeremiah Craig

And I would run through shoes and different kinds of footwear so quickly.

Jeremiah Craig

And I remember my brother got a pair of cowboy boots when I was around, I don't know, 16 or 17.

Jeremiah Craig

And I was like, you know, those look like they would hold up a little bit more.

Jeremiah Craig

So I went to my local trailer store, Davis Trailer World, where I got my first pair of boots.

Glenn the Geek

Boots.

Jeremiah Craig

And it was something that just changed my perspective on footwear in general.

Jeremiah Craig

They're so durable.

Jeremiah Craig

They're so tough, they could be repaired.

Jeremiah Craig

And I still have my first pair today.

Jeremiah Craig

They're cracked and nasty, just worn so much.

Jeremiah Craig

And they actually just received their seventh resole and I put that video up on my YouTube channel.

Glenn the Geek

I watched that video this morning, actually.

Glenn the Geek

They.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah, they look like they've been around a little while.

Jeremiah Craig

They've been around for a little bit.

Jeremiah Craig

They got some stories, they got soul is what I like to say.

Jeremiah Craig

S O U L well, so then what.

Glenn the Geek

What led you to starting to do content, starting to do videos, and to actually talk about and become kind of this pseudo expert on cowboy boots?

Jeremiah Craig

Yeah, well, it was sort of connected to my music.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, I was.

Jeremiah Craig

I play banjo, guitar, and harmonica, and I write a lot of songs, folk music and country style.

Jeremiah Craig

And I went on tour in 2015, 2016.

Jeremiah Craig

I have five albums out.

Jeremiah Craig

And, you know, they always tell you, if you want to get known for music, you got to play as much as possible, do as much as you can live and in person.

Jeremiah Craig

And I found that if you do that all in the same town, you.

Jeremiah Craig

You saturate the market really quickly.

Jeremiah Craig

So you have to tour more.

Jeremiah Craig

And then touring costs a lot of money, and I couldn't make any money doing, or enough money, I should say, doing all of the touring and all the playing of the traditional way that they tell you you should do music.

Jeremiah Craig

So what I did was I went back to the drawing board and I worked for marketing agencies and things like that in Arizona and Seattle, the places where we lived at the time.

Jeremiah Craig

And I sort of started doing what is called keyword research.

Jeremiah Craig

And if you're a boot retailer, I would highly recommend that you look into what keyword research is.

Jeremiah Craig

It's basically searching for things online and to see how many people search for those things online.

Jeremiah Craig

So I You know, included my interests about those.

Jeremiah Craig

Those things.

Jeremiah Craig

And I basically did keyword research on my interests.

Jeremiah Craig

So things like, you know, I like beer, there's a lot of beer.

Jeremiah Craig

Content creators, you know, I like folk music and, you know, some other random like hunting and things like that.

Jeremiah Craig

But there's a lot of content creators in those space.

Jeremiah Craig

They already seemed like they had a lot of people.

Jeremiah Craig

So I never thought people would be interested in what kinds of shoes that I decided to wear.

Jeremiah Craig

But I had four or five pairs of cowboy boots and I saw them over by the door while I was doing keyword research and I said, screw it, let's see what happens.

Jeremiah Craig

And it turned out that there was lots of opportunity in the space cowboy boots without very many content creators in the space.

Jeremiah Craig

So I was like, let's see what happens.

Jeremiah Craig

So I started making cowboy boot videos in 2018 and putting my music at the end of videos for the people who watched all the way through and maybe they would be interested in listening to my music.

Jeremiah Craig

And it grew my YouTube channel from only like 80 subscribers in 2018, and now I have nearly 50, 000 and lots more folks listen to my music than before when I was going on tour and trying to play as much as possible live and in person.

Glenn the Geek

Well, that's interesting that, that's.

Glenn the Geek

It's interesting that the two correlate, right?

Glenn the Geek

That the two work hand in hand.

Glenn the Geek

How long were you doing this before.

Glenn the Geek

And bear with me, the retailers that are listening to this, we're going to get into the nitty gritty of boots here, but how long were you doing this before the boot manufacturers started taking you seriously?

Jeremiah Craig

About a year before, I caught the eye of a retailer, an online retailer at the time, who was no longer in business, unfortunately.

Jeremiah Craig

Yeehaw.

Jeremiah Craig

Cowboy.com and they were the first to start to work with me.

Jeremiah Craig

And then shortly after that, Dan Post and Ariat took notice.

Glenn the Geek

I did notice the couple of my watch were sponsored by Ariat, so I did notice that.

Glenn the Geek

So, you know, retailers struggle.

Glenn the Geek

It's so hard when you go to WESA and you've been there, there's a hundred boot manufacturers, There must be 10,000 boots at WESA, right?

Glenn the Geek

All sitting around.

Glenn the Geek

And when you're a retailer, you have a certain amount of shelf space, you only have a certain amount of.

