Search Results for ‘holiday selling’
Surfing the WEB for tips to make your company stand out on Black Friday
Think of Black Friday as an opportunity to bring in new customers by offering a few good Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Not only will this kick off your holiday season on a positive note (and hopefully add to a healthier bottom line) you can take advantage of the fact that people will be shopping online and therefor traffic will be stronger on these two days.
Since Black Friday is all about promoting your business and selling more, here are several ideas to help you plan a killer selling day (or days).
Be sure to grab your share of sales
The average Black Friday corresponds to around-the-store lines before the sun rises. Now, of course, we seem to be in a recession, but that may make November 28th an even more profitable time for every business that has something to sell.
Insane deals tend to get people moving on Black Friday, and folks who would prefer to get some sleep may join the mobs due to their financial situation. Like major retailers, you can try to draw them in by offering big discounts on a few items, and then see what else they spend while they’re in the store.
Read the rest of the Black Friday Boom Forecast here: http://www.smallbusinessnewz.com/topnews/2008/11/17/black-friday-boom-forecast
Small Business Can Make Big Plays on Black Friday
Black Friday is like the Super Bowl. It’s a huge event that draws millions of people. But only the big boys get to play on the field. People like you and me only get to watch.
At first glance, Rafi Mohammed seems to reinforce that with his advice for retailers to woo customers with steep discounts on Black Friday. He encourages retailers to use loss leaders to welcome people back from discounters.
For anyone tempted to compete with the big boys on price, this is a pretty good reason to abandon that strategy. It also looks like a pretty good reason to stay in bed Friday and let the big retailers deal with all those people.
To read more visit http://mainebusiness.mainetoday.com/blogentry.html?id=16424
Black Friday Bargains for Small Business
Black Friday — and the following Cyber Monday — can also be a great time to go shopping for your small business. Just ask Rhonda Abrams of USA Today. She suggests the following:
Strategies for successful small business Black Friday shopping:
1. Make a list of stuff you really need. Don’t buy just because something’s cheap. It’s tempting, I know.
2. Check to see which version of Windows 7 you need. If you have a server you’ll need at least the Pro or Ultimate edition. Upgrades are very expensive so buy the right one.
Read the rest of the article “Black Friday Bargains for Small Business” at USA Today ~
http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/abrams/2009-11-20-black-friday-bargains-for-small-business_N.htm
Over at online betting zone Bookmaker, they’ve put out their oddsmaking team’s predictions. The majority of the team says between 161 million and 180 million of us will hit the stores and websites on Black Friday, and we’ll spend between $300-$400 per shopper. Second-best odds were for 131 million to 161 million shoppers spending $250-$300 apiece.
To read what else they have to say read Black Friday and Cyber Monday…Will They Rock? on the Entrepreneur.com blog here http://blog.entrepreneur.com/2009/11/black-friday-and-cyber-mondaywill-they-rock.php
And if you happen to be out shopping on Black Friday, here’s a few tips for you:
Make list: In any shopping maneuver, a list can help you plan ahead and shop more efficiently. Look through sales fliers and check out www.black-friday.net for information on which stores are offering what deals. Then you can prioritize the items on your list, and plan out a route according to what is most important to you. Also list any coupons you have that can be used to further reduce the prices of desired items.
Visit the store the day before Thanksgiving: After you know what you are looking for, visit the stores ahead of time. Familiarize yourself where the desired items are located in the store. Make friends with a sales associate to find out if there will be additional discounts, or if you can reserve something ahead of time (for most doorbusters, though, associates aren’t allowed to do this).
Read the rest of Holiday Shopping: Tips for Black Friday and Cyber Monday here: http://www.moolanomy.com/2135/holiday-shopping-tips-for-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-mmarquit01/
While you are at it, read 10 Fascinating Facts about Black Friday http://www.pcworld.com/article/182224/10_fascinating_facts_about_black_friday.html
November 23rd, 2009
Did you know….
March 3rd is Unique Names Day - Have customers call in about their names (their origin, why they were named that name, etc.) or have them post them online and have a contest for the most unusual name. While my name is not that unusual anymore (Heidi), growing up it was a real pain some days. Especially whenever the movie was aired on TV. I would get teased unmercifully the next day about it. My mom chose that name because she loved the book by Johanna Spyre. A few years ago I met a man named Twig and since I had never heard the name before asked him how his parents chose the name. He told me it was because when he was born he was the smallest baby in the nursery and the name “twig” just seemed to fit him.
March 4th is OLD ROCKS Day – Fossils have been called “Mother Nature’s diary” … they tell the history and secrets of life before us. The word “fossil” comes from the Latin word fossilis (which means “dug up”). Although most “old rocks” are are dug up by paleontologists, if you are lucky you might just dig up a few in your own backyard.
