FINE TUNING YOUR MARKETING REGIMEN

While this article has a retail slant, it's marketing thrust still speaks to all business formats.  Original blog courtesy of the RedCappi Team.

      
Summertime marketing campaigns are in full-effect now that the 4th of July holiday has passed. Small businesses can use some simple and creative tactics of their own to better optimize their summer selling and to execute relevance and interest in the eyes of their target audiences.

Here are 5 helpful tricks to consider for successful summer marketing.

1. Send Out Summer Swag

Seriously, who wouldn't love a FREE pool tote, indestructible cool shades or an oversized beach towel? With the spike in temperature comes beach-bound weekends, pool-side barbecues and wine & cheese nights under the stars... so it's always a smart little trick to entice your audience with free summer swag.

And of course, slap on your brand name or logo and voila! You're summer giveaway product just metamorphosed into a moving ad campaign and a go-to reminder of your brand.

VICTORIA SECRET: PINK TUMBLER GIVEAWAY

Victoria Secret over the last several years has mastered this fine art of tempting swag giveaways, that really drive the average sale upwards of $75. They usually promise a free giveaway product, ranging from umbrellas in winter, summer beach totes and back-to-school duffle bags. Their latest campaign offers a pink Victoria Secret cooler tumbler with any PINK product purchase.

Knowing that most young girls who love the casual line of PINK products will adore a PINK tumbler poolside or at their desk, it's a smart giveaway to gently secure a sale.

2. Switch Up Your Marketing Techniques

It's easy for small businesses to get comfortable with their marketing routine and same avenues of promoting their business. Often times, even their content becomes stagnant and essentially glossed over by audiences for having somewhat of a 'bore' factor.

Switching up your marketing methodology to try new channels of communication, as well as sometimes different content, varying offers and promotions might just be what the doctor ordered for successful summer marketing.

If your business usually relies on sending coupons, try to host a local summer event inviting your audience to you for a more hands on experience, or vice versa. If your business is only growing primarily due to word of mouth, try using social media networking or email offers to see how they might work for you.

KIDS AHOY: NEW ACTIVITIES CAMPAIGN

A small local business in Los Angeles, Kids Ahoy, a kid's indoor playgym, has demonstrated just what switching up marketing techniques can bring to the table. No longer are the days of mere two for one deals or a coupon for a month's membership off. Kids on summer break demand more and Kids Ahoy understands their market precisely.

Their latest email promotion introduced a summer morning breakfast with Elsa from Frozen, among the other perks with admission, ranging from crafts to face painting, etc. Their offers to appeal to their subscribership and are anything but boring emails to parents' inboxes.

3. Bring Something Back for Summer

Sometimes, businesses think of summer as a time to purge the old and bring in new, fresh, clean, bright, energetic, taste-bud awakening, stimulating new items. Of course, this method is tried and true and while it makes sense, sometimes the opposite might work just as effectively- bring back the OLD!

Where an item in the past, a product or a menu item was popular, displayed high demand and drove sales, it might have the same power to devise the same effect  in the summer time. Try bringing it back for a limited time in the summer. Bringing something old back for a limited time can do one of two things.

First, it lets your audience know that this was popular and successful in the months before, which creates an organic curiosity to it and nature affinity. Second, by limiting it to the summer season adds a sense of urgency and heightened need to 'get it while its still available.'

MCDONALDS: MONOPOLY GAME

Every so often, McDonald's brings back the McDonald's Monopoly game, most recently in sticker form, as a sweepstakes sales promotion. They first started the sweepstakes game in the late 80's, and have brought it back a number of times, sometimes displaying a different name, like Monopoly Best Chance Game or Monopoly: Pick Your Prize!, but always resting on the same game principles.

The franchise truly understands the inner workings of sweepstakes and how they draw customers into their restaurant locations across the world. It's a classic example of bringing something back for summer.

4. Special Summer Hours

Consider adjusting your business hours to accommodate the times people are actually out and about. Given the summer scalding heat, air conditioners are pumping in full force until later in the evening when it often cools down.

So you might want to consider extending your hours to accommodate those special summer night owls. And vice versa also applies, where if you know its a summer long weekend and your audience is probably out of town, you might want to wait until the weekend passes and they are back in their offices at home before sending your next lines of communication.