Glenn the Geek

Right.

Glenn the Geek

You can only carry a certain number of skus, and then booths tend to be in depth and SKUs, right, because you'll have sizes, you'll have widths and all of the other things that you have to deal with.

Glenn the Geek

So there's a lot of options there.

Glenn the Geek

You know, how do you pick?

Glenn the Geek

What do you think?

Glenn the Geek

So that your eye.

Glenn the Geek

What you have to do is pick what resonates with your particular audience.

Glenn the Geek

That's what you have to look for.

Glenn the Geek

But that's difficult to do too, you know, so what, what would you say to that?

Glenn the Geek

If you were out there, you know, buying boots for your store?

Glenn the Geek

How would you do that?

Jeremiah Craig

Yeah, that's a really good question.

Jeremiah Craig

And I don't have a store, but the way that I think about, you know, what videos to do boots on is sort of similar to, you know, what maybe somebody would want to put in their store because you, you wanna, you wanna put brands and styles in your store, and I wanna do videos on those types of brands and styles that actually create interest, you know, that get the views.

Jeremiah Craig

So I would, I would like to answer this question by starting out.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, everybody's market, from what I've learned, is completely different.

Jeremiah Craig

I've been to boot stores all over the country, from Arizona to Montana, and people look for different things in those markets.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, maybe rough outs don't work as well in Texas as they do in Montana, or vice versa, you know, something like that.

Jeremiah Craig

So it's all about knowing what I think the region enjoys the most for, for me, I've noticed that quite a bit in the comments section.

Jeremiah Craig

Sometimes the customers in Texas don't like the same things that the customers like in Montana.

Jeremiah Craig

And cowboy boots are a very personal and almost like it's, It's a very.

Jeremiah Craig

It's a very.

Jeremiah Craig

Something that people get very opinionated about.

Jeremiah Craig

Right.

Jeremiah Craig

Sometimes it's about, you know, who taught them about what good cowboy boots are.

Jeremiah Craig

Like, was it their grandpa?

Jeremiah Craig

Right.

Jeremiah Craig

Was it the owner of the boot store in town?

Jeremiah Craig

And then those sort of things develop their own opinions while they put those boots to work on the ranch or, or out on the town or what, wherever you're wearing the boots.

Jeremiah Craig

So I like.

Jeremiah Craig

I would like to say that maybe it's just knowing your customer base because, you know, out in California, when I go to events and things like that, Ariat is huge.

Jeremiah Craig

Right?

Jeremiah Craig

But if you ask other people about what Ariat's quality is, like, maybe they aren't such a big fan, you know, so it's all about knowing your customer and knowing the region and the styles that they like.

Jeremiah Craig

I hope that answers your question.

Glenn the Geek

Okay, well, yeah, and I think it's.

Glenn the Geek

It's hard, you know, it's hard when you're a retailer to.

Glenn the Geek

Because everybody likes something different Right.

Glenn the Geek

So even in your region, Right.

Glenn the Geek

They, you know, you still have people like green and red and blue and, you know, all the different colors.

Glenn the Geek

So it's.

Glenn the Geek

And you can't carry them all.

Glenn the Geek

You have to, you have to.

Glenn the Geek

You, you do have to pick and choose.

Glenn the Geek

But you brought up a good point.

Glenn the Geek

You said, you know, you talked about quality.

Glenn the Geek

How does a retailer know a good quality boot?

Glenn the Geek

So I'm walking around Wesa in January and I'm on all these big boot companies.

Glenn the Geek

What do I look for on the boot to tell whether it's a good quality?

Glenn the Geek

Is there a magic sauce?

Jeremiah Craig

Again, I would, I would say that quality depends on what you're looking for in the price point that you.

Jeremiah Craig

This is something that people ask me all the time on in comments and.

Glenn the Geek

I'm sure direct messages.

Jeremiah Craig

What is the best cowboy boot?

Jeremiah Craig

Well, it depends.

Jeremiah Craig

What is your budget?

Jeremiah Craig

Right.

Jeremiah Craig

Is your budget 200 or is your budget $2,000?

Jeremiah Craig

Because that can change what a good cowboy boot is like.

Jeremiah Craig

But in general, I would say that a traditionally made cowboy boot is the best, in my opinion, and that's what I try to push the most.

Glenn the Geek

What does that mean to you?

Glenn the Geek

Traditionally made?

Glenn the Geek

What does that mean?

Jeremiah Craig

Means it's got a good year.

Jeremiah Craig

Well, it's all leather everywhere.

Jeremiah Craig

It's got a steel shank in there.

Jeremiah Craig

It's got a leather heel counter.

Jeremiah Craig

So the piece above the heel and I can.

Jeremiah Craig

Maybe I can show.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead.

Glenn the Geek

That'd be great.

Jeremiah Craig

So this is a Hondo boot right here.