So what can you do on Old Rock Day? In this day of WEB 2.0 and new media and social marketing, we often loose site of some of the classic, time-tested marketing techniques we used effectively in the past. Take the business card as an example. Business cards come in all shapes, sizes and materials these days. They can be a mini CD or a traditional size or even a fold-over business card. How about using your “old” business card in a “new” way. To make it a marketing vehicle and not just a means of others contacting you. Say you have several products or services you offer. Why not create a business card specifically designed to highlight each one (or your most popular, or slowest selling, or whatever – you decide). Find places to distribute your business cards. Such as your local chamber of commerce or if appropriate your local tourist information centers. Post them on billboards in high-traffic areas where allowed. Give extra copies to your best clients and ask them to hand out to someone who they know needs your services. Include them in the envelope when you mail a payment or invoice (if you still do that). Where else can you distribute your business card? What other marketing ideas have you used in the past that need to be resurrected? Old Rock Day is the perfect day to do just that!
Today is also: Fun Facts About Names Day, I Want You To Be Happy Day & National Anthem Day.
March 4th is also National Grammar Day & Courageous Followers Day.
For more ideas like this, check out my newest book Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Promote YOur Business Using Zany and Non-traditional Holidays at www.quirkyoffer.com.
March 3rd, 2009
There’s still time to get ready for a successful holiday season.
Here are a ten tips to make for a more successful holiday season.
1. Review last year’s sales records. Compare them to prior years. This will help you “forecast” what you could do this season. Has your business seen a steady increase each year. Have you had poor sales one year and brisk the next? If so, what was happening in the world? Was the economy strong or weak? Did a natural disaster affect your business? You must consider all things possible when making your forecast.
2. Check inventory. Do you have items from last year that you need to sell? Can you sell them at full-price (such as traditional items)? These do not include the trendy seasonal items that reflected the times and would be considered outdated by your customers.
3. Review the items you have pre-ordered – it is amazing how quickly we forget all those wonderful things we purchased during gift and trade shows in anticipation of a good holiday.
4. Review your notes from last year – the things you did right, those ideas for improvement for the next year and be sure to include them in your holiday marketing plans.
5. Check out your marketing and advertising from the last three years paying particular attention to the immediate past. Was it effective? Did it meet or succeed your ROI goals? Make a list of the media you want to continue and any new media you would like to try (conservatively). Start contacting the media now to get the best prices an dplacement.
6. Check web stats for best sales days, highest traffic days, conversion rates, best and least selling items.
7. If you offer more than one type of service/product, review each individually. For instance a florist might also sell plants, gift baskets, balloons, books, plush animals and other giftware. Which items did best, and which did not do well at all. This will help you buy accordingly for the upcoming holidays.
8. Brainstorm with your staff/marketing team/ management to come up with themes around specific holidays. Do you want to use eskimos in your christmas displays? Do you need candles and dreidels for your Hannukah vignettes? Are pumpkins a popular choice for Thanksgiving or fall leaves or does something else strike your fancy? Do your customers shop your store for Halloween.
9. Review your staffing from the previous year. Did you have too much or not enough staff?
10. Create a rewards program for the upcoming holidays. Rewards can range from commissioned sales, to trips, to dinners out, to movie tickets, to days off, to shopping sprees, to recognition programs. Be sure to include time for celebration where everyone can join in the fun as a group.
BONUS: Send your customers/clients a holilday card early. Don’t wait until December 10th to send a card. Send it today. I use
SendOutCards to promote my business and stay in touch with clients and customers. It is the best automated system I have found. Real cards to real people in the mail! Check it out at:
www.SendOutCards.com/Heidi Use all the things in your RETAIL REVIEW to create your holiday marketing calendar. The calendar will help you meet deadlines, update your websites, plan your open houses, place ads and create marketing materials necessary to promote the holidays to your prospects and customers. If you have the staff, give each a different area of responsibility such as window design, inside displays, overseeing of your website, etc. Be sure to look at your market and see if it has changed from previous years.
November 20th, 2008
Getting eCommerce Ready…
When it comes to eCommerce, it’s not too early to start thinking about how you are going to prepare for the holiday season. You don’t want to put everything about your whole business and everything you offer on your home page. Have landing pages for separate items. When you give people too many choices, they become paralized and will leave without buying. Showcase your number one items or best sellers or the one, two or three items you want to move on your home page. Here are 13 more tips to prepare for the holiday rush:
1. Make sure you have precautionary measures in place. Where does your business get hit the hardest during the holidays? Is it local deliveries, customer service, shipping? Focus your attention on getting those parts of your system ready for the holidays.
2. Get help. Taxing your regular help during the madness that can occur during the season, can do more damage than good. Consider outside help to get you through the holidays.
3. Automate anything and everything you can. This reduces labor costs and streamlines processes and in most cases helps the customer get quicker service.
