Hanukkah is not a “Sabbath-like” holiday, and there is no obligation to refrain from activities that are forbidden on the Sabbath, as specified in the Shulkhan Arukh. An important part of the Hanukah celebration is the menorah. This is a candleholder with eight candles and a shammash or servant candle. One candle is lit by the shammash for each of the night of Hanukah. After the lighting of the candles, people give gifts to one another. People sing and make merry. A popular food for Hanukah is potato pancakes, or latkes, cooked in oil in honor of the miracle.

People go to work as usual, but may leave early in order to be home to kindle the lights at nightfall. There is no religious reason for schools to be closed, although, in Israel, schools close for the whole week of Hanukkah.

Many families exchange gifts each night, and fried foods are eaten.

Whether you spell it Chanukah, Chanukkah, Hanukkah, Hanuka, or Channuka, you’re probably right. Because of the linguistic differences between English and Hebrew, there is no “correct” spelling, though depending on your priorities and taste, some are more correct than others.

Children enjoy playing the dreidel game. This is a top game played with nuts or gold-covered chocolate coins. There are four letters of the top which stand for nun, gimmel, hay, and shin and give the directions for what to give or take during the game. The letters also stand for “nes gadol hayah sham” or “a great miracle happened there.”

Sources: http://www.cstone.net/~bry-back/holidayfun/dec.html ~  http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Spell_Hanukkah, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah

Be sure and recognize the holiday and wish your Jewish friends and clientele a very happy Hannukah either in person, by phone or with a greeting card.

Here are two videos to enjoy for the holiday:

Watch Tim Harrington of LES SAVY FAV as he celebrates Hanukkah on the mitzvah tank in soho.
 http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=BGnJizajCPA

This is a beautiful traditional song: “Hanukkah O Hanukkah”
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=_VthR66p_3c

Mazel Tov!

My good friend, Joan Stewart invited the readers of The Publicity Hound ezine to download and give away her Best of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week from 2008. This free ebook includes 24 of Joan Stewart’s very best publicity tips from her free ezine. 

Here’s a sneak peek at what this year’s book includes:

A fast, inexpensive way to catch the attention of journalists in your community.
 
A clever way to get onto the morning TV talk shows…most people who are pitching aren’t doing this.
 
A place where you can connect daily with journalists who are looking for sources. And it won’t cost you a penny.
 
What to do when you’re tempted to strangle a reporter for wasting your time interviewing you, and then leaving your name out of the story.
 
A news story that appears several times a year in almost every community and is PERFECT for piggybacking onto.
 
9 ways to use video to pull more traffic to your website, sell more products, generate publicity, and build word-of-mouth publicity about your product, service, cause or issue.
 
11 ways to use a paid or unpaid assistant to help with publicity-related tasks.
 
How to make your local Chamber of Commerce one of your biggest promoters.
 
A free tool that tells you whether your press release gets a passing grade or a big, fat F.
 
How to use a popular social networking site to snoop on your competitors legally and ethically
 
What writers can learn from a beloved dog’s obituary.
 
How to claim the Number 1 spot on Google.
 
A publicity mistake that most companies make, and it kills their chances of ever getting covered.

61 pages filled with great content and you can get it for FREE when you download it here: Best of Publicity Hound’s Tip of the WEEK 2008

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and thanks so much for reading Redhead Marketing Blog!

Heidi

Ps. Stay tuned because our brand new marketing calendar for 2009 is due out any day. And it has hundreds of ideas (at least 100 more than the 2008 edition) to help you grow your business.  Leave a comment below and you will be the first to know when it launches.

Tip #1

Put your URL on every piece of advertising you use to promote your company, your business card, letterhead, bills, checks, invoices, delivery vehicles, personal vehicles, magnets, yellow pages, newspapers, notecards, etc.

Tip #2

Partner with vendors, and suppliers to offer giveaways or freebies to your customers.

Tip #3

Make your website part of your overall marketing efforts including networking, print, radio, etc.

