Holiday Cards - Why the Direct Mail Touch Should Not be Lost

Tis the season!  

Well, tis almost the season, and you need to start thinking about…Holiday Cards! (Insert rolling eyes and sighs.) October is a few days away, so now is the time to begin thinking about your Holiday plan of action.

For many businesses, sending Holiday Cards can be a time demanding and fund draining activity. Because of this, more and more companies are opting to forgo the card sent via snail mail, and reach for the convenience of the computer instead. An e-greeting can be pretty and send a caring message, but more often than not, gets lost within the Holiday email shuffle or sent directly to spam. And let’s face it, opening an email is far more impersonal and leave many reaching for the delete button as soon as they begin rolling in.

Holiday Cards should be seen as an investment, and spending that time and funds to invest in your clients and prospects speaks more than flashy animation and sparkly graphics. Think of your clientele as family. They help keep your business home up and running, and if you’re doing your job right, they will have your back when the opportunity arises. Would you send your loved ones a birthday card via email if a CVS is not far around the corner? I’m guessing your answer is, “no”.

Printed Holiday Cards are a great way to thank your clients and partners for their support and loyalty over the past year, and to let them know how much you value their relationship. Most Holiday Cards are opened and displayed throughout the busy holiday season, keeping you at the forefront of your clients’ mind. If you keep up the tradition, those on your list will look forward to receiving your card year after year. There’s power in that; knowing you are important enough to make it on THE LIST.

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When you take that step to send out Holiday Cards via direct mail, make sure you do it right:

Personalize it. If you can’t afford to write a unique note in each card, create and print different messages per recipient. In other words, categorize your list into three or four different groups. A message to a client vs. a vendor or business partner should be different.

Leave sales at the door. This is a time of thanks for past and current business, not a time to generate more sales. Greedy Holiday givers who create expectations in return show poor taste.

Be sincere. If you send flowery words full of caring sentiments to a client you typically butt heads with, the message could come across as sarcastic. Always use kind words of course, but if you are generally a playful person, have fun with your messages. If you are a sentimental bird, allow your thanks to flow plentifully.

Design smartly. Catchy, yet simple, designs will stand out from the crowd. Incorporate your market niche within your design. For example, if your business is centered around fresh produce, use an image of a broccoli Christmas tree within the design. Remember to keep your logo small, perhaps even on the back of the card. This is about them, not you. (No business cards within either…)

Be a friend, don’t offend. Avoid including content, including words or images, that could come across as offensive or is inappropriate for the workplace. One would think this is common sense, but you would be surprised.

Time your sending. The first or second week in December is the best time to get your cards in the mail and in their hands. Any time after that, you are risking your investments to be caught in the mail rush, or lost in vacation pile for your recipients to shuffle through following the Holidays (embarrassing).

So, now that you have all of your contacts organized and in one location...take this opportunity to get them into a Simple CRM (Client Relationship Management) software, such as AddressTwo. AddressTwo was built for small-medium sized businesses who need a smart and cost effective solution for contact management, setting follow-up tasks, email marketing (drip campaigns), and pipeline tracking, to name a few features. Your clients are important around the Holiday Season, don't let the rest of the year stay quiet! Register for a free trial of AddressTwo CRM to see how it can streamline your sales and communication processes year round. Better yet, email your client list to A2, and have a trial created for you with your contact list imported and ready to go!

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Allow PostTwo to do your Holiday cards for you! Simple and easy solution for printing, stuffing, and mailing. Part of your friendly neighborhood, simple CRM, AddressTwo.

Discover what the power of Two can do for you! 

Using Holiday Cards and AddressTwo to Grow Your Business

Yep, it's almost that time again. There's a crispness to the air, the first snowfall has come, and the kids are bringing home Thanksgiving decorations from school. That means it's time to start working on your holiday Christmas cards and holiday gifts for your clients. "But I can't! My database isn't ready." No problem, here at AddressTwo we've dealt with that challenge. Not only have we dealt with it, but below is a short (less than 5 minutes) video chock full of tips and tricks for the best way to turn this database cleanup into a sales generation activity to finish the year strong!

Database Tips for the Holidays

So, as you can see, Troy was able to turn his database cleanup into a real sales opportunity. How many sales opportunities are just waiting for you in YOUR database? Go get started reaching out to those customers and prospects. Then, when you're done, come back and tell us all about your experience!