Jeremiah Craig

And so this is this.

Jeremiah Craig

They actually named this boot after me.

Jeremiah Craig

This is the Honda 2670, aka Jeremiah.

Jeremiah Craig

And it has a Goodyear welt right here, which means that the boot can be resold on the inside behind this bull hide.

Jeremiah Craig

This is the heel counter here.

Jeremiah Craig

So above the heel, for people who are just listening, above the heel stack, there's.

Jeremiah Craig

There's a piece that is called the heel counter.

Jeremiah Craig

And on the inside of this, a lot of brands will have something that's called celastic, which is a cloth.

Jeremiah Craig

And when a brand or a factory wets that cloth, it becomes hard when it dries, but it's not as hard as leather.

Jeremiah Craig

Leather is going to be the best material in here.

Jeremiah Craig

And it's what a lot of cowboys and people who work on the ranch will need, because a scholastic heel counter is not going to be able to hold up to spurs when you put them on there and actual hard work when you use spurs.

Jeremiah Craig

So it needs to be a leather heel counter, in my opinion.

Jeremiah Craig

So that's also A hard leather insole is traditional, but, you know, a lot of folks are preferring the foam insoles nowadays.

Jeremiah Craig

I'm still trying to get them, still trying to get people to enjoy traditionally made cowboy boots.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, like Tony Llama was back in the day.

Jeremiah Craig

Like, no, Kona was back in the day.

Jeremiah Craig

With a hard surface in there, everything's leather.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah.

Glenn the Geek

But when you get old feet like mine, I want some softness in there.

Jeremiah Craig

I hear you.

Jeremiah Craig

I hear you.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, I just made cowboy boots.

Jeremiah Craig

I went to cowboy boot custom cowboy boot course in Montana.

Jeremiah Craig

Schwartz custom boots makers, they also own Atomic 79.

Jeremiah Craig

They're.

Jeremiah Craig

They're custom boot makers as well.

Jeremiah Craig

And it's incredible when you get the right fit on a pair of cowboy boots, whether it's custom or maybe it's just the right width, that hard surface is actually all the support that you need.

Jeremiah Craig

And they will become more and more and more comfortable over the years and months that you wear them.

Jeremiah Craig

I was in, I was in South Dakota last year or the year before and I was talking to Travis of Travis Outfitters and he has a really good saying for that.

Jeremiah Craig

He tells his customers, the, the modern made boots with the cushions and stuff on the, and the insoles, they are going to be the most comfortable from day one, but slowly lose their comfort over the years and months that you wear them.

Glenn the Geek

That is true of any shoe, right.

Glenn the Geek

Of any shoe that has memory foam in them.

Glenn the Geek

Right, exactly.

Jeremiah Craig

But a traditionally made boot is going to get more and more and more comfortable over the months and years that you wear them.

Glenn the Geek

So that brings up a good question on sizing.

Glenn the Geek

You know, sizing is an issue too, you know, because they all fit different.

Glenn the Geek

I guess the question is, when you're a retailer, how can you educate customers in proper sizing?

Glenn the Geek

And I'm sure you've gotten this question before too.

Glenn the Geek

You know, and obviously when you're a retailer, you're looking at, to reduce returns, that's the biggest thing.

Glenn the Geek

Right.

Glenn the Geek

And obviously increase satisfaction.

Glenn the Geek

But you're trying to reduce returns because return costs money no matter what you do, whatever's returned.

Glenn the Geek

So is there a sizing, is there something you can say about sizing on boots?

Jeremiah Craig

Yes, and a lot of it isn't the retailer's fault.

Jeremiah Craig

I'm going to be, I'm going to say that right now.

Jeremiah Craig

A lot of the, a lot of the fault of the sizing issues are actually with the brands themselves.

Jeremiah Craig

Brands used to offer everything from, you know, quadruple a width to quadruple E width.

Jeremiah Craig

Now it's not so Much the case.

Jeremiah Craig

You get two width options if you're lucky.

Jeremiah Craig

D and double E, average width size and wide width size.

Jeremiah Craig

I am a B width technically, so A Benny, I'm a narrow width and.

Glenn the Geek

I'm the double E.

Glenn the Geek

So there you go.

Jeremiah Craig

Yeah.

Jeremiah Craig

You understand it's tough to find wide widths and it's tough to find narrow widths and the industry as a whole has tried to save money by cutting down the width sizes that they have available.

Jeremiah Craig

Now I've noticed that a lot of brands are starting to notice that Gen Z in particular has a lot of narrow feet.

Jeremiah Craig

Young folks do just in general.

Glenn the Geek

Interesting.

Jeremiah Craig

The people who I've been measuring with a Brannock device, who I work with and try to collab with just locally who are under the age of 30 have narrow width sizes.

Jeremiah Craig

The, the men who I've been, you know, had on my Brannock device are Cs and B widths.