Tip #4

Create a registration page on your website and offer something for free to encourage them to leave you their contact information.  It could be a register to win something just for stopping by, or something they can download when they register. Be sure to track where the leads are coming from.

Tip #5

Offer a “hidden prize” on your site such as a dinner for two or free product.  This will encourage people to visit other pages to find the prize.  It is a great way to force people to read all the pages on your site, so they learn more about your company in the process.

Tip #6

Design and write a newsletter or ezine about your area of expertise, industry news, tips, answers to difficult questions, and ideas about how to make the most of your products and services. Create a sign up box for people to subscribe (I use Aweber).

Tip #7

Place banner adds on local sites such as city/town/municipal sites and radio stations.  If these are your customers you can probably “trade” links.  On radio stations, you can offer to provide a giveaway to the listeners for visiting the website.

Tip #8

Cross promote your newsletter with other complimentary companies or companies and individuals who target your audience.

Tip #9

Create a postcard campaign announcing your website and send to everyone in your current database or at least those who would benefit from visiting your site.

Tip #10

Include a voice message for your phone system (or cell phone) inviting callers to stop by your website – be sure and include your website address and spell out anything that would be difficult for someone to understand or has an unusual spelling.

Tip #11

Try a classified ad campaign with an incentive to get people to stop by and take advantage of your special offer.

Tip #12

Ask other complimentary website owners to “trade Links with your site. Start with those you visit and shop and then expand to others that serve your client base.

And be sure to check out the   Internet Business Success Report for the 21st Century for more ideas to Start and Grow and Online Business.

December 17 is Clean Air Day ~ marking the 1967 passage of the U.S. Clean Air Act, a   set of laws enacted to protect the nation from air pollution. It was the first law to place pollution controls on the auto industry. This is a day set aside to honor our clean air  and to raise awareness of the many environmental issues that are changing our climate on earth. This is one of several official days to pay attention to your environment and the air we breathe. However, we should pay attention and do our part EVERY DAY.  

Did you know that flowers and plants freshen the air? And it’s getting close to Christmas, Hannukah and Kwanza.  Send flowers to honor the holidays and the environment.

December 16^th is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day ~ How about a contest inviting customers to come up with the most original or zaniest “recipe” covered in chocolate?  Be sure to spell out the “rules” and include a RATED PG clause J (unless of course you run an exotic dance club).

Tip #1
Determine why you want to start a business

Tip #2
Decide what you want to sell by surveying the marketplace, determining if there is a need and desire for your product or service

Tip #3
To win customers you must stand behind the quality of your products and services

Tip #4
If you sell what everyone else sells, you must offer a wider selection, a better price or superior service ~ note good service is just the starting point to level the competitive playing field. You must offer superior service to stay in the game

Tip #5
If you sell a product, make sure production can meet demand

Tip #6
Write a mission statement for your online business. Include what you sell, why you sell it, to whom you sell, and what makes you different from the competition

Tip #7
Know your startup costs

Tip #8
Learn how to market your business online AND offline

Tip #9
Be consistent in your online and offline marketing efforts. Keep what’s working, get rid of the rest

Tip #10
Protect your customers privacy. Do not rent, sell or give away your mailing list without their permission.

Bonus: Communicate with your customers the way they want to be communicated with in all your marketing endeavors whether it be mail, email, telephone or in person

Be sure to check out the Internet Business Success Report for the 21st Century for more ideas to Start and Grow and Online Business.

Here are my twelve tips for Successful Tradeshow Exhibiting. Print them out and include in your “tradeshow checklist.”

 1.   Bring plenty of brochures, business cards, flyers and other informational literature to give out to all attendees.

 2.   Create a tradeshow special and promote on flyers, coupons and in the show program.  

 3.   Plan and pre-arrange your display table prior to the show.

 4.   Always dress appropriately and comfortably for your business.  

 5.   Bring a change of shoes. You may start the day with a comfortable pair of shoes, however by days end, your feet will be tired and a change of shoes will give you some relief.

6.      You will need one or two people to staff your booth. If you have extra help, have them walk around the show inviting other exhibitors to stop by.