About AddressTwo, the Simple CRM for Small Business

Never used AddressTwo? Tired of your current CRM? AddressTwo can help you with your contact management, tasks, email marketing, even your web forms. Sign up today for a free trial and learn just how much AddressTwo can improve your sales opportunities!

Who Does Their Holiday Shopping Online?

Compliments of: Velaro Live Chat

ALCOHOL AT HOLIDAY PARTIES

By David D. Schein, President & General Counsel, Claremont Management Group, Inc.

The Holiday season brings up the issue of alcohol at company-sponsored parties.   This is a difficult issue and there is not, strictly speaking, a right answer.  Ideally, no alcohol would be served, and the issue would be avoided.  However, most managers and employees regard alcohol at holiday parties as an essential part of the festivities.

There are several different approaches, listed in order of increasing risk to the employer:

1)  Employees BYOB or an employees’ club buys alcohol - there is case law in some states that support the proposition that the employer cannot be blamed under these circumstances.

2)  The employer provides the alcohol, but the employees serve themselves.  This may work for the reason the first option may work, the employees serve their own alcohol. The obvious risk is that an employee will serve themselves too much alcohol and then do damage to themselves or others.

3)  Similar to No. 2, but bartenders are used and each employee is issued two drink tickets. The bartenders are instructed to be careful in dispensing alcoholic beverages to avoid serving employees who are already showing signs of inebriation.  This is becoming a common option.

4)  Alcohol and bartenders are provided by the employer, employees and guests drink what they want. 

Any use of alcohol at a company function needs to be done in compliance with the company’s substance abuse policy.  Most policies ban alcohol on the company premises.  This forces all holiday parties with alcohol off the company premises.  Second, the substance abuse policy needs to contain an exception for such parties even when off premises.

In addition to parties, discussed above, there are many informal luncheons and receptions during the holiday season.  The substance abuse policy should control these situations.  This is a good time to remind employees of the substance abuse policy rules. For instance, a memo sent out in late November might remind employees about the risks of drinking and driving. Employees who drive company cars or operate a vehicle on company business should be reminded that they could jeopardize their employment by drinking and driving. The same memo might remind employees that drinking while conducting business, or drinking and returning to work under the influence, could lead to discipline up to and incl0uding termination of employment.

www.claremontmanagementgroup.com or follow me on Twitter @dschein1

Gratitude & Freelancing

Ah, the holidays. They begin with Halloween and from there, it seems there’s hardly time to take a breath before the end of the year is here. For freelancers, this can be an especially challenging time for juggling assignments, closing old projects, planning for the New Year and spending time with family. Amongst the Thanksgiving turkey, the Christmas shopping, various holiday festivities plus business duties, it can be all too easy to forget to say thank you to those we deal with day in and day out: our vendors, suppliers, clients, and partners. This holiday season, here are three holiday tips to help you show your appreciation – without losing your sanity.

Send Out Cards

This is a real sanity saver for gifts, cards, and all manner of products no matter what your need. The program allows you to send individualized gifts and cards based on a payment structure with three tiers of options. No more driving all over town or mass ordering the same holiday cards to send to your contacts. You can send your gifts through their system without ever licking a stamp, sealing an envelope or picking up a pen.

Phone Calls Still Matter

Sometimes, a quick phone call to say “thanks” can go a long way during the holiday season. Doing it in conjunction with a gift is even better. Be sure to be sincere in your appreciation and resist the urge to conduct business. Keep it a social call and brief.

Avoid Marketing No-No’s

During the holiday season, it is socially acceptable to scale back your marketing. Nowadays it’s pretty much expected as everyone is getting bombarded with advertisements from every direction. Generally, it’s recommended to keep marketing relevant to the holidays, particularly if you’re a service business that does not offer holiday related products. If you are going to be marketing, avoid putting out coupons with a Christmas theme that are an obvious attempt to drum up sales unrelated to the holidays

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For example, a $10 discount on air conditioning repair for being a valued customer is not nearly as meaningful as a $10 gift certificate that doesn't expire for a year. When giving, make sure there are no unnecessary strings attached that might offend your clients. Remember, these are people who buy from you the rest of the year, now’s your chance to help them remember why they do.