4. Reduce time by auto-processing credit cards. That includes auto settle and authorizations.
5. Manage Inventory. With the economic uncertainty of the upcoming holiday season, it is good to keep a low stock inventory as long as you can order and get a quick turnaround on products you need when the time comes.
6. Consider drop shipping orders to cut down on inventory. Use softeware that automatically forwards those orders to your vendors for fulfilment.
7. Rely on someone else’s I.T. Staff by using a software service provider. They have the compliant issues in place and they may be more able to have a quick turnaround if a proble arises.
8. Personalize your marketing offers. Use your cusotmer database to increase revenues by creating a 1, 2, 3 touch approach to remind them you are there to assist their gift-giving needs. That could be a postcard, email and telephone call or any combination of tactics to get them to order from you.
9. Send emails wisely and prudently. Don’t innundate your email database with messages. They will get mad and ask to be removed. Remember everyone is vying for their business right now. Create email templates or edit and reuse those that have worked in the past. Saves time, and creative talent to work on other high-priority projects.
10. Automate your gift certificates. Gift certificates have gained in popularity and every year the % of people who buy them increases. Many people actually prefer receiving them too. If you don’t offer gift certificates online, think about adding this feature to your website. Its a new source of revenue and there is nothing to ship.
11. Make use of multiple stores like ebay and Amazon or Yahoo to test products, to sell overstock items and move last season’s inventory.
12. Consider a “membership” program such as a flower of the month or book of the month club program.
13. TEST, TEST, TEST. Make sure your ecommerce site works properly, is easy to understand and seamless. Do pages load quickly or do they take more than 5 seconds? Do you have lots of flash? Do they inhibit buying with obtrusive popups or automatic sound? Invite current customers to do a ‘beta’ test, and Offer discounts to them for their feedback.
The best time to think about next year’s holiday season is when this one is over. You can plan better when records are within your reach and everything is fresh in your mind.
Happy Selling!
October 25th, 2008
I’m not in sales but I’ve been selling my whole life. From the time I was five and walked around the neighborhood collecting soda bottles (for the 3 cent deposit) while pulling my 2 year old brother in his red wagon to my first lemonade stand at six, selling has been a natural part of who I am. By 11, I was cleaning other people’s houses and had to sell the neighbors on the benefits of my services, which were basically a clean home at an affordable price ($15 to clean a 3 bedroom house – times sure have changed!).
Then at 14 my mom allowed me to babysit the neighbor kids ($1.50 hour). It didn’t take me long to figure out that cleaning houses yielded a higher profit (they only took me 6-7 hours) than babysitting so I did more housecleaning than the latter.
For some of you it was a lawn business or paper route (or both). Maybe you sold holiday cards, candy or cookies for a group or school. The point is you learned how to sell yourself early in life. I call this type of selling “Gain selling” because both parties gain something in the process.
Selling the benefits is what the customer wants out of the deal and has nothing to do with you – except that you gain a customer, which means you “gain” more income. It is not about you, it’s all about them.
September 19th, 2008
or… How to Drum up Business by Knocking on Doors!
I love the idea of Door to Door Marketing and in fact years ago when I first started in business “hired” my kids to do this for me. I also hired teenagers in the summer to put door hangers out there in neighborhoods. It really was a great way for customers to find out about my products and
services.
According to the Associated Press “Others factors besides the do-not-call list have prompted companies to put sales staff back on the street. Unsolicited e-mail annoys most computer users, and improved spam-blockers make the tactic less effective. And it’s hard to persuade customers tovisit a company’s Web site.”
And a spokesperson for the Direct Selling Association said “I think companies are looking for new distribution channels for their products. Door-To-Door selling has traditionally been undervalued by Wall Street, but many realize its strength. It’s a niche market, but $28.7 billion in
sales last year make it nothing to scoff at.”
After a few years of doing the marketing ‘in-house’ I hired a company that sold the space in the form of a flyer insert to local businesses and then would go around and hang these on doors in specified neighborhoods. Prior to every major holiday I would do a door-to-door campaign to raise awareness and more customers. The main reason I stopped is that it got costly and didn’t really have the same return as when we hired “kids” to do the hangings. It may also have had to do with other companies sharing the space. People might look at that as junk mail and yet, when a company does it as a single ad, it looks like it is more effective.
So guess what? I am going to do it again! On my own… with no other companies in the hanger. and I might even knock on a few doors and introduce myself this time.
I am going to create a gift certificate that can be either used toward a purchase or can be redeemed for something of value on the certificate.
So, what kind of Door-to-Door Marketing campaign could you come up with?
Need help marketing your small business? Redhead Marketing Can Help! Contact heidi (at) redheadmarketingblog.com for a quote.
August 23rd, 2008
