In addition to being the “Season of Sweets,” the period of time between Halloween and New Year’s Day presents a wonderful opportunity for your company to thank your customers. It also is a time that you can drive new business to you.

Here is a list of easy and effective marketing ideas to help you promote your business for the holidays.

1. Send a Card: Send a holiday card to all of your customers - depending on your target audience, it can be for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or simply “Seasons Greetings.” You can also send a Happy New Year card. But don’t stop there. Don’t forget about your vast referral base. Be sure to send business holiday cards to your friends, family, associates, and vendors.

2. Send your database a gift: Hopefully, you have a list of both clients and prospects. Whether these individuals have purchased from you or not, treat them well. Take the holiday season as an opportunity to send them a gift. It can be as simple as a $5 gift card to Starbucks. Small gestures are what impress people - they work to keep customers loyal and to convert prospects to customers.

3. Offer a “Something of the Month” club: People are always looking for unique gifts to give. Why not help them out and create ongoing cash flow for your company? You can do this type of gift series with almost anything. Seriously. Did you know there is a Bacon of the Month club? You could sell CDs that you record each month, massages, dinners, jelly, or even a teleseminar series. With a little creative brainstorming, I’m certain that any business could develop this type of program.

4. Bundle items as a holiday theme: Sell holiday specials to entice people to buy bundles of products or services. Instead of selling single items, offer a theme. For example, a financial planning company could put together a New Year’s Planning Kit that includes a book, tax software, and a one-hour consultation. A spa could put together a Stress-Free Holiday package of a steam bath, facial, and body lotion.

5. Give a coupon or discount: As both a gift to your customers and a way to boost your seasonal revenue, why not offer a discount or send out a coupon that promotes one or more of your services or products. This could be for a report, a CD, a session, or a special program. Again - be creative! People love discounts.

6. Offer a holiday special: You can encourage larger purchases by offering a holiday special like Buy Two and Get a Third Item for Free. Here is a different variation on this same strategy: Tell your customers when they purchase a certain amount, the will get something for free. For instance, Buy $100 worth of products and get a free CD.

These are just a few ways that you can both thank your customers and offer them something special for the holidays. These marketing strategies also help build customer loyalty, convert prospects into customers, and help to bring cash flow into your company. Best of success to your business!

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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More and more companies are choosing to add video to their online marketing arsenal. You can use these on your website, your blog, and on YouTube. I plan on starting to use this technique in January. Stay posted for Maven TV!

For an example of how a consultant can effectively use video to build relationships with prospects, here is a link to Jim Kukral’s consulting site. One of the things that I like about his technique is that it is short and down to earth. Each video segment explains a specific service area that he tackles and he reinforces it with text. It makes me feel like he is a nice guy and someone who knows what he is talking about. I’m not sure that a non-video marketing approach could accomplish this feeling as easily.

What do you think about video as a marketing technique? Anyone out there want to tell us about your amazing results? Post it in the comments section.

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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Marketing to Small and Medium-sized businesses? They may just be owned by a woman. Here are some statistics you may find interesting…

Key Facts about Women-Owned Businesses – 2007 Update by The Center for Women’s Business Research.

• Women-owned firms employ nearly 13 million people and generate $1.9 trillion in sales.

• Between 1997 and 2006, majority women-owned firms (51 percent or more women-owned) grew at twice the rate of all firms (42 percent vs. 24 percent).

• The vast majority (83 percent) of women business owners are personally involved in selecting and purchasing technology for their businesses.

• Women owners of firms with revenues of $1 million or higher embrace financial measurements as management tools and produce more financial reports more often than smaller firms.

• There are 2.4 million firms owned 50 percent or more by women of color in the U.S., employing 1.6 million people and generating nearly $230 billion in sales.

• More than two-thirds (67 percent) of women business owners choose financial products and services based on their relationship and experience with a lender.

Characteristics of Women Business Owners

• Women business owners are prepared to face risk: most (66%) are willing to take above average or substantial risks for business investments.

• Women and men business owners have different management styles. Women emphasize relationship building as well as fact gathering and are more likely to consult with experts, employees, and fellow business owners.

• Women owners of firms with $1 million or more in revenue are more likely to belong to formal business organizations, associations or networks than other women business owners (81% vs. 61%).

You can find more info here.

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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Do you ever wonder (I sound like Andy Rooney!) why so many small businesses fail? Well, there are a multiplicity of reasons. However, I believe one of these reasons is because small business owners are too slow to move on trends. They think they can keep getting better and better results by doing the same things they’ve always done. (I believe Einstein said that was the definition of insanity).

Recently, a study was released by Bredin Business Information titled “Small/Medium Businesses Don’t Yet See the Value of Web 2.0.” The study asked more than 300 U.S. based small and medium businesses (SMBs) to assess the importance of various Web 2.0 formats. Respondents were evenly split among very small businesses (1-19 employees), small businesses (20-99 employees) and medium businesses (100-500 employees).

Here are some of the results:

“Only 14% expect that blogs will be very or extremely important, with similar ratings coming in for wikis (21%), social networking sites (22%) and webcasts (31%).

At the same time, more traditional methods of delivering resource information ranked high, with 49% rating email newsletters as very or extremely valuable over the next five years, and 46% giving that ranking to interactive tools such as quizzes or calculators.”

WHAT!????

Well, at least some SMBs are catching on to the power of ezines.

Yes folks, it’s true. SMBs are slow to embrace the new stuff. The same stuff that marketing professionals are shouting at them to use. Why? Because these marketing techniques are effective and people are increasingly using them as primary sources of information.

