Halloween Marketing – Pumpkins and Goodie Bags Can Go A Long Way

Happy Halloween!

Each year is filled with holidays and special occasions that you can use as an opportunity to promote your business and services. Halloween is one such opportunity where you can engage with your current customers and try to attract new customers.

A few years ago, a few days before Halloween, I arrived home to find a pumpkin at my door. Attached to the pumpkin was a little goodie bag with pumpkin carving tools, carving designs, a few pieces of candy, and a note from a local realtor wishing me a Happy Halloween.

What a great idea! I’m sure many people were surprised and delighted to receive a gift and I’m sure that families with kids enjoyed the pumpkin and goodies even more. Leaving a pumpkin with some treats to market your business or just let people in the community know that you care and are interested in them is such a simple and nice way to promote yourself.

Buying a pumpkin for many people may end up costing more than you would like, but handing out little goodie bags with your information, a small note, and some treats is inexpensive and will still get the message across. Many party stores sell Halloween goodie bags and you can often get a bag of candy for $2-3 at your local supermarket. As for promoting yourself, there are many promotional product companies out there that sell items you can put your name and logo on. Other ideas include making your own personal Halloween cards or creating little tags with your business information that you can attach to the goodies in the bag.

It’s simple and effective. Create and give out a gift that will be remembered.

Have fun and be safe this Halloween!

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Online Marketing Tips for the Holiday Season

Time is ticking for holiday sales. What can you do?

The Wall Street Journal wrote a great article a few weeks ago on how to ramp up on holiday sales this year. These simple tactics may often be overlooked, but when implemented can help bring in extra traffic and sales.

Update Your Website
Make updates to your website! Feature a more festive look and offer special holiday promotions to attract customers to buy, buy, and buy some more. Understand what customers find important in online shopping during the holiday season. Is your website secure? How much is shipping? Is your shipping information easy to find? Will it ship on time? Are there discounts for buying multiple items? How about refunds and exchanges? Are there guarantees or warranties you can offer to the customer? Make this information prominent on your website so that potential customers don’t leave disappointed because they could not find such crucial information.

Utilize Search Engines
Target terms that are focused on the holidays. Do you sell gifts or seasonal products? Who is your target audience and who might they be buying gifts for? Utilize this information to go after keywords that are focused on your line of business, your products and services, and your customers. Target specific keywords since holiday shoppers often know specifically what they are looking for. This will result in high quality traffic and lower costs.

Explore Social Media
Review sites are a big deal during the holiday season. Prospective customers want to know if your company is reliable, provides good service, and sells products or services of high-quality at low prices. Do some research on review sites and encourage loyal customers to vouch for you.

Email Marketing
Stay focused on email marketing efforts during the holiday season. This is when many inactive customers come to life knowing that your company will be offering great deals. Offer not only special pricing but also offer tips on how to use the products or services. Be creative and find ways to engage the customer.

With that said, start ringing in the sales!

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Learning Innovation From a Watermelon

Financial Hack has some great advice on being innovative. Using Japan’s square watermelon, they show why thinking outside of the box is one of the smartest things you can do in the business world.

There are some great lessons to take away from this article. I think the main things are to realize that nothing is impossible and to always to look for an easier way to do things. It is these two factors that have been behind all major technological advances. The same spirit that created square watermelon created cars and created the internet. Always keep your mind open and look for a better way!

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Maximize Your Logo’s Effectiveness

Where do you put your logo? While consistency is important, it needs to be balanced with where the logo is placed. Many items work more efficiently with a logo in one place for one situation and in other situations, they work better with the logo in another location.

For example, if you order a folding chair with a carrying bag, there are three possible places to place your logo depending on where you plan to use the folding chair:

• Trade Shows: If you order the chairs for set up at a trade show and know people will look at the front of the chair, placing the logo on the front makes the most sense.

• Every Day Use: If you are giving chairs away to be used at the beach or sporting events, the logo on the back would provide you with the best exposure, as a person sitting in the chair will block any logos on the front.

• Traveling: If you plan to pass the chairs out at a trade show or are planning to give them to frequent travelers, placing your logo on the traveling case would be the best advertising space.

Keep this in mind when creating company ads and you will soon notice that focusing on the location of your logo always benefits your brand.

What was the smartest place you ever saw someone put a logo?

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Low Cost Ways to Support Your Community

Have you ever noticed all those organizations that sponsor the local Girl Scouts, little league games, community picnics, etc.? People support those businesses that sponsor because they have shown an interest in the community and want to help. You can be one of those companies.

Sponsoring local events will build your image in the community. As an extra bonus, if the event is run by a non-profit organization, contributions are tax-deductible. There are many inexpensive ways to show your support and get your community’s support in return.

•Provide food. Bringing hot dogs or drinks to a small event could cost under $50, but will get you remembered.

•Donate products for a raffle. Many events use raffles or other competitions to raise money. Donate products for gifts and you’ll be appreciated by everyone at the event, not just the winner.
•Offer services for the event. If you own a printing service, offer to print flyers or programs. If you are a furniture rental service, loan chairs. Anything you can offer a community event will be welcome.

•Donate employee time. Sometimes the best thing you can do is offer a helping hand. Offering multiple pairs of hands will show your company’s generosity.

Sponsoring community events will not only get you known by attendees, but your name will be spread around town as a business that cares.

How have you helped out your local community?

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How a Waning Economy Can Boost Your Business

With gas prices on the rise and the fall of the American dollar, it can be a scary time to be a small business owner. It doesn’t have to be. If you use these facts to your advantage, you can take over, or at least be competitive in, your local marketplace.

• Customers Are Shopping Around. In tighter economies, people need to stretch their dollar further. Many of your competitor’s customers will shop around to find the best deal. This is a great chance to lure people in with sales, first-time client discounts and more.

• Loyal Customers Need Love Too. Maintain your existing customer base by pairing good prices with a loyalty program. Hold on to your customers -if you offer them good reasons to stick with you, they will.

• Competitors May Disappear. Some businesses will not compete successfully in a bad economy and may downsize, scale back their product/service lines or even go under. Make it easy for their past customers to transition to your company and they’ll be happy to make the switch.

• Customers Want Satisfaction. The best way to keep customers happy is by offering great customer service. In times of hardship, people need to know who they can trust. Give customers a reason to trust you and they will stay by your side.

• Fewer Companies Are Advertising. Your competitors will not pay for advertising when profit margins are shrinking. Take advantage of this by following our instructions on marketing for virtually free.

Being a successful business person doesn’t depend on the economy so much as knowing how to manipulate information to your advantage. Using the marketplace to give you an upper hand is a helpful business tactic that can be used in all economies.

How do you fare in bad economies? Do you have any advice?

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