Category: Holiday Marketing (Page 3 of 4)

Etsy Holiday Marketing Tips

July 25, 2019 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

It’s that time of year! My Etsy 2019 Holiday Planner is just out and this year it is bigger and better than ever!

Featuring 23 jam-packed pages of ideas, inspiration, trends, advice, SEO research, worksheets, planner pages and much much more so that your shop can really maximize holiday sales! Below is a sneak peak with three hot tips from the planner.

- SEO: Did you know that searches for red dresses, red shoes, red jewelry, red tablecloths and red nail polish are highest in November and December? So take advantage of searches for this holiday color and maybe even add a red product into your product line.
- Promoted Listings: Do not run Etsy Promoted Listings on every item in your shop. For example, do not run them on seasonal items such as spring items, Easter items, etc. Also, do not run them on listings that have a sales conversion rate of less than 1% (divide orders by visits). As you are paying for clicks, if there is a low chance the click will result in a sale, your ad results will not be as successful.
- Memorable Package Inserts: In each product package include a beautifully printed recipe card that has a Christmas cookie recipe on it. Make sure it also has your shop information on the back or at the bottom. This way when the customer pulls this recipe out every Christmas, they will remember your shop!

Post Christmas Sales Opportunities

December 10, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver

Christmas sales will be winding down in the next week or two, so is your shop prepared for the January lull? If you sell wedding products, you’ll be fine since 80% of all engagements occur over the Christmas holidays (searches for wedding invitations hit a high the week of January 20th). But if you sell jewelry, clothing, home decor, pet products, kids products, what opportunities are there for you in January and February?

January is always all about New Year’s Resolutions – getting organized, getting in shape, quitting smoking, starting a new career – so planners and calendars will be selling big in December and January, as well as fitness journals, fitness clothing, yoga products, organizational products and so forth. These types of searches reach a high around January 6th.

Another big gift buying occasion is obviously Valentine’s Day, which is just two months away but searches only really get going in mid January and go right up until the day before with buyers looking for last-minute gifts. The current rising Google searches have been for:

- Small Valentine’s Gifts
- Edible Valentine’s Gifts
- Inexpensive Valentines Gifts
- First Valentines as Husband and Wife Gifts
- Long Distance Valentines Gifts

And don’t forget about Valentine’s decor such as wreaths, signs, balloons and, of course, cards.

The Women’s March on Washington will be on January 18th and is now called #WomensWave, so buyers will be looking for female empowerment hats, shirts, pins, baby onesies, mugs and more.

January 25th is the Chinese New Year, and it is the year of the rat, so rat themed products will peak on January25th and then interest dramatically falls off.

February 2nd is the Superbowl, so anything football and Superbowl party related will be ranking high in searches, including Superbowl banners, food, invitations, shirts and hats.

There is also Winter Vacation Travel, whether it is to a beach (bikinis, maxi dresses, sandals, beach bags, cover ups, hats) or to a ski destination (ski sweaters, ski masks, ski gloves, ski socks, ski boot bags) as well as vacation planners, cruise lanyards, passport holders, luggage and so forth will all be top searches.

Last week Pantone announced their Color of the Year, which is Classic Blue. So you will see interest in products in this color mainly in late December and January, and then it wanes off.

Get ready for success in 2020 with my 2020 Small Business Marketing Planner out now. This 87-page printable download is packed with planning pages for analysis, strategy, organizing, implementation, tracking and more. Works for any time of small business!

4 Quick & Easy Etsy Tips

November 16, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

If you need a boost for your Etsy shop before the holiday buying rush starts next week, here are four of my quick and easy Etsy tips.

Gift Search Phrases

Not everyone just searches “Christmas Gift for”. There are other search phrases that are actually even more popular such as White Elephant Gifts, Secret Santa Gifts, 12 Days of Christmas Gifts, Stocking Stuffers, Advent Calendar Fillers, Hanukkah Gifts, Diwali Gifts, Thanksgiving Gifts, Christmas Gifts Under 10, Christmas Gifts Under 20 and so forth. So test these in Etsy Autocomplete and then use relevant ones in your titles and tags.

Send Coupons for Free

Are you taking advantage of Etsy’s FREE offer to send a coupon code to anyone who puts your product in their cart and/or favorites it? If you were planning to do a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale anyway, why not take advantage of this offer. Go into your Dashboard/Marketing/Sales and Coupons and you will see Targeted Campaigns at the top for both Abandoned Cart and Recently Favorited.