MENCHIES: ICE CREAM HAPPY HOUR

Menchie's, a popular frozen yogurt chain, has started offering somewhat of a happy hour promotion after 9PM until midnight for all you can pour ice cream at a flat fee of $5. Whereas, typically, the cost of ice crea per person would be weighed and measured in ounces, this essentially offers a price break for late night patrons, making the most out of otherwise lost time with the store being closed.

5. Summer Clearance Sale

The most commonly used summertime marketing idea for all businesses alike is the classic summer clearance. It is worth taking a moment to remind you about why.

A summer clearance speaks to target audiences because even at a single first glance, they already know they are gaining something of value- a discount on your product that they already would probably otherwise want. It's a built-in trust mechanism that drives this simple tactic that you see being used across the channels.

OLD NAVY: CLEARANCE ALERT: 1000's of STYLES FOR $5 OR LESS

A well recognized American clothing retailer GAP, operates several notable divisions, including Banana Republic, Piperlime, Athleta and Old Navy. Each one of these divisions has mastered the art of summer marketing, with their timely sales and creative super promotions that absolutely grab your attention in the inbox.

The latest Old Navy campaign is a certain summer charmer, with its bright bold colors and block letters "SUMMER CLEARANCE- THOUSANDS OF ITEMS $5 AND UNDER." Without even clicking further, its already a given that you'll be getting a great deal on anything you order."

So there's really no reason to wait on fine tuning your summer marketing regimen.

Happy Summer!

Simple Marketing Tips for Small Business

As a small business, you may think it's impossible to get the word out about what you do. That's no excuse. And you don't need fads or gimmicks. Follow the proven, timeless tips and techniques of these entrepreneurs to help get the word out about your business and watch it grow.

1. Give Your Stuff Away

Ari Fleischer and Aly Moler of Frozen Pints have grown their craft beer ice cream business by leaps and bounds by attending craft beer shows and farmers markets to do one thing--give their product away. Once customers taste this unexpected combination (which happens to be delicious) for free, they line up at their local store to buy it or even request that the store carry it.

2. Attend Networking Events...

Desiree Scales of Bella Web Design is a master networker.  She attends and presents at almost every event in town. Her contribution to the overall community makes her one of the first people that come to mind when anyone looks for an expert in her area of concentration: small business websites and drip marketing.

3. ...Or, Create Your Own Event

If you don't like the events you are attending, invent your own! Darrah Brustein has created one of the most successful networking events in Atlanta: Atlanta Under 40. The event, which Darrah created to connect with other young entrepreneurs in her city, is now being franchised to other cities.

4. Volunteer to Lead an Organization

The secret to getting the most out of a group or organization is not just to attend but to lead. Take Lisa Calhoun of Write2Market. She served as the president of Entrepreneurs' Organization, allowing her to rub elbows and connect with the brightest minds of the fastest growing companies in the Atlanta market.

5. Start a Podcast

Todd Schnick of Dreamland Interactive is the first person I saw create his own podcast--he interviews other business owners.  People love to tell their story, and by highlighting them on a podcast you make an instant and meaningful connection. It's also a great way to get an education on a topic you are interested in.

6. Be Helpful

Most small business owners struggle to get their finances in line, especially when they move from an Excel spreadsheet to something as sophisticated as QuickBooks. Cathy Iconis of Iconis Group hosts a Quickbook Chat on Twitter every Thursday night at 7:00 EST to answer small business owners' questions--and potentially find some clients.

7. Send a Weekly E-mail

If you want to stay in relationship with your customers, there is nothing simpler than creating a weekly e-mail that provides something of value. Rick Houcek of Soar With Eagles sends one out every Monday that he calls the 2-Minute Monday Motivator. I look forward to getting it every week and often forward his advice to others.

8. Support a Cause

Mary Hester of LAN Systems throws an annual cookout with purpose every Earth Day. Party-goers are encouraged to bring their "e-waste"--old computer monitors and CPUs. At their most recent event they collected more than two tons of IT equipment, keeping it out of the landfills and creating goodwill with their customers, current and potential.

9. Sponsor an Organization

Many local organizations are not that expensive to sponsor for a year if you consider the  so-called per meeting cost. If your product or service is a good fit with their audience, you will get exposure every time the organization sends out an e-mail and a mention every time they meet. Attendees always remember and appreciate companies who sponsor their favorite organizations.