Brent Levy of Seeds of Growth makes an excellent point regarding SMBs taking their marketing cues from the big companies. He writes:

“So they look to see if the big guys are using social media, social networks, blogging and other things. And they look for how they are using it. So it really shouldn’t come as a huge surprise why SMBs are perched comfortably atop the fence. Until recently many big time tech companies really didn’t get Web 2.0. Some have been slow to use it themselves while others misused these tools to deliver traditional marketing messages.”

Yeah, well as most of us who ARE using Web 2.0 technologies, the Internet isn’t about delivering the same old boring marketing messages. It’s about building solid relationships and exploring topics together and engaging people. Web 2.0 is really about building community.

For the SMBs that are not beginning to look at the new technologies to build relationships with your target audiences, I’m afraid for you. You must get with the program to thrive…or your company will wither away and die.

Why do I say this? Well…let’s take a look at what is actually happening on the Internet. Let’s see what your prospects and customers are doing right now online.

Keep in mind, individuals who are under 30 have grown up with these technologies. They use the Web 2.0 formats to research and find out information about purchases they are considering. According to the most recent Pew Internet study, 87% of this age group (18-29) use the Internet and the 30-49 year-old folks are right behind them at 83%.

Surprise - are you ready to harness the power of the Internet!

Not yet? Ok, let’s look at some more key Pew Internet findings. Owners and marketers of SMBs, pay attention!

Fifty-seven percent of online adults have used the internet to watch or download video. More than half of online video viewers (57%) share links to the video they find with others, and three in four (75%) say they receive links to watch video that others have sent to them.

More than a third of American adult internet users (36%) consult the citizen-generated online encyclopedia Wikipedia. And 50% of Americans with a college degree consult Wikipedia.

More than a quarter (28%) of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts on sites such as Del.icio.us, Flickr, YouTube.com, and Technorati.com.

Just over half of American adult internet users (51%) have taken virtual tours of another location online. That translates to about 72 million people who have taken advantage of the internet to explore other areas.
More than a third (39%) of Internet users read someone else’s online journal, web log or blog.

From Audio/Video News: Seventy-two percent of online adults in the U.S. are using their home computers to listen to audio content, according to a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

So, what do you think about the disparity between SMBs and Web 2.0?

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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Here’s a very specific strategy you can use to drive traffic to your site.

A powerful technique is to utilize forums and specific newsgroups.  Start by looking at the ones that have active participation and where your target audiences congregate. Both Google and Yahoo have groups: (www.groups.yahoo.com and www.groups.google.com).  You can go in and search under your specific industry. You really want to find an active newsgroups or forum. About.com also has a lot of interactive forums. Another option is to go into a search engine and type in your industry followed by forum.

Once you’ve found the right forum become an active participant. Get familiar with the level of interaction taking place between other participants, so you can begin to answer questions and participate in conversations. Make sure that your posts are honest and helpful and are NOT blatant advertising. Direct ads are frowned upon and will NOT get you traffic, so don’t even bother. Instead, work to become a trusted advisor and helpful online friend. Your goal is to become known as an expert on the forum. In every post, include a signature line with a small description of your services and a link to your website. Over time, other members will want to know more about you and they will go to your site when they see it in your signature line.

Even if you don’t have time to be on the forum all of the time, you can go in, spend a concentrated amount of time - an hour a week or three hours a month - whatever works.  Remember that when you post in a variety of places your posts stay there 24-7.  Over time people will find a link back to your site.

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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It doesn’t happen very often. But occasionally when I am presenting to a prospect, I’ve noted a phenomena that I call the “Deep-In-The-Eye Flicker.” There is a moment in the presentation when you know whether a person is going to say “yes” or “no.”

With someone who is going to say “yes,” this never happens. But with the people who are going to say “no,” sometimes something strange happens. It’s not body language, tone of voice, or a facial expression. It is almost imperceptible and I don’t think it could be recorded in a camera. It’s this little faint flicker that happens deep in their eye when they make the decision “no.”

I know in that moment that they will not be a good fit as a client. So, I consider the flicker to be a good thing. It’s like a tell that people look for in poker.

Am I nuts? Or have you noticed this? Does anyone in sales have a term for this or a story about it?

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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Advertising for the Smart Car featuring Not-so-smart politicians

Slate’s reader nominations of Ads We Hate

FedEx Really-really-really Quick Ads

A very deceptive ad for Roses in LA

Ad spills all over

A picture can say more than words: Companhia Athletica

Anyone who has played with Hot Wheels will love these ads

Lee Jeans goes to the streets to advertise

Really Big Ads in the fields and in the city

Just can’t get enough? Here is an entire gallery slideshow of advertising that makes you look twice.

Hugs and success,
Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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Yesterday, I spent time on doing our 2008 Kinesis budget. Yes, oh yes…the budget. Definitely not glorious work. But, an absolute key to our ongoing business growth. In addition to our budget, I am creating target revenue goals and specific marketing strategies on how to meet them.

Some of my promotion goals for next year: we will be contracting with a PR firm, attending targeted networking events, sending out several direct mail campaigns, and hiring a project manager. All of these expenses are in our budget, along with the specific number of services we have to sell each month to meet our revenue goals.

No matter the size of your business, planning and systematic implementation of your marketing (in both feast and famine times) are the MOST important things you can do for the long-term success of your business. So, what are you waiting for? The New Year is just around the corner. Stop reading this and get to your 2008 budget and marketing plan!

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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