Repeat Business

Always be selling, so in every package that you send out this holiday season (and all year long) be sure to include a flyer with a special offer for the customer to come back to your shop for Valentine’s Day gifts and/or an after Christmas sale (this is just one of the things that I recommend in my Etsy 30-Day Success Plan). Actually, any kind of insert that you can put into the package to get customers to remember your shop is always a good idea. Here is a post I wrote two years ago that might give you some ideas: Creative Ideas for Packaging Inserts.

Download Sales

Do you sell digital downloads? I do, so I am sure that quite often people contact you asking where the download is. Etsy actually has a very good description that you should put into your outgoing email to buyer, as well as at the end of the listing description. It will SAVE you tons of time answering this same question over and over again. I added a little more to it:

NOTE: If you’re purchasing a digital file that’s available for instant download, you can access the file via your account’s “Purchases and reviews” page, but you’ll also receive a separate email with a download link. If you purchased as a guest, you’ll find the link to download your items in the receipt that was emailed to you after purchase.The link will direct you to the order’s Downloads page. Also, check your spam folder as sometimes the emails will end up there.

On a fun note, back in August, I wrote a blog post about Christmas Product Ideas and Trends for 2018, and I mentioned an idea I had to create an Advent Calendar for dogs, and, guess what, Trader Joe’s came out with one this week:

This is why it is important to read my blog as you too might get a great idea (for free).

For more inspiration be sure to check out my post, What National Day is Today: The Trend of National Days.

Is Your Business Struggling? I offer very affordable Phone Consultations.

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A Black Friday Marketing Strategy for Your Business

November 2, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Need a more effective Black Friday Marketing Strategy? Are you personally holding off holiday purchases for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales? Honestly, the only way I would buy anything right now from an online retailer is if they were giving me an advance Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale of at least 60% off, and indicating that they will not be going this low on Black Friday.

So, maybe you want to do the same thing. Why make your customers wait for Black Friday/Cyber Monday when you want those sales NOW, as well as get their spending dollars BEFORE they blow it all on Black Friday (and at someone else’s shop).

Make the Offer Irresistible

Therefore, I would consider emailing your customers this week with a special Customer-Only “Advance” Black Friday / Cyber Monday Sale that is a ONE-DAY only offer, better than anything you will be offering on Black Friday/Cyber Monday, guaranteed.

Again, the offer has to be amazing for people to go for it. On Black Friday customers are expecting offers of 40%, 50%, 60% off. Now, this might scare you, but hopefully you will make it up on volume if your profit margins are good. Otherwise, you have a couple of options:

Slightly raise your prices so that you can offer these types of deep discounts.
Tie the offers to volume purchases only i.e. Buy any 3 Items and Get 40% Off, any 5 and get 60% Off”.

The point is, you want the offer to be so irresistible that you will get those sales NOW, and not have to wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday when customers might not have as much money left to spend at your store.

How to Write the Email

In your email subject line, be sure to use a mix of upper and lower case words along with some holiday emojis in order for it to get noticed, for example:

🎉 TODAY ONLY PRE-BLACK FRIDAY SUPER SALE – Coupon Code Inside!

Use a holiday theme email template that your email service company can supply. Keep the copy short and the sale should be hard linked back to your shop.

If the sale goes well, extend it one more day and tell your customers that they can pass the offer along to their friends and family, to broaden your reach.

So don’t sit around waiting for the end of November, jump the gun on your competitors and get those sales NOW.

Want to Know Why Your Business Isn’t Selling?

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Black Friday Marketing Tips for Your Etsy Shop

October 23, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

If you plan on offering a Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday sale at your Etsy shop, then I highly recommend that you invest in an affordable ad graphic that you can use in your Etsy shop, in your emails and on social media to really help drive traffic. For example, this Black Friday ad graphic from the Etsy shop, TaunaDesignStudio has so many uses, just keep reading.

Tips for Your Black Friday Ads

- Include the ad graphic as one of your Etsy product photos (even asking people to pin, etc.) and/ or use it as your shop view image for one of your listings, just for the day.
- Put the ad graphic in your Etsy shop banner and Facebook banners.
- Use the ad graphic as your Etsy avatar and social media avatars for the day.
- Ask all friends and family to post the ad graphic on their social media sites.
- Use the ad graphic as a one-day ad on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
- When posting it on social media include hash tags such as #blackfriday2018, #blackfridaysale, #blackfridayshopping, #blackfridaydeals.
- Make the ad graphic front and center in your email to customers as well as part of your email signature.
- Print out business cards with the ad graphic on one side and your shop information on the other and leave on car windshields at the malls.