Jeremiah Craig

So I am confident to say that these narrow width sizes are more common than what the industry would have us believe.

Jeremiah Craig

So it's, it's tough to be able to do to, to be able to do that.

Jeremiah Craig

But I was thinking about this and how retailers could, you know, make it better for the customer.

Jeremiah Craig

There are drop shipping options options that a lot of brands have right now.

Jeremiah Craig

And I know one of my brand partners, Carters boots.com they have both options.

Jeremiah Craig

They have boots in store and they also have drop shipping options.

Jeremiah Craig

So they might have a Horsepower is a great example of a brand that is offering narrow width sizes.

Jeremiah Craig

Maybe all you need is just to have a, a be width, a narrow width boot in your store and have that available for somebody to try and then be able to order it for them directly from the brand and have it show up at their house, you know, at the customer's house directly from, from the, from the retailer, from you themselves.

Jeremiah Craig

Because a lot of these folks I've noticed in comments, they'll just go to retailers, just go to stores and try on boots and then go home and order them online anyway.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah, it's a big problem with retailers right now.

Jeremiah Craig

Yeah.

Jeremiah Craig

So I mean how can, how can we get around that?

Jeremiah Craig

And it's maybe just about having try on boots in the store.

Jeremiah Craig

That's something that custom boot makers do too.

Jeremiah Craig

I see on Jim Brainard's Instagram all the time he makes two custom boots.

Jeremiah Craig

When he makes boots, he makes a try on boot to make sure the fit is right.

Jeremiah Craig

And then when he knows the fit is right, he makes another boot for the customer.

Jeremiah Craig

Now that's a lot of work for a custom boot maker, but to have an extra pair of B width boots around or, you know, triple E boots or C width boots, just one pair, just to see if that fits from that brand.

Jeremiah Craig

Maybe that's worth considering along with having several Brannock devices in the store.

Jeremiah Craig

Because I know if I go into a retail store and they don't have a Brannock device, then it's tough to think about whether or not they can actually get a customer the correct fit.

Glenn the Geek

So you obviously are a storyteller.

Glenn the Geek

You're a musician.

Glenn the Geek

Musicians are storytellers.

Glenn the Geek

Right.

Glenn the Geek

And especially when they write their own songs.

Glenn the Geek

Songs.

Glenn the Geek

And you're obviously a storyteller when it comes to the boots.

Glenn the Geek

And we've been talking a lot on this show about how retailers have to start incorporating Instagram and YouTube and short videos, and not necessarily YouTube videos like you do, but short videos into their marketing.

Glenn the Geek

Do you have advice for them as far as when it comes to boots?

Glenn the Geek

What's.

Glenn the Geek

What could be a short video type of thing that they do that's effective and gets people's attention?

Jeremiah Craig

Yeah.

Jeremiah Craig

So there's a couple of different things that you could do.

Jeremiah Craig

You can.

Jeremiah Craig

You can think about what are videos that.

Jeremiah Craig

Or just content in general.

Jeremiah Craig

Videos.

Jeremiah Craig

I'm gonna say this before I.

Jeremiah Craig

I talk about how to make or what to make a video about.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah.

Glenn the Geek

I'm asking them to be your competition, by the way.

Glenn the Geek

So that's fine.

Jeremiah Craig

The more people making videos about boots, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Jeremiah Craig

People ask me if they can start their own channel.

Jeremiah Craig

They'll message me and say, hey, can.

Jeremiah Craig

What do you think about this?

Jeremiah Craig

I'm like, yeah, go for it.

Jeremiah Craig

The more people talking about boots, the more people who will be interested in boots worldwide.

Jeremiah Craig

So more boot content, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Jeremiah Craig

Make your own YouTube channel.

Jeremiah Craig

But making videos is.

Jeremiah Craig

Is kind of.

Jeremiah Craig

It's a lot to think about.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, you.

Jeremiah Craig

You get your.

Glenn the Geek

You.

Jeremiah Craig

You might be able to be like, all right, let's get the phone out.

Jeremiah Craig

Let's talk on camera for a little bit.

Jeremiah Craig

But then once you do it, you might even, like, freeze up a little bit.

Jeremiah Craig

Right?

Jeremiah Craig

So I would say maybe work up to it.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, put out some pictures first.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, make a.

Jeremiah Craig

Make a.

Jeremiah Craig

Make a blog post.

Jeremiah Craig

Make a.

Jeremiah Craig

Make a video that's actually just a bunch of pictures.

Jeremiah Craig

So work yourself up to it.

Jeremiah Craig

You do.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, I was.

Jeremiah Craig

It's also like, you know, when the first time you went swimming, Right.

Jeremiah Craig

You didn't start in the Deep end.

Jeremiah Craig

Right away, you started at the, you know, on the, on the shore of the pond or whatever, right?