10. Create a Cool Giveaway

When thinking through what your company will  give away make sure it's something they won't want to throw away or easily lose in their desk or bag.

Get Mobile Friendly Now or Suffer Google’s Ranking Wrath

Google announced last month that an upcoming addition to their ranking algorithm will take into consideration whether your website is mobile friendly or not. Websites that are not mobile friendly will be penalized and that means that sites that are not mobile friendly will likely take a hit in Google’s search rankings. Google’s reasoning behind this addition of mobile-friendly design as a ranking signal is because “when it comes to search on mobile devices, users should get the most relevant and timely results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly web pages or apps. Mobile usage is growing and that is why mobile-friendly website design is so important. Even if Google wasn’t taking this design element into a ranking factor, your site is likely to experience a higher bounce rate because of the large amount of smaller mobile devices that are being used at greater frequency.

If you are registered webmaster tools users, then you should have already received an alert letting you know if your website is not mobile friendly. The email alerts let you know what to fix regarding the mobile usability issues they have picked up; it includes mobile-friendly design tips and how to fix the mobile usability issues. If you haven’t received an email and you aren’t sure if your website is mobile –friendly, you can check for yourself with this tool Google created for the purpose of checking for mobile usability issues. You have until April 21, 2015 to get your site’s mobile usability in order. Act fast!

Mobile Usage

The statistics and reports have all shown that mobile usage overtook desktop usage on many levels in 2014. Essentially what that means is that if your site isn’t mobile friendly, it’s too late and you are losing sales, conversions, and visitors who can’t navigate your site on their smartphones

As Posted in Internet Marketing

Plan Ahead - June is National Safety Month

This is a great opportunity for internal and external promotions highlighting safety in June. For your employees, a safety campaign can focus on reducing lost man hours by adopting safety measures in the workplace regardless if it's on a shop floor or in the office. A tiered incentive program should provide logoed products for attaining goals. Promotions can also stress safety while on the road, whether it's for business or pleasure. Consider branded car safety kits as a gift. Such a campaign lets clients know you are concerned about their well-being. And for new homeowners or new parents, a promotion that highlights safety measures at home can be beneficial, especially if you market your products and services to this market. Your distributor partner can help you develop these campaigns and help you find appropriate products for each.

How Social Media Can Be Used Effectively in a Business

The prime concern of any business house or a new venture is to promote or propagate their business amongst the masses so that more and more people are aware of it. It becomes all the more important to do the promotion in a manner which is unique and different, so that people get attracted to it and do not miss out on making the purchase. Initially, all the promotions were done with the help of advertisements which were played regularly on the radio and television. Now with the advent of social media like email, Twitter, blog,whatsapp and Instagram, it has become very quick and convenient to promote any new business, on either electronic, paper and social media. There are various ways in which social media is used effectively. These can be listed as-


1.
Social media involves the usage of internet. Through this internet service, any business house can float their product details. These details can be searched by all the people using the internet service and those who have an excess to these sites. Immediately people read the content and revert back by giving their comments. The business house can come to know the reaction or the buzz, their product has created. This helps them to modify the details also if there are not many positive responses. This happens quickly by the help of social media as the reaction is instantaneous. There will not be any requirement of filling long feed-back forms or mentioning the comments.Every thing is just fast on the social media.

2.
To promote the business, many companies come up with different discounts and sale offers from time to time. The most common way adopted for this is usually putting different pamphlets in the newspapers or magazines. Now, with the help of social media, these advertisements can be put up on many sites simultaneously. People can make their choice easily and quickly.

3.
Another facet that social media have encouraged is the making purchases online, without going out to the shops and the malls. Online purchase offers a lot of variety with different colours and sizes to choose from. Once the purchase is finalised, the payment is done through the credit or the debit card thus making the entire process of shopping very convenient.

4.
The smartest aspect of intervention of the social media in business has resulted in a loyal and regular, customer relationship. All the personal details of the customer are fed in the computer and whatever latest the company has to offer, immediately reaches the customer via a mail or a sms. Along with this, the customer gets certain reward points on a particular purchase. These reward points can be accumulated and can be redeemed at a later date.

5.

