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WALL STREET JOURNAL – Imagine using your phone to move a couch around your living room. Or put false eyelashes on your face. Or open a wedding cake to see the filling Small firms are giving customers the chance to do just that and more—using augmented reality. Big businesses, of course, are starting to use the technology, as well. But the tool can be especially powerful for smaller firms on tighter budgets. Augmented reality lets them avoid producing lots of sample items or renting large showrooms to show off goods. With augmented reality, digital images can be placed over real-world images or live video on a phone or another device. People can manipulate images on-screen, such as moving a 3-D image of a couch around a real-world room to see how it looks in different places. The technology can be a powerful sales tool, experts say. “It has the potential to change an opinion about an item. Especially for bigger-ticket products, since customers can see more detail,” says ABI Research’s Eric Abbruzzese, who covers the augmented- and virtual-reality marketplaces. Augmented reality “can help convince customers who are on the fence about an online purchase they can’t see in person.” Here’s a look at innovative ways small companies are leveraging this new technology. A new look for cosmetics Beauty brands have been early adopters of augmented reality, since it can demonstrate makeup in stores without the time or expense to apply samples to customers. For Sirine Swed, the chief executive of Denver-based eyelash maker Battington Lashes, augmented reality helps solve a major problem. Many retailers require that samples be discarded after use for sanitary reasons—a big hassle because the products are handmade—or don’t let customers try on the lashes at all. So, Battington partnered with FaceCake Marketing Technologies Inc., a beauty app and marketing company in Calabasas, Calif., to create an app that allows customers to virtually try on eyelashes—placing images of lashes on images of their face. Last year, Ms. Swed says, Battington promoted the app during a QVC segment and saw a big rise in traffic and downloads of the app. A lot of callers “wanted to know how the lashes would look on them.…We told them to try them on using the app,” says Ms. Swed, who has seen a 52% increase in sales over the time she has used the app. Icing on the cake For Magnolia Bakery, a small chain based in New York City, augmented reality was a matter of space. It was impractical to keep full-size samples of wedding cakes, but the bakery wanted to do more for customers than hand out photos of its creations. “Customers ask a lot of questions about things that can’t be seen very well with static photos, like how big the cakes are in real life,” says Sara Gramling, spokesperson for Magnolia. With an app called Kabaq, customers in the store can use an iPad Pro to see 360-degree views of a virtual cake that they can place on a real-world plate. Customers can manipulate the cake images and zoom in to see the filling. Although the bakery has been using Kabaq for less than a year, the owners are happy with the ease of the technology and have gotten great response from customers, Ms. Gramling says. Interior design, digitally Big-ticket items have always been a tougher sell for online retailers that offer off-brand merchandise, since customers have no direct experience with the items or the brand, say experts. Now augmented reality has become an effective way to sample these expensive items. That is why Ryan Walker, co-owner of Horne, a furnishing company in Lancaster, Pa., was an early adopter. The four-employee company—which has never had bricks-and-mortar showrooms—uses augmented-reality features offered by its commerce platform, Shopify. The features let the company display some products in 3-D. When customers click on pictures of the products, a browser pops up that superimposes the 3-D model onto the real-world view from the customer’s smartphone or tablet camera. Then customers can, for instance, move a virtual lamp onto a real-world table. Mr. Walker says sales of items with augmented-reality photos have risen 15% over last year, when they had regular photos. Interior-design clients have also said they can use the augmented-reality feature to do virtual demos with clients, Mr. Walker says. “Right now what they’re really saying is, ‘Hey, it’s great that I can send over the red lamp, and they can kind of see how the red corresponds to their blue couch.’ That’s actually proven to be much more beneficial than I was anticipating,” says Mr. Walker. Sprucing up empty houses Early versions of augmented reality were proprietary and expensive. But many new apps are tailored to the needs of industries like real estate. Chris Lim, founder of Climb Real Estate Group in San Francisco, has been using one of those apps to reduce overhead. Staging empty homes with rented designer furniture is an effective practice in real estate, but it can cost tens of thousands of dollars to hire an interior designer and fill every room with furniture that may be there for weeks or months. So Mr. Lim works with an augmented-reality company, roOomy, that allows him to pack houses with virtual furniture for about $109 per room. The process begins by sending photos of empty homes to the San Jose, Calif., startup. RoOomy turns the 2-D photographs into 3-D spaces, which can then be decorated from a database of prescanned 3-D furniture from bricks-and-mortar partner stores such as Design Within Reach. At the property, customers can hold an iPad in front of them and see superimposed images of furnishings arranged by an interior designer. “It looks like a fully furnished house with paintings, floor coverings and everything else,” says Mr. Lim. RoOomy has helped him move many difficult-to-sell listings in a few days, Mr. Lim says. As a small boutique going up against big competitors, “I think [augmented reality] really differentiates us.” You can read the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/small-businesses-turn-to-augmented-reality-to-win-customers-11556503380