Jeremiah Craig

And you, you, you, you could, that way you could get back up to dry land really quick.

Jeremiah Craig

You're not in the middle of the pond, right?

Jeremiah Craig

So it's like you can start slow.

Jeremiah Craig

And then once you start slow and you're starting to get comfortable with the kinds of content and videos that you can make online, think about what people will search for forever, like how a cowboy boot should fit and what people search for right now, like cowboy boot trends.

Jeremiah Craig

So when you're in, when you're at WESA or wisa, depending on how you say it, you know, notice what they're, what they are pushing at the moment and maybe jump on those trends, because those trends are going to happen whether you have them in store or not.

Jeremiah Craig

And it's like, do you want to make money on it or not?

Jeremiah Craig

Big example that I remember from the last one that I was at was the Barbie trend.

Jeremiah Craig

Everything was pink, everything was bright color.

Jeremiah Craig

And this was seven months before the movie even came out.

Jeremiah Craig

So these things are planned.

Jeremiah Craig

So you can put them into your plan to make content about it once it becomes, once it starts to get closer to the actual movie time.

Jeremiah Craig

Right.

Jeremiah Craig

And then pink boots were nuts.

Jeremiah Craig

I remember I had a sponsor from Ariat to do a video about pink boots.

Jeremiah Craig

And then I had an extra pair and I was able to, to gift them to my cousin.

Jeremiah Craig

And she's much younger.

Jeremiah Craig

She's like in, I don't know, 10th grade or whatever.

Jeremiah Craig

And it was so cool.

Jeremiah Craig

She, it like blew her mind that she got these pink boots in the same year that the Barbie movie came out.

Jeremiah Craig

It was nuts.

Jeremiah Craig

So think about the trends and the things that, you know, people will search for forever.

Jeremiah Craig

They call it evergreen content.

Jeremiah Craig

If you're, if you're interested in that.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah.

Glenn the Geek

When we do our health segments and horses, that's all evergreen.

Glenn the Geek

Right?

Glenn the Geek

Because, you know, abscesses are abscesses today or 10 years from now.

Glenn the Geek

So you know what, we've also talked about working with influencers like yourself as a retailer.

Glenn the Geek

And so what tips do you have for retailers looking to work with influencers?

Glenn the Geek

You know, how do they do it?

Glenn the Geek

How do they do it effectively?

Glenn the Geek

Because that's been hit or miss over the years, you know, retailers for 30 years, when I was doing retail, you, you still had your professional riders.

Glenn the Geek

We didn't call them influencers back then, but you had, you had, you know, you had your sponsored riders, we called them and, you know, their professional Riders would, would occasionally talk about, you know, the boots they were using or the saddle they were using.

Glenn the Geek

Things are different now because of social media.

Glenn the Geek

So what tips do you have for retailers when they're looking to do it?

Jeremiah Craig

Yes, that's a great question.

Jeremiah Craig

I would say it depends on how you're selling boots.

Jeremiah Craig

Are you selling boots only in store?

Jeremiah Craig

Like somebody has to come into the store and buy the boots or buy the products or else are you also selling online?

Jeremiah Craig

So if you.

Jeremiah Craig

I've worked with retailers who do both and I've noticed that since my audience is nationwide, the retailers who only sore sell boots in store and don't have online sale options, those don't work out as well for me because, you know, I'm.

Jeremiah Craig

I'm a day and a half away by, by car.

Jeremiah Craig

Right.

Jeremiah Craig

So I would say that if you are selling boots online, that you could work with pretty much anybody, anywhere.

Jeremiah Craig

And if you're working only in store, think about the people who are known a little bit more in your local community, in your region.

Jeremiah Craig

Where, where does your radius of customers start and end and work with folks who are in those areas?

Jeremiah Craig

You know, it's not always about working with the influencer.

Jeremiah Craig

I hate that word, by the way.

Glenn the Geek

Me too.

Glenn the Geek

I do too, by the way.

Glenn the Geek

I agree with you.

Jeremiah Craig

It's not always about working with the person who has a million subscribers or 50, 000 subscribers.

Jeremiah Craig

It's about working with the person who makes the most sense towards your goals, I would say.

Jeremiah Craig

And that could be, you know, the captain of the high school football team.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, it could be the athlete in the rodeo that gets, you know, it could be the barrel racer.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, it could be somebody just like it could be the coffee shop across the road from across the road from your shop on Main Street.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, think about the collaborations that you can do online in social media, whether it's in your local community or nationally, and how that can help get people into your store or onto your website.

Glenn the Geek

So it used to be in the old days and it's changed now, but that when we worked with professional writers, it was a product exchange, right.

Glenn the Geek

We gave them product.

Glenn the Geek

They.

Glenn the Geek

There was no cash that changed hands.

Glenn the Geek

So do you, Is it.

Glenn the Geek

Obviously it's different now.