Charity Kountz is a Marketing Mastermind with over 15 years business experience and owner of Kountz Marketing Group. A successfully published author, public speaker, and trainer, her passion is helping other small businesses succeed. Kountz Marketing Group specializes in traditional and internet marketing including website development and management, SEO, social media, and much more. To learn more, contact Charity via www.linkedin.com/in/charitykountz.

5 Holiday Tips for Ecommerce Website Success

If you are a retail business you know that the holidays are one of the most important times of the year to convert your visitors into buying customers.  By taking some simple steps you can ramp up your sales this season and be able to relax when the snow settles.

We are going to look at 5 things you can still do this season to attract and convert more customers.

1.       Keyword Research - Do some research to find what keywords people are searching for to find your products online.  You can take this data and incorporate into your page titles & meta data within your website for better search ranking results.  You can also incorporate this into your online ads that you may be running to bring in some new targeted customers.

2.       Email Marketing - Even if you don’t have a regular email campaign that you are contacting your customers on a regular basis now is the time to get some information out to current and past buyers. 

3.       Blog - Use your blog to talk about your upcoming deals, products or packages.  Blogs can be extremely effective at reaching your customers through an RSS feed or the search engines.  Your customers won’t know what your specials are unless you let them know!

4.       Traffic Statistics- Analyze your traffic statistics to see what pages are getting the most attention.  You will be able to notice trends quickly.  For example if you see that one product has had multiple hits but you haven’t sold a thing you may have an issue with that page, your shipping may be high or the price of the product is higher than your competition.

5.       Social Media- Use your social media outlets to keep your business in the minds of your customers.  Again, your customers won’t know you have a great deal until they see it or hear about it.  Engage your customers this year and you will see the returns.

Put these tips to work right up to the last shipping or sales day of the season and you will see a difference in the amount of sales and customer response. 

Need assistance with these tips or want to see better results with your website?  Contact us at Elemeno Design in Kansas City – Affordable Online Assistance.  

Holiday Marketing Best Practices

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and with the holiday season starting earlier and earlier, it pays to be ready with a surefire marketing strategy. As consumers, most of us are gearing up for another crazy year of deal hunting and last-minute shopping, but as marketing experts, we’re wondering how best to leverage the holiday mindset and get people thinking of you throughout the season.

Go Mobile for Busy Shoppers

Throughout December, most people are out shopping more than they might like to admit. Every year, mobile trends grow, and more people are relying on the transportability of their mobile devices more than their home computers. Take advantage of it by making sure your website is mobile-optimized, and by making sure you offer special deals accessible through mobile devices. Consider using QR codes or other tactics that specifically cater to a mobile-oriented audience!

Don’t Forget About Email!

While many marketers are winding down the email marketing in favor of newer technological trends, the email market is still a strong opportunity to reach out to new and repeat customers with a timely message. Don’t make your email too salesy. Instead, turn your approach into a simple greeting or holiday wish, accompanied by some tips for saving money or keeping sanity throughout the holiday season. Consumers will appreciate the sentiment, and if you through a special deal into the mix, you’ll see your sales react accordingly.

Create Special Offers through Social Media

Social Media is one of the most powerful channels during the holiday season. Make sure you use elements from the holidays in your messages, and offer a unique value for those who engage with you through each channel.

But as you utilize these strategies, be sure to remember that the best strategy is always a multi-channeled approach, with multiple touch points and plenty of opportunities to reach even the most unreachable sectors of the market. If you’re interested in learning more about an integrated marketing approach, contact Quez Media Marketing for a free consultation!

How To Make Your Small Businesses Stand Out This Holiday Season: Guest Blogger @focus2grow

Most of us, for a good couple of months anyway, revel in the energy & excitement of the Holiday Season, but to small businesses this can be one of the most challenging times of the year. It’s particularly challenging when it seems that your marketing efforts are easily lost to the overpowering communications of the large establishments you’re left competing with.

If the holiday season’s got you down, you may want to turn that frown...well, you know the rest. 

According to the article, Small Businesses Predict Increase In Sales This Holiday Season, 43% of small business owners are more optimistic about holiday sales for 2012.  But if that doesn't convince you, and you don’t feel that you are a “glass 1/2 full kind of person,” take a gander at the top 5 tips to help small businesses with your holiday season marketing efforts below... 