7.      Add color to your booth, either in the form of flowers, a plant or balloons (if appropriate and allowed).  

8.      See who else is exhibiting and introduce yourself. You may just find a complimentary business to cross promote with.

9.      When talking with people you meet, write notes about them on the back of the business cards you received. 

10.  Put the leads you receive in a database and follow up immediately - Send Out Cards are an excellent follow up system.  You can upload the database and automatically send the cards through the Send Out Cards website.

11.  NEVER take your booth apart early.

12.  Smile and have a wonderful day.

Wishing you much success in planning and executing the perfect tradeshow!

Wrap up your business networking plan with the 12 Days of Christmas Social Networking

On the first day of Christmas Social Networking create your social networking plan of action 

HAVE FUN!

1. Find your voice – Shannon said it is important to know what it is you want to accomplish with the event.  Will the event position you as an expert at something? Will it add value to your audience? Will hosting it add to your database or bottom line (or both)? Do you know what you want to say? Who is webinar for? (Demographics)

2. Develop Key Messages ~ Attract more prospects. get more attendees. Make more money, become the expert in your field

3. Use marketing tools available such as press releases.

A. There are basically 3 types of press releases: 1) the basic announcement 2) a tips release with bullets and ideas to reinforce the event and 3) the bonus offered for sign up release.

She said to post on all release distribution sites and traditional media every 2.5 to 3 weeks 10 weeks prior. Some of the sites she recommended include: Theopenpress, pr buzz, prcompass, prurgent, press-base, pressabout, pressmethod, prleap, prlog.org,

B. Email campaigns -  Event listings, feature write ups, articles on topic that link to event – 9 weeks prior

Also solo listings to announce event, benefits of event and a last call (Shannon said solo listings are much better than ezines etc.)

C.  Joint Venture Opps – Find others with similar traffic market and ask if they will promote to their list ~ if event has a fee, have affiliate commission, if not offer to help promote their stuff as well

D. Write 3 articles on topics webinar covers ~ ezinearticles.com, amazines.com, ideamarketers.com, goarticles.com starting 8 weeks out – send out one per week.

E. Blogging ~ tweak content to make original, create six new pieces of content to post to blog 6 weeks out one per week

F. Social media ~ every time you post on your blog send a brief chatty post (headline) using ping.fm to post to all social media sites at once ~ go to startupspark.com – get code for free there

Go to www.beheardsolutions.com/ReadyTalkwebinar.htm for checklists and timeline

OTHER TIPS:

Put contact at bottom of release, not at top! News should be more important than you!

After registration: Send confirmation email thank you for registering, with details to attend ~ also the day before send a reminder follow up.

Post your event to Craig’s list.

How do we make money with free teleseminars?  You can now market to list, they can sign up for your newsletter ~ they are now in the marketing funnel and will start getting your stuff…

CAUTION: Only send emails that would add value to your recipient. Otherwise you will be thought of as a spammer and folks will ask to be removed from your list. Be careful to respect their time and above all their privacy.  Even when I get the registrant into my “funnel” they may only hear from me once every 3 to four months unless of course they sign up for one of my offerings and then it will depend on how often that system sends information and offers to the list.

BTW, on November 7th I interviewed Eddie Peters of 4Profit Marketing about this very subject.  He gave some great tips and also made an incredible offer to our guests. He has a Marketing system worth over $1,200 and he offered it to anyone who signed up for his session for only $99. If you want to learn more, send me an email to heidi (at) redheadmarketingblog.com. I will pass on the details.

Also, on December 4th I will be speaking at the International Association of Hispanic Meeting Professionals on “How to Leverage Social Networking to Grow Your Business.” If you live in or will be in San Diego at that time, you can register for this event. It takes place Dec. 3-6th. Here’s the link: http://www.iahmp.org/iahmp_folder/annu_conference/iahmp_annual_conference.htm

Hope to see you there!

Wherever competitive advertising appears on a regular basis, that’s where your best advertising will be. The next step is to write to the magazines (there will be an address in the ad columns) and ask for their Mail Order Classified & Display Rate Cards.