Glenn the Geek

Do you have.

Glenn the Geek

Are still there only product exchanges available to certain people or do you.

Glenn the Geek

Is there always a cash deal now?

Jeremiah Craig

Oh, it goes both ways.

Jeremiah Craig

I mean, sometimes it's, it's product and extra product.

Jeremiah Craig

Like it could be, it could be anything.

Jeremiah Craig

Some people are more than happy to get a pair of Boots in exchange for a couple of posts on Instagram.

Jeremiah Craig

Some people might need a little bit more than that.

Jeremiah Craig

You know, it was.

Jeremiah Craig

I'm, I'm totally fine with getting a pair of boots from somebody and then especially if they're a smaller spot.

Jeremiah Craig

Until recently, since the economy has changed so much, I'm having to charge more than I used to or just charge, period.

Jeremiah Craig

And it depends on what the person is looking for that you are working with.

Jeremiah Craig

Like I said, it's not always about working with a rider or a professional rider.

Jeremiah Craig

It could be collaborating on a piece of content or an event with the.

Jeremiah Craig

The store next door to you or this, the.

Jeremiah Craig

The store across the street from you.

Jeremiah Craig

How do you get people together?

Jeremiah Craig

And then, you know, what's the term?

Jeremiah Craig

High tide raises all ships.

Jeremiah Craig

Right.

Jeremiah Craig

So if you can figure out those opportunities, network in your community.

Jeremiah Craig

I've been networking quite a bit in my community.

Jeremiah Craig

I found lots of collaborative opportunities that, that help me create more content much more easily for YouTube, you know, become involved with your local chamber of commerce.

Jeremiah Craig

And sometimes those partnerships don't always have to be with, you know, your store and an individual.

Jeremiah Craig

Sometimes they can be with a couple of stores.

Glenn the Geek

So obviously, staff training, when you're talking to stores that, you know, that do a lot of boots, right, Staff training is important.

Glenn the Geek

What you've been in a lot of stores, what do you see as the mistake people make when they're trying to.

Glenn the Geek

When they have a, you know, a large section of boots in dealing with the customers?

Glenn the Geek

What, what are you seeing out there?

Glenn the Geek

That's the thing that jumps out at you that you went, I wish they had done that differently.

Jeremiah Craig

Yeah, I actually, most of the stores that I go to are mom and pop stores with one location.

Jeremiah Craig

And most of those places, if not all of them, I can't think of an experience of a, of a time when they haven't been helpful and known their stuff.

Jeremiah Craig

Most of these places know how to fit people.

Jeremiah Craig

So the small retailers, the people who are listening to this episode, most likely you already know how to fit a boot because you've been doing it for years or you know, your boss has been doing it for years and, and they've been teaching you how to do it.

Jeremiah Craig

I noticed most of the time that the big box stores that have more than one location, they have the most trouble, you know, with fit.

Jeremiah Craig

They don't have Brannock devices.

Jeremiah Craig

The people who are working there really don't know about cowboy boot fit, nor do they care about how a boot should fit.

Jeremiah Craig

So most of the time the retailers are great at fit, but the Brannock device, like I said, the Brannock device is the most important thing.

Jeremiah Craig

And if they don't, it's the, the biggest thing that I notice is that if the size of the person who is.

Jeremiah Craig

When.

Jeremiah Craig

Excuse me, when a person is measured on the Brannock device and the store doesn't have their size because they are wider or more narrow.

Jeremiah Craig

The biggest mistake that I've noticed that some of the big Brock stores have especially is that they try to fit them anyways.

Glenn the Geek

This will fit into this one.

Glenn the Geek

We'll smash it in.

Jeremiah Craig

This size will work.

Jeremiah Craig

When you hear that, that is not a good sign.

Glenn the Geek

And that's because they're, they're not going to wear those boots after one week.

Jeremiah Craig

No.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah.

Jeremiah Craig

That's where most of your returns are going to come from is by saying this size will work.

Jeremiah Craig

And that's not, that's not a good place to go for somebody.

Jeremiah Craig

Because cowboy boots are the most comfortable pair of hard, durable footwear that you can get.

Jeremiah Craig

But the size and the width matter so much.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah, because they are, they aren't right.

Glenn the Geek

I mean they either fit really well or you hate them size wise.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah, exactly.

Jeremiah Craig

And that's where so much of the hate comes from for Kawah boots.

Jeremiah Craig

If you search and how are our cowboy boots supposed to hurt?

Jeremiah Craig

Is something that a lot of people search for on Google and know they are not supposed to hurt from the get go.

Jeremiah Craig

Sure, there's a break in period, but they're not supposed to hurt.

Jeremiah Craig

And that's where so much of the hate comes from.

Jeremiah Craig

And people will say I have a pair of cowboy boots, but they just don't, they just hurt me, you know, I can't, I don't want to ever wear them.