WALL STREET JOURNAL – After retiring from football in 1984, Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris, whose “Immaculate Reception” is a highlight-reel regular, had no idea what he wanted to do; he just knew he wanted to work. “I told myself that no matter what, you can’t be idle,” he recalls. Mr. Harris had no debt and some career earnings socked away. But in the 1970s and ’80s, star athletes didn’t earn multimillion-dollar salaries and often needed second careers. At Pennsylvania State University, Mr. Harris majored in food service and hotel administration. “I never thought I’d actually end up playing pro football,” he says. “I figured I’d just end up managing a hotel someplace.” Instead, he was drafted by the Steelers, and he helped them win four Super Bowls. One of the highlights of his 13-year career was the Immaculate Reception, in his rookie year. In the waning seconds of a game against the Oakland Raiders, Mr. Harris caught a wildly deflected pass and ran for a touchdown, giving the Steelers their first playoff win. A year into post-NFL life, Mr. Harris was approached by a company that sold fruit bars. He took on distribution, and after a year of hawking the bars throughout the Midwest, he launched a distribution company called Franco’s All Naturel. He’d always been a healthy eater, and he wanted to promote that lifestyle with frozen snacks. It started as a one-man operation. Mr. Harris loaded his truck in Pittsburgh by moonlight, driving to Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia to fill orders for convenience stores. “It was hard work, but I discovered I really enjoyed the food-distribution business,” Mr. Harris says. He also began reading business books. “I needed to do a lot of catching up,” he says. In 1989, Mr. Harris was approached by a small baked-goods company that wanted him to sell its doughnuts. He agreed to join if the company removed preservatives from the recipe and added vitamins and minerals. The company complied. A year later, Mr. Harris bought Super Donut and rolled his All Naturel products into a new company: Super Bakery Inc. The company’s success encouraged Mr. Harris to buy Parks Sausage Co. The 48-year-old Baltimore brand was the first black-owned public company and a source of jobs for the depressed area, but the company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. “Parks had a lot of history that was worth saving,” says Mr. Harris, who partnered with former Baltimore Colts star Lydell Mitchell to buy Parks. The two raised flagging sales by 50%, but it wasn’t enough; they kept the brand but sold the facility. Sales at the Super Bakery have been good, and Mr. Harris says he is lucky to have done so well as a running back and a CEO. “People have a tendency to put all athletes in a single can and say this is what they are,” Mr. Mitchell says. “That’s not the case. When we were playing, football was really a means to get into that next step. So where we are now is where we’ve been trying to get to all along.” This story was written for the WSJ Second Acts column. You can read the full article here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121562410424639701

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Despite his Ph.D. and scholarly authorship, Brian May’s rock and roll is thankfully still intact. During a recent lecture at the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Auditorium at the Los Angeles Griffith Observatory, May — the former Queen lead guitarist turned lettered astrophysicist —  walked on stage wearing a black coat, tails and white sneakers, signature curly mop sitting atop his head. His appearance pleased the many Queen fans in the audience. Day was joined onstage by Elena Vidal, the co-author of “A Village Lost and Found,” his book on Stereoscopy. (The title refers to the village scenes depicted in the stereo cards of 19 century photographer T.R. Williams.) Stereoscopy is a kind of 19 century 3D photography that documented the everyday lives of people, typically in rural settings. The cards are seen through a viewer, held up like binoculars. The images for the right and left eye show the same scene but are taken with slightly different perspectives. The brain creates the illusion of depth, a la “Avatar” said May. “But this is better since it shows real people and not a made up world.” May’s love of 3D began as a child while growing up in Hampton, London. He collected the 3D card premiums that came in boxes of Weetabix cereal and his interest grew over the years. He says he used to attend Christie’s auctions while in college and watch the stereo cards being sold to collectors. He couldn’t afford to bid then but learned as much about their history as he could soak up. After becoming a big rock star, he started buying them. “I don’t have them all yet,” he joked. The lecture closed with a 3D slide show, which Vidal introduced. Each card had a short verse on back that was written by the photographer, and May read them in a dramatic low cockney accent, charming the audience. Afterwards, fans lined up downstairs to have their books signed by May and Vidal. One fan even brazenly deposited a demo CD of his band, which May accepted graciously. When resident Griffith astronomer David Reitzel was asked about the incident, he shook his head and remarked that May was a nice guy. You can read the Speakeasy blog post here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-42310

