Give Them a TASTE of Your Products

November 11th, 2008

Florists Review Interviews the Chief Goddess!

Several weeks ago Glynnis Wright a journalist with Florists Review Magazine called me for a brief interview about how we market our gift baskets.

Funny, I had not thought about what we would be doing this year until she called.  Talk about perfect timing!  So I told her what we have done in the past and what we planned to do this year.

We use email marketing a lot. We send an email special to our customers at least once a month.  To market the gift baskets we will take a few photos, put them into an html email message with links to the product sales page and a teaser message about ordering gift baskets for the holidays.

In the past we have also created a brochure on CD to mail and pass out at networking events.  The CD has a variety of our gift baskets along with tips and articles we feel our prospects and customers would be interested in. These might include the Meaning of Flowers, Top Ten Gifts to Give for the Holidays, 101 ways to Say Thank you and more.  The reason we do our brochure on CD is that we think people are more likely to KEEP IT.  A CD has a higher perceived value than a simple brochure and even if they hold onto it and don’t look at it for awhile, eventually they will.  I know. I have received marketing CD’s from vendors and have a hard time throwing them away without first looking at them. And if I find information on the CD that I can refer to over and over I will keep it.  We plan to do the same thing this year and add a few things to the CD.

Another way we promote our gift baskets is by giving companies a taste of our product. For instance, when a new company opens or joins the local chamber of commerce we might put together a small fruit basket (we call it our nibbler basket) with a note that says – we wanted to welcome you to the chamber and give you a “taste” of our products.  It has worked extremely well to open more corporate accounts and close more sales.  We do this year round and plan to ramp it up during the holiday season by also sending these to our best clients with a note reminding them we carry fruit and gourmet gift baskets for their gift-giving needs.

What do you plan to promote for the holiday season? How do you plan to promote your products? Leave a comment and let me know what you do in your business and I will send you a link to what we include in our Holiday CD!

Entry Filed under: Heidi's Daily Tips, Incentive Marketing, Small Business