Jeremiah Craig

And it's because they have the wrong size, you know, and somebody said this size will work for you.

Jeremiah Craig

And of course that person, since it's their first pair of cowboy boots, they don't know any better.

Jeremiah Craig

They're going to listen to who they thought was the expert.

Jeremiah Craig

And when somebody tells you that a size will work, it most often won't.

Jeremiah Craig

It has to be the exact size that you are on the Brannock device in order for it to be comfortable forever.

Glenn the Geek

We had our store, I, it was an English store, so I was in charge of the English tall boots.

Glenn the Geek

You think cowboy boots have problem sizing?

Glenn the Geek

Tall boots have calf sizes and length and the whole, I mean we have multiple sizing on one pair of boots.

Glenn the Geek

There was more than one time we got the boot on And I had to cut it off.

Glenn the Geek

We could not get the boot off.

Glenn the Geek

That was before they had the zippers in them and everything.

Glenn the Geek

You just had to pull them on.

Glenn the Geek

And of course they always say, well, I'm this size.

Glenn the Geek

And they always underestimate their calf size especially.

Glenn the Geek

And that's where we'd get into trouble is the calf.

Glenn the Geek

The calf and the boot.

Glenn the Geek

Yeah, I had to cut them off a few times.

Jeremiah Craig

Wow.

Glenn the Geek

Everybody that sized English boots has had to do that one time or another.

Jeremiah Craig

That's not good.

Jeremiah Craig

That's not good.

Glenn the Geek

So it's even more complicated on the English side because now you got the foot, you got the width, you've got the toe, you've got the calf size, you've got the, the length because it has to be, you know, he's not whacking you in the back of your leg and you're around your knee and, and those are.

Glenn the Geek

Do have a break in period.

Glenn the Geek

And people suffer in the break in period.

Glenn the Geek

A lot of those.

Jeremiah Craig

That's no good.

Jeremiah Craig

Yeah.

Glenn the Geek

What other things would you.

Glenn the Geek

We have to close up soon.

Glenn the Geek

We had a question here.

Glenn the Geek

I'm not sure we can answer it.

Glenn the Geek

It's.

Glenn the Geek

Can you share the best way to find a manufacturer?

Glenn the Geek

We are based overseas and need very specific boots.

Glenn the Geek

Just because of the weather, I'm struggling to find a manufacturer without feel like I'm being taken for a ride.

Glenn the Geek

That's where, boy, if you can afford to come to Wessa, I mean, or go to one of the trade shows over in Europe, that's where you develop.

Glenn the Geek

It is truly where you develop relationships in person.

Glenn the Geek

You know, we, we talk about.

Glenn the Geek

And maybe it's not possible for you to do that, but, you know, I've been to almost 40 trade shows now between Wesley and Ada, between the two, the English and the Western.

Glenn the Geek

I've been almost 40 and almost all the relationships I have in the industry were made in person.

Glenn the Geek

It's still, you know, as much social media as we have, you and I sitting and talking for 20 minutes before the show started is probably going to mean more than if we had ever communicated by email.

Glenn the Geek

Right.

Glenn the Geek

We got to know each other.

Glenn the Geek

You know, we might collaborate on other stuff that would have never happened without that conversation.

Glenn the Geek

And that's true of going to see the boots in person and meeting people and developing relationships.

Jeremiah Craig

Exactly.

Jeremiah Craig

I couldn't agree more.

Jeremiah Craig

And that's something that, you know, I have, you know, on my notes heading, heading into this that I want to talk about.

Jeremiah Craig

So I'm so glad that you brought that up.

Jeremiah Craig

Is building relationships is the biggest thing when you're going to Wesa or even trying to make collaborations.

Jeremiah Craig

We were talking about, you know, how do you make content together?

Jeremiah Craig

Building those relationships in person is huge.

Jeremiah Craig

So it is tough to think about trying to find a manufacturer, especially because that is such a difficult space to navigate right now.

Jeremiah Craig

From what I hear from a lot of boot brands, specifically in Mexico.

Jeremiah Craig

Right.

Jeremiah Craig

So if you're looking to get a, a Mexican manufacturer to keep the price of your boots a little bit lower, then that is something that you know, you might want to be in person for at Wesa.

Jeremiah Craig

Building those relationships in person is huge.

Jeremiah Craig

I will also say that a lot of the people who are trying to get more customers for their factory, some more brand and manufacturer relationships, a lot of those folks are on LinkedIn.

Jeremiah Craig

So if, if you can't get to WESA or you aren't planning to go this year, I would highly recommend it just to be able to build those relationships.

Jeremiah Craig

But if you can't make it this year or in January, I should say maybe start looking for those folks on LinkedIn because they are there for sure.

Glenn the Geek

And all of the people that you want to talk to from the company are identified because you know, these people have layers of management.