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Think video is the best way to grab customers online? Try broadcasting in real time. Mobile apps like Twitter’s Periscope and Facebook Live let users watch streaming video with their smartphones and have real-time conversation with the broadcasters. Now companies are leveraging those tools to show customers product demonstrations, answer questions and give behind-the-scenes tours, while having ongoing conversations with them. The real-time interaction inspires more customer trust than prerecorded videos, say entrepreneurs and experts, and viewers are more likely to buy impulsively in response to a live broadcast. Nicole Rixon has seen great results from doing live streams for her business, Sweet Stamp Shop in Indian Wells, Calif. Ms. Rixon, whose business sells decorative adhesive stamps used to adorn personal planners, does weekly Periscope broadcasts, called scopes by users, to show off new product offerings. About 100 viewers jump in to ask questions or to send animated hearts—the equivalent of a Facebook “like” on Periscope. They also buy. “Whenever I do a Periscope video, I can hear ding, ding, ding from my computer in the background from people buying stuff off my website. My mother told me to turn it off, but it’s a nice sound to hear,” says Ms. Rixon. She attributes her following to being accessible and earnest with social media. She doesn’t push her products. She discusses her inspirations and talks to viewers about how they use the stamps. “You can’t be greedy and self-serving on social media or customers will see that,” she says. “That really comes across on live video.” Here are some other strategies that small businesses can use to make the most of live online broadcasts. Give customers a role Fan chatter is an important part of the live-stream experience for viewers, so it should be worked into the program, says Alex Pettitt, a broadcaster and media consultant from London. He recommends open-ended Q&As and product demonstrations. “I can have in my mind the messages I want to go over for that stream, but at the same, people might have questions that I never thought of as I’m showing,” he says. “The interactivity allows participants to feel as if each has had any personal concerns about a service or product directly addressed.” San Francisco-based Benefit Cosmetics does live video makeup tutorials every month for nearly 33,000 followers and allows the customer conversations to drive demonstrations. In a recent scope, a viewer asked host Maggie Ford Danielson, global beauty authority for Benefit, about the best ways to cover up dark circles under the eyes and fine facial lines. Ms. Danielson responded by demonstrating the techniques on herself while continuing to answer viewer questions. The response by viewers was very positive, despite the demonstration not being perfect. “A lot of other brands have a very polished look, feel and vibe and only put out polished tutorials,” says Claudia Allwood, Benefit’s U.S. digital-marketing director. “For us, we know that our customer may be using our products on the fly and has questions and may need to see it for herself. We show how it would be used in real life.” Do backroom tours Many small companies maintain a formal tone on social media that can put off followers. Taking a camera behind the scenes to do employee interviews or a tour of the backroom can soften a company’s image, says Kim Garst, founder of Boom! Social Media Marketing, a social-media consultancy. It can also be used to generate comforting familiarity for long-distance customers who may never have seen the company’s shop in person. The Mayo Clinic receives patients from around the country, so it has turned to Periscope and Facebook Live to show viewers what can be expected at the Rochester, Minn., medical campus. It does virtual tours of the clinic and Q&A sessions with Mayo physicians and scientists. Mayo even live-streamed a medical procedure performed on Lee Aase, director of the clinic’s social-media network, and more than 3,000 people tuned in. The discussion was very active throughout the procedure and included a lot of appreciative hearts. Promote the event Because of how fleeting live videos are, it’s important to promote broadcasts across all other social-media channels before, after and even during the event. Before his procedure, Mr. Aase wrote about the event in multiple blog posts. He also posted Facebook updates, mentioned the event in email newsletters and tweeted about it. “It’s important for any organization to promote events and maintain a regular schedule so viewers know when to look for you,” he says. Think about timing Facebook Live recommends broadcasting for at least five minutes. But pros say longer is even better, if you have enough to say, since it gives viewers more time to tune in and get the message that you want to deliver. Adobe Systems did a 24-hour stream on Periscope last year to promote the release of its Creative Cloud software suite. Product managers chatted with customers about what’s new for apps like Photoshop and Illustrator. Companies should also consider when their audience is most likely able to join the live stream. Companies should experiment with different times to find what works best, and then broadcast regularly. You can read the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-grab-customers-with-real-time-streaming-video-1462155379