Before I get to those tips, lets discuss when consumers are beginning their holiday shopping and when retailers plan to launch their online holiday marketing campaigns…   

Click here to see graphs & related article

According to the material above, there is a definite correlation in both retailer & consumer behavior, although I’m sure this is no big surprise, what does this tell you? Either jump on the train or jump ship -- Do whatever works best for your business. 

Let me explain, if you have a product that aligns nicely with something that you can purchase from one of the big dogs, push your campaign so that it aligns well with those retailers. If you don’t, think of creative ways to target your audience when things have quieted down a bit for them. Bottom line, you must, must, must plan your Holiday Marketing efforts. Research the trends and find ways that your business either works well or could benefit from working against. Now on to those tips…

1.       Social Media is a blessing during the Holiday Season, and now more than ever, consumers are following their favorite brands and looking for promotional material on these sites. But remember, use these sights wisely, don’t just push your products, engage your customers.  Social media sites like Facebook are great ways to share fun holiday information, possible charity events that your company is supporting, or even giving your audience the chance to share their opinion on your products, increasing your product awareness to their networks.

2.       Use the Holiday Season to promote aspects of your business or products that differentiate you from your competitors. I know this seems second nature, but are you really doing this. Now more than ever personalization is key, consumer’s no longer want to be one amongst the crowd, and small businesses have the capability to personalize their customer’s experience. Remember you have quality, service, and industry knowledge on your side!

3.       Your Holiday campaign should be well thought out, planning is crucial! With the proper use of inbound marketing software (like our friend’s at AddressTwo & Hubspot) you can nurture your leads, analyze their activity, and adjust accordingly. If done correctly, you can begin to tailor your customer’s experience, giving them exactly what they want when they want it.

4.       Everyone loves some good ol’ Holiday Cheer!  Make your marketing efforts stand out with personalization... Wait isn’t that what I referenced above? Why yes it is, but not only can you promote personalized products, you can personalize your campaigns so your customers really get a sense of who they are working with; building long-term commitments & brand loyalty.

5.       Don’t forget to send the love. There is nothing better than receiving a holiday card or gift basket from someone you least expect; the Holiday Season gives businesses a great excuse to show your favorite customers how much you truly appreciate their commitment to your brand. But instead of sending the usual eCard, get creative, social sites like Pinterest offer great DIY ideas that are sure to leave a lasting impression.

What's your take on small business marketing efforts during the Holiday Season? What are some of the ways you’ve found work best to impress your customers?

Want to learn more?  Visit us at www.focus2grow.com. We’d be happy to help grow your business initiatives for this Holiday Season.

Start of 2013 with 5 Expert Tips for Small Business

Guest Blog Post from
Sterling McKinleyhttp://www.mckinleymediagroup.com/

The year is quickly coming to a close. Time flies when the holiday season gets into full swing. There is still time to improve your online marketing, though, so you can start 2013 off well.

Here are five tips to get you started:

1. Create a website, or update and refresh your current site.
2. Setup accounts on social media like Facebook,Twitter and LinkedIn, and interact through them to continue to grow your network.
3. Use client management software to help track clients and referrals.
4. Build a mobile website.
5. Check to make sure your firm is on Google,Yahoo! and Bing Local so people in your area can find you.

Online marketing takes time, and doing these five things now will help your business stay a step ahead of the competition.

Every small business has their busy seasons.  Many businesses are busiest during the Holiday Season, while many others find that the Holiday Season is there slower time. 

If you’re in retail, you can bet your using your website along with other forms of media to get the word out and get as many customers as possible, whether online or in store.  But just how effective is your current website with the mobile community ?

Last year, consumers spent more than $20.7 billion shopping using mobile devices,  and that figure is sure to swell this year.  But the vast majority of small and medium-size businesses still do not have mobile optimized sites to take advantage of this on-the-fly spending spree.  If your site is not mobile friendly you could be losing a lot of customers without ever knowing it.  There are various options for making your site user friendly to the mobile crowd, so contact your web developer and see what solutions and options are the most cost effective for your business.