Glenn the Geek

A lot of the companies, the bigger companies have layers of management and you want to talk to a specific person.

Glenn the Geek

So in marketing or sales, where do people find you?

Glenn the Geek

If they want to collaborate with you, what do they do?

Jeremiah Craig

You know, you can reach out to me in my email.

Jeremiah Craig

So you can email me@bookingeremiahcraig.com I'm on YouTube, I'm on Instagram, I'm on Facebook.

Jeremiah Craig

Search me on Google.

Jeremiah Craig

The last time I checked, I had the whole first page.

Jeremiah Craig

If you search Jeremiah Craig.

Jeremiah Craig

So I've done a lot of work and at least I know there are other Jeremiah Craig's out there.

Jeremiah Craig

But I'm trying to compete with them to own that whole first page.

Glenn the Geek

And if you have employees that aren't too sure about boots or you yourself own the store, you need to go to his.

Glenn the Geek

You need to go to his YouTube.

Glenn the Geek

It's Jeremiah Craig on YouTube.

Glenn the Geek

Just search it, you'll find it.

Glenn the Geek

You have 1400 videos?

Jeremiah Craig

Yes.

Glenn the Geek

Who has 1400 videos?

Glenn the Geek

Nobody has 1400 videos.

Jeremiah Craig

It's not enough.

Jeremiah Craig

It's not enough.

Glenn the Geek

But I like how you have it separated.

Glenn the Geek

You do have playlists.

Glenn the Geek

If you go to his page and you go to playlist, you're going to see the cowboy boot section is completely separated out.

Glenn the Geek

So if all you're interested in is Cowboy boots and not his music or the many other things you do videos about.

Glenn the Geek

It's very easy.

Glenn the Geek

You have it structured very well.

Glenn the Geek

And I know that takes time to put together, too, you know.

Glenn the Geek

So good.

Glenn the Geek

Good job there.

Glenn the Geek

Not all YouTubers are good at that, so.

Jeremiah Craig

Thank you so much.

Jeremiah Craig

Yeah, I want to make sure people find what they're.

Jeremiah Craig

What they're most interested in.

Jeremiah Craig

I will say that if you do find yourself on my YouTube channel enjoying the cowboy boot videos, then give my music a try, too.

Glenn the Geek

I mean, you have everything.

Glenn the Geek

You do have reviews up there.

Glenn the Geek

You just have everything up there.

Glenn the Geek

It's all different kinds of things from how they're made to watching them resol.

Glenn the Geek

Your.

Glenn the Geek

Your.

Glenn the Geek

Your oldest boot pair of boots, which do kind of look like they're up there in age now.

Glenn the Geek

I will say they're 17 years old now.

Glenn the Geek

They're getting up there.

Jeremiah Craig

17 years old.

Jeremiah Craig

Yeah.

Jeremiah Craig

It's.

Jeremiah Craig

It's.

Jeremiah Craig

Every time I think about how old they are, I think about how old I am.

Jeremiah Craig

So I try not to think about it too much.

Glenn the Geek

All right, thank you, sir.

Glenn the Geek

Appreciate you joining us.

Jeremiah Craig

Thank you so much.

Jeremiah Craig

I appreciate your time and good luck, everybody.

Glenn the Geek

If you missed part of this, you can catch the rest of it on the podcast, It's Wisdom by Wesa.

Glenn the Geek

It'll be out there by tomorrow morning.

Glenn the Geek

Of course, you can find the rest of this video either on the website@wesatradeshow.com or you can visit the YouTube channel.

Glenn the Geek

WESA already also has a YouTube channel.

Glenn the Geek

You can find it there.

Glenn the Geek

And we also want you to go to Facebook and search for Retail Roundup.

Glenn the Geek

Everybody should join that because there's lots of good content on there.

Glenn the Geek

You know, you go to WESA every twice a year, a lot of you for a reason, and that's because they help you find manufacturers, they help you improve your business, and they also do it there on the Retail Roundup Facebook page.

Glenn the Geek

The next Retail Roundup will be Posted on Monday, December 23rd.

Glenn the Geek

Stay tuned also for future.

Glenn the Geek

We're going to be resuming these little videos back in February after the trade show is over.

Glenn the Geek

We'll be having a lot more content for you, but check out the Facebook page in the meantime, because there's a lot of stuff still going up there.

Glenn the Geek

Jeremiah, it's been a pleasure.

Glenn the Geek

Talk to you soon.

Glenn the Geek

And Merry Christmas, everybody.

Glenn the Geek

Happy New Year.

Jeremiah Craig

Thank you so much.

Jeremiah Craig

I appreciate it.

Glenn the Geek

You know, retailers, Jeremiah, the day after Christmas is when they can breathe again.

Glenn the Geek

So happy day after Christmas, everybody.

Jeremiah Craig

Yes.

Jeremiah Craig

That's the real holiday for everybody, huh?