WALL STREET JOURNAL – For Shelley Davis, the secret to promoting a business on YouTube isn’t making videos. It’s talking to customers. Two years ago, Ms. Davis decided to set up a YouTube account to show videos about her hair-care company, Kinky-Curly Hair Products LLC. While poking around the site, she found that lots of African-American women had posted video blogs, or vlogs, about choosing natural hair over braids, perms or dreadlocks. This was right up Ms. Davis’s alley, so she jumped into the comments sections of the vlogs, offering advice and answering questions about her products. The result: a surge of support. Vloggers have posted more than 5,100 videos showing them trying out Kinky-Curly products, and Ms. Davis says the attention has helped boost sales by 40% and push her seven-year-old company into profitability, as well as land its products in Target and Whole Foods Market. “YouTube has had the greatest influence on my company,” says the 39-year-old, who runs Kinky-Curly out of her Los Angeles apartment. “When dozens of different vloggers with their own unique hair types actually video themselves applying the product in the shower in one continuous take, it’s hard to dispute how it ends up looking.” Beyond Sales Pitches Lots of small companies make an effort to engage with customers on Twitter or Facebook. But a growing number of them are also finding success by joining conversations on YouTube. Instead of just uploading commercials, they’re reaching out to the site’s communities and cultivating relationships with vloggers. In the best cases, the vloggers turn into ambassadors who make videos about the products and talk them up in forums. Sometimes things go even further; Ms. Davis, for instance, recently hired a few vloggers to help her YouTube efforts and do in-store demos. But getting to that point takes some work. Community members want nothing to do with forum members who clearly are only promoting their own interests. And missteps by a company can lead to heated arguments, which can quickly dominate YouTube discussions and spread to other forums. So, companies must establish a history of being helpful in discussions, says Kieran Healy, an associate professor of sociology at Duke University. Consider Benchmade Knife Co. Company reps won’t start conversations on YouTube but will contribute to them, answering questions posted about their knives, commenting on vlog reviews and discussing anything else that has to do with the company. It’s a big job for the five-man staff, since there are currently 3,980 YouTube videos by vloggers that review Benchmade knives. New comments are made around the clock by a world-wide audience, so employees often post replies from home after hours. The company says the effort has brought significant sales increases, while giving vloggers a sense that Benchmade is listening to what they have to say. “Being accessible promotes brand loyalty, and that really shows on forums,” says Rob Morrison, Benchmade’s director of marketing. Benchmade also offers vloggers loaner knives for review, as well as discounts and glimpses into future product offerings. “It’s cheaper and more convincing if a vlogger reviews a knife,” says Mr. Morrison. “To produce the same number of intricate 10- to 20-minute videos that [knife vlogger] Nutnfancy does for each product we make would be impossible to afford.” Better Than an Ad Woodman Labs Inc.’s GoPro, which makes a digital video camera for recording action sports, learned the hard way about the importance of the softer sell in discussions. Initially, the Half Moon Bay, Calif., company tried to promote its camera, the Hero, on a mountain-bike forum, but the efforts ended up annoying some members, who would turn around and point out perceived shortcomings of the camera. “We have learned that listening is as important as talking,” says Rick Loughery, who leads the social-media efforts at GoPro. GoPro’s more laid-back approach on YouTube has brought strong results. Vloggers have produced 7,500 videos about the Hero, and more than 15% of GoPro’s total traffic and sales now comes from social media. Listening to vloggers has also helped GoPro find new niches. For instance, the company learned through vlogs that people were mounting Hero cameras onto remote-controlled cars, boats, planes and helicopters—so GoPro created a kit designed specifically for those hobbyists. “We would have never thought of that, but we’re all for it,” says Mr. Loughery, who’s studying up on the hobby so he’ll be able to knowledgeably communicate with the community. You can read the full article here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704654004575517673165122024