With all the stored data, it becomes easy to assess requirements of the customers from time to time and thus providing the same in terms of products and new offers.
With the quick and steady development of social media all over the world, business is getting a chance to expand its wings tremendously. It has become easy to check out the latest offerings in the market, with just a click of a button! The main concern here is to be able to maintain the quality of the product, thus carrying on the legacy of a good business house. It is also important to sustain the customer in the highly competitive business world. So for the satisfactory growth, it is important to use the social media regularly and effectively!!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Anderson_Lee

Small-Biz Owners Are Happier

Happier, healthier and free - that was the theme of a recent survey administered to small-business owners. The survey, commissioned by GoDaddy, found that 82% of small-business owners are happier running their current companies than when they worked for someone else in their previous jobs.

"Nobody ever said starting a small business was easy. The only question was: is it worth it? And this research shows that our small-business customers resoundingly say yes;' said Go Daddy CEO Blake Irving.

"Our customers are working how they want, when they want, where they want. That translates not only into successful entrepreneurs, but happier and healthier people."

On the whole, small-business owners said they enjoyed a higher quality oflife. More than half said
they exercised more, while 72% eat healthier than when they worked at their previous jobs. More than 60% said they have the ability to set their own work hours and are spending more time with family as a result. And 56% said they can wear whatever they want on the job.

The survey, which was administered by Zogby Analytics, includes responses from over 500 small businesses that use GoDaddy's services. More than half of the businesses from the survey have been open for longer than seven years. Half work from home and two-thirds of respondents self-financed their businesses through personal savings and credit cards.

And, the happier feelings of the entrepreneurs surveyed translated to increased confidence, with 88% more optimistic about the future. Nine in 10 of the respondents say they want to build their company into a $20 million business.

"The great thing about being a small-business owner is that you are in control, and you have a feeling of mastery," said Steven Aldrich, GoDaddy's senior vice president for business solutions. "You control your own destiny.

It's SHOWTIME! Trade Show Contest and Games Make Your Booth a “Winner"

The name of the “game” at trade shows is to attract visitors and potential buyers to your booth. Contests and games can really do the trick and attract interested trade show attendees to come over to your booth. Once there for contests or games where they can win a prize, you have the chance to win them over too.

Make sure that your quick elevator pitch is polished and ready to go. Also, if the display and support materials in your booth are descriptive enough, the potential buyers can learn about your company, what you do, and what you are selling just by standing there and looking around.

Here are some trade show booth contest and game ideas:

• Prize Wheel: These can be big and colourful; some are even glitzy or have lights to attract even more attention. They spin the wheel and see where it lands. Make sure that you connect your company’s contact information, business card, or maybe a promotional pen.
  
  You can customize the prizes and some ideas for giveaways are:
  
  
• Promotional Merchandise: You can have different levels of prizes, for example, a lower level prize could be a promotional mug, while a higher end promotional gift prize could be clothing, or electronics accessories.
  
• Free consultation for your services: Giveaway a 15 minute, 30 minute, or 1 hour consultation of your services.
  
• Free Products or Services: If you have something to giveaway and then that is a great way to stir up buzz about your products.
  
• Percentage off Their Order: Encourage them to purchase by offering a discount. It can be a dollar amount off or a percentage off.
  
• Free lunch at the trade show: Who doesn’t love a free lunch?
  
• Snacks or Drinks: Candy, granola bars, colas, or water bottles make easy giveaways that are appreciated.
  
• Local Business Gift Certificates: Hit up a few businesses that are local to your trade show and see if they would be willing to offer a gift certificate in exchange for the exposure they will get being featured as a prize on your prize wheel. You could also organise gift certificates with other trade show exhibitors that do not have competing products.
  
• Fish Bowl Drawing: This is a great way to collect business cards of attendees; and it is also an easy way to hold a contest. They will gladly give you their contact information for a chance to win a great prize.
  
• Trivia Games: To attract more attention and create buzz, you can hold trivia contests daily where attendees can win prizes based on their knowledge of your products or your industry.
  
• Interactive Games or Applications: If you are in a tech industry or tech savvy, having tablets with a game or interactive application on it can be a big draw and also get people talking about your booth.
  
  
  Don't choose just anything for your the event you want to be remembered by! We've been around since 1979 and will take the time to find the perfect product for your next event and save you money while doing it.