If your business is like ours and the Holiday Seasons are your slower time of the year, don’t just leave your website sitting there going unnoticed.  If you’re not sending any sort of newsletter or updates to your customers, perhaps now would be a good time to start.   Keep your company on their minds and let them know you’re thinking of them through the holidays.  You can’t go wrong with holiday humor, advice or recipes.  Also, take advantage of the slow season by offering Holiday Specials that are available during the holiday months only.  If you have clients that may be putting things off until next year, give them incentive to start the project now at a discount.  This will benefit both parties by saving the client money and giving you work when you really need it.

Small businesses cannot afford to ignore their website during the Holiday Season.  If you’re counting on it to drive you business, make sure it’s tuned up and running well on all devices.  If the Holidays are not a busy time for your business, take advantage of the slow time and use your site to drum up extra business or implement new ideas for your next busy season.

How to use the Holidays to Improve Your Small Business Performance

By Carlos Zubillaga

http://www.ingeniapartners.com

With Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching, it’s a good idea for business owners to review some tips to use the holidays in your favor.

Holidays affect business in many different ways. As a general rule, retail businesses have their busiest time. Service businesses keep very busy and contracting businesses have a very low level of activity or none at all.

For retail businesses, a good idea this year is to make your website mobile-friendly. More and more surfers are using phones and tablets, so you may be missing a substantial potential by not optimizing you site for mobile users. Simply go to your site using your phone and see what it looks like. If it is difficult to see, because it is designed for a big computer screen, then you need to invest a little money in making it mobile friendly.

Also retail businesses need to start preparing in advance for the holidays. If you haven’t started yet, you are already late. Inventory optimization, intensification of your marketing effort, temporary help, and security, are some of the areas of preparation.

If the holidays are a very slow season for you, consider closing down completely and give a vacation benefit to all your employees during the holiday. You can save money in wages and other expenses associated with being open; or you can provide a benefit to your employees. If holidays are a slow season but you need to stay open, consider offering optional vacation benefits and maximize the number of employees that will use their off days during the holidays.

If the holiday season is slow for you, use the time to work on those activities that are important but not urgent that you have been procrastinating on. This is what is usually referred to as Quadrant II in your time management matrix. Any improvement occurs in Quadrant II: important not urgent. Examples of Quadrant II activities: re-writing the website copy, planning strategically for next year, acquiring new business skills through reading or formal business education, listening to your customers, listening to your employees, creating a new marketing campaign, studying your competition.

'Tis the Season of Giving, Even in Sales

It’s that time of year again the weather is cooling down, the days are becoming shorter and we are beginning to think of what we can give this holiday season. One place that we never really consider giving is in our sales strategy. Too often, we focus more on getting. How many leads can I get, how many prospects can I find and how many sales can I close? That’s a lot of “get.” It’s time to switch the tables this holiday season, starting with networking in unexpected places, like holiday parties.

Networking is often a misused prospecting technique. Most people all do it the same way. We seek out an individual to whom we can spill our guts about what we do, with the hope that they have a need and will buy our product or service. Doesn’t sound very effective does it? Here’s a different approach to help you stand out among the crowd.

At your next holiday party or networking event, switch out your sales hat for your helping hat. You’ll catch people off guard by this unlikely approach and most people will remember you for it. Ask the person what they do and really listen rather than just searching for words or a sign that they might need your product or service. Ask them what their ideal prospect looks like and let them paint you a picture. After they tell you, let them know that you will keep an eye out for anyone who might meet their criteria. Here’s a little known secret- Often times they will reciprocate. So at the very least you’ve doubled your chances of bumping into the right person. The person you just met now sees you as an ally, they will remember you because you did something different and best of all they will remember what you do.

The key is to listen to the person and steer an ideal prospect in their direction. Many will be skeptical at first, this is natural. The moment you actually do send a prospect their way that skepticism will melt away and they will look to reciprocate. The best leads we ever get are referrals. Now imagine getting high-quality referrals from people you just met.

It’s important to always be fine-tuning your networking skills, because you may need them in unexpected places. Don’t let your next holiday party turn into a lost business opportunity. By following the reason for the season and focusing on giving at networking events, you’ll build great relationships and enjoy the abundance of what you’ll receive in return.

By John Rosso, founder and CEO

of Sandler Training by Peak Performance Management

Sandler Training by Peak Performance Management is an international training organization dedicated to improving sales and management skills

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Check out a great podcast on networking: U.AddressTwo.com