Small Biz Marketing
A whole new year. And it’s time to decide what you’re going to do with it. With days like Motivation and Inspiration Day (Jan. 2nd), and National CanDo Day (Jan. 4th), there are plenty of days to celebrate and focus on getting things done this month. Starting with New Year’s Day (Jan. 1st), people start talking about the New Year’s resolutions they’ve made, and marketers everywhere will be talking about planning an entire year’s worth of marketing now. And I’m no exception. Yes, marketing takes time and effort. And, you’ll have a greater chance of success if you use an online marketing calendar to plan your marketing strategy in advance. But it doesn’t have to be difficult. The most important thing to remember is that your marketing plan is a living document. (Tweet this!) Right now, it needs to be a basic roadmap for where you want to go and
Nobody likes missing out on something big. Make sure you’re planning your holiday promotions ahead of time, so you’re not late to the party! With holiday retail sales reaching over $886 billion in 2021, your business cannot afford to miss out this holiday season. So let us show you how to create some great holiday promotions and get the word out with professional holiday email templates. In this article, we’ll give you eight great holiday promotion ideas, plus tips for how to make your promotions a success this holiday season. Holiday promotion ideas to help you sell more 1. Try an early bird offer This 3 Kittens Needle Arts Small Business Saturday email campaign encouraged customers to come out and shop with them by thanking them for their patronage. In addition to serving tea and treats, the yarn store held a special poinsettia giveaway for the first 25 customers who
Running a discount during the holiday season is a great way to draw customers into your store and boost sales during this busy time of year. But it’s not the only way to offer something of value to your customers during the holidays! If you want to run a successful holiday promotion, without discounting your product, consider one of the seven holiday value ideas below. 1. Free gift wrapping I can’t tell you what a great holiday value this is! While I used to enjoy wrapping each and every gift with love and care, between pets that want to play in the wrapping paper and ribbons and spying eyes from kids of all ages, it seems to have become an impossible task these days. For me, free gift wrapping is a lifesaver! And I’m not alone. Besides just not being able to get it done, there are a lot of
The holiday season is busy for all of us, but especially for those managing a retail business. We get it — you want to make sure you take full advantage of holiday spending, which grows every year. In 2020 holiday spending reached $789 billion. In 2021 that number reached $886.7 billion. This year the National Retail Foundation (NRF) is forecasting retail sales to reach another record high at $4.86 trillion. Whether you’re a seasoned online retailer, or this is your first holiday season selling online, we’ve got the holiday retail marketing advice you need. We created our Holiday Retail Marketing Checklist to show you the online marketing steps that actually make a difference when it comes to taking advantage of holiday spending. So click the button below to get our checklist to make the 2022 holiday season your most successful yet! Download the checklist What you’ll learn from our Retail Holiday
The holidays and the end of the year will be here before you know it. As a nonprofit, the next few months are a prime opportunity to set your organization up for success to hit your year-end fundraising goals by building and following a solid year-end fundraising marketing plan. This year, Giving Tuesday is November 29, 2022. However, it’s estimated that nearly one-third of annual giving occurs in December, and 12% of that happens in the last three days of the year. People like to show support at the end of the year because they: Feel happier when helping others in need around the holidaysWant to feel like they are making a differenceLike to take advantage of tax deductionsWant to be connected to something positive While there are many other charities and organizations vying for attention, you need to stay active and in constant communication with current and potential donors.
The end of the year is a busy one for everyone, whether you’re selling, fundraising, or buying. And despite everyone’s best efforts, January comes much sooner than we ever want it to. That’s why, if you have any intentions of hosting an end-of-year event that will get your customers and supporters together, now is the time to start planning. Whether held in-person or virtually, an event gives your business or organization an opportunity to create intimacy and make a more personal connection with those you come in contact with. When you invite customers and members to a special event, you’re building relationships — with personal, face-to-face contact. Here are some end-of-year events that businesses and organizations can put together to bring in customers, clients, members, donors, prospects, and others: 1. Customer/Client Appreciation Night Put a fresh spin on year-end sales or promotions by hosting a “Special VIP Night.” Your event could be
How confident are you in your ability to create or find festive holiday images? As a webinar designer and presenter for Constant Contact, one of the most frequently asked questions I heard was how to create images fast. The good news is you don’t need to be a graphic designer to create festive holiday images. There are plenty of easy-to-use tools and resources to help you create quality images quickly and affordably — or even for free. So grab a pen and paper or bookmark this post — you’re going to need it for your holiday marketing. Here are the must-have resources for holiday graphics and images this season: 7 resources for free holiday images 1. PowerPoint for quick holiday graphics Perhaps you’re familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint from presentations you gave to your boss or employees. Regardless of how you encountered PowerPoint, the best part about it is that most
Have you put in hundreds of hours of work (or more) into your blog but still don’t get traffic? Perhaps, you’re an expert in some area and have useful knowledge to share. And you create top-notch blog posts that you know will help people. But when you look at your traffic or scroll down to your comment section, you can almost hear the sound of crickets. What’s going on? People aren’t reading your blog, and you need to change that. In this post, we’re going to dive in deep and learn how to increase your blog traffic and engage readers. Why it’s critical to increase traffic to your blog You might think that setting up a blog and creating quality blog posts should be all you need to do. But your work doesn’t stop there. If you’re running ads on your blog or doing affiliate marketing, you need people to
Most small businesses saw somewhat of a return to “normal” activity this year, which was a welcome relief after the challenges they’ve dealt with in recent years. Consumer spending remained high through the first half of the year and summer travel picked up. However, small businesses in America are still facing a variety of obstacles on a daily basis — many of which are outside of what they can control. Meanwhile, consumers are facing their own challenges, rewriting everything from where they communicate to when they shop. Our second annual Small Business Now Report explores where these challenges are having the biggest impact, and it delivers insights small businesses can use to build stronger customer relationships, finish 2022 on a positive note, and prime themselves for a successful year in 2023. Here’s what we discovered: Recession fears are mounting, but consumers aren’t running away from small businesses Inflation has been
Imagine it’s Thursday, December 1st, 2022. Giving Tuesday has come and gone. You’ve participated in a global day of giving, raised some impressive funds, and gained valuable learnings to apply to the next year. Nicely done! Now it’s time to create a Giving Tuesday thank you campaign that turns the holiday into a launching pad for record-breaking year-end donations. To build on your Giving Tuesday momentum, you need to plan your thoughtful follow-ups in advance. Make sure you’re saying these three things to your supporters once the big day is in the books: 1. Thank you You absolutely cannot overlook the importance of expressing gratitude to your donors. Thanking them for their Giving Tuesday gift reinforces that their donation matters and increases their investment in your organization. The most effective thank-you emails are simple, straightforward, and above all, authentic. Strong Women Strong Girls expresses their gratitude in a couple of