There’s a lot of speculation on what the holiday season will be like this year for local businesses. Nobody is quite sure what to expect although not many are anticipating a banner year.
Despite the gloomy predictions, you can use this holiday season to leverage the customers who will visit you and/or buy from you this year to boost your business next year and beyond as the economy recovers.
There is simply no valid reason to waste the last months of this year regardless of whether sales are up or down. Conditions are going to improve and you need to position yourself to be at the front of the recovery.
You do that by making sure that when customers begin to have enough confidence to spend again that you are in the front of their minds. The best way to stay there is to stay in touch with them – and not necessarily trying to sell with every contact.
“We just got some shiny new red widgets in. You might not be in the market right now, but stop in and say hello and we’ll show you what makes them special.” I didn’t take the time to wordsmith that, but you get the idea. A friendly invitation can get some extra folks to stop in – and they can’t shop until they’re in your store.
At this late date, anything you start needs to be simple and efficient. It needs to have a solid return on your investment of time and it needs to be economical as many of you have already set your holiday marketing budget. And it has to work whether you currently have a website or not.
Any kind of no-pressure event can bring people in – even in the middle of a recession. But once they’re in, don’t miss the opportunity to make a friend, fan or follower.
Let’s have a look at a few strategies that you can put to work starting right now without draining your resources.
Email “Preferred Customer” Lists
When someone is in your store, it is the perfect time to ask for their email address. Hopefully, you have had a friendly encounter and their resistance to giving you the information is lessened. Get the email address any way you can. On a form, a card, whatever. And – this is very important – make sure to explain that they will receive a confirmation email with a link that they will have to click on to get their benefits. And give them some instructions to take home to be sure they receive your email.
Facebook Fan Page Fans
Fan pages are Facebook pages for businesses and organizations. Your customers – or just friends – can become a fan with a single click. You can post information to your Facebook fan page just like your personal Facebook profile. You can link to other websites, post videos, photos and more. You can comment on what you post and so can others. That’s the social part of social networking. To get fans, you can tell visitors to your business where your fan page is and they can go to it and become a fan. To get your fan page, head to Orange Cat’s Facebook Fan Page (become a fan while you’re there – it’ll be worth it 
, scroll to the bottom of the left column and click the “Create a Fan Page for My Business” link. It only takes a few minutes to create your fan page.
Twitter Followers
Sometimes konwn as micro-blogging, Twitter allows you to post messages (and links) of up 140 characters. The messages might be small, but they can be powerful. Originally created to answer the question “what are you doing?” Twitter has evolved into trusted messaging and marketing tool. People make connections on twitter by posting messages, known as “tweets” and following tweeters whose subject matter interests them. Those who find your tweets interesting will follow you. This is the heart of connecting via Twitter. Go to my Twitter page and have a look around. Follow me and I will automatically follow you back. You can inform Twitter users among your customers by displaying your Twitter username with the “@” symbol as in “@BobStovall” on business cars, vehicles, your store window or counter, and anywhere else you can think of.
LinkedIn Connections
LinkedIn is a social site that caters to professionals of all stripes. Some companies use LinkedIn almost exclusively when looking for new employees, freelancers, consultants, etc. LinkedIn is perfect for executives, entrepeneurs, professionals, anyone with the desire to make business-to-business connections. You can visit my LinkedIn Profile and connect if you choose. I’d be happy to connect with you. Getting set up on LinkedIn is easy and you choose whether your profile is visible to the public, or just your connections.
Use one of the above or all to supercharge your marketing effort. No matter which you use, you can greatly increase your chances of success by offering future benefits such as special prices, free items or invitations to private sales or events. You know the idea – give to get.
The best part of these four methods of relationship building is that you don’t even need to have a website to implement them. Having a blog or a traditional website to send them to from time to time to retrieve information would be nice to have, but it is not necessary.
We’re here to help you implement any of the above strategies, so don’t let a lack of time or technical expertise stand in your way. We’ve just given you three new ways to contact us – do the same for your customers and watch you business grow.
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