What Sells Big on Black Friday?

Want to know one of the most popular items for people to buy on Black Friday? Engagement rings! This is due to the fact that Black Friday is predominantly seen as a time to get an amazing deal on those high ticket items (TVs, tires, iPhones) and engagement rings are a high ticket item. Also, 80% of all engagements occur between Christmas and January 1st so the timing is right.

Marketing Strategy & Business Consulting

GB Oliver Since 2010 I have advised thousands of small businesses and I can help yours too. My very affordable marketing consultations provide advice, feedback, direction and an experienced second opinion on any of your business struggles or questions. Learn more here.

Every time I critique an Etsy shop I encourage the shop to include listings that are sets. Not only do you sell more products at one time to one customer, but customers are looking for the convenience of you doing the “decorating” for them because many buyers just do not know how to coordinate items together.

This same strategy can be applied to jewelry (sets of stud earrings are always in demand), fashion accessories, throw pillows, baby items, personalized gifts, wreaths, beauty products, greeting cards, seasonal (fall set) and holiday items (Halloween set). Again, the goal is to not just put matching items together but rather like-minded or coordinated items together.

Examples of Product Sets

If you sell trays, create a listing that is three trays in three different sizes because people have different uses for trays.
If you sell Apple watch bands, sell a set in 3 different colors so the customer can swap out and change up their look.
If you sell baby onesies, sell a pack of seven labeled with each day of the week. Get creative!

There are also gift set listings and if you don’t have at least one gift set listing in your shop right now you are missing out on a big sales opportunity!

Top Searched Gift Sets

Makeup Gift Sets
Women Gift Sets / Men Gifts Sets (tied)
Tea Gift Sets
Wine Gift Sets
Liquor / Christmas Gift Sets (tied)
Coffee / Candle / Bath / Nail Polish Gift Sets (tied)
Beauty Gift Sets
Hot Chocolate Gift Sets
Baby Boy / Skin Care Gift Sets (tied)
Spices Gift Set

Again, offering sets is a great way to sell more at one time to one customer.

About Me

Do you need your Brand Story written or an SEO-Optimized Blog Post or a Personalized Business Consultation? As a 20+ year marketing professional and small business consultant, all of my services are super affordable.

I have consulted for thousands of small businesses since 2012, and my advice has been featured in the NY Times, Success Magazine, Yahoo Business, American Express, Big Commerce, Business2Community to name a few – so this is professional advice you can trust!

My Publicity Pitch service has also gotten my clients featured in Real Simple Magazine, Apartment Therapy, House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Houzz, Martha Stewart, Glamour Magazine, LONNY, DesignMilk, Emmaline Bride,– just to name a few.

Christmas Product Ideas and Trends

August 27, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Attention Getting Marketing

It is not too early to start thinking about the holiday buying season, and no matter what you sell, if you can incorporate at least one holiday theme product, you will open yourself up to way more sales opportunities. Below are some interesting Christmas product ideas and trends that might present your shop with potential new sales opportunities.

Flat Christmas Trees

Dorm rooms and apartments have limited space so a trend is to have a flat Christmas tree that hangs on the wall (the front door as well). A flat Christmas tree could be made out of wood, metal, fabric, crochet or paper. It also needs flat ornaments to go on it, so there are many product opportunities here!

Christmas Wall Murals

Temporary holiday theme wall murals are fast becoming a popular way to decorate a child’s room, nursery or dining room, just for the holiday season. Holidays decals for cars is a cute idea as well.

Chunky Knit Tree Skirts

Didn’t the chunky blanket pretty much originate on Etsy? Well now a version to be used as your Christmas tree skirt will give your home that cozy, rustic feel.

Christmas Song Lyrics Signs

Stylish farmhouse-style signs with Christmas song lyrics that still match your decor will be popular this year. The Christmas song lyric trend can also apply to glassware, serveware, linens, pillows and other home decor items.

Personalized Santa Door Signs

Isn’t everything personalized these days? Door signs that remind Santa to stop at your house are now updated with the names of children living at that house for a fun touch and cute gift idea.

Other Holiday Product Ideas

For those of you with a pet shop, why not create an advent calendar for dogs or cats, filled with treats for each day. Advent calendars were one of the most searched items on Etsy last year. For those shops that sell baby clothes, what about a onesie that says, “My 1st Santa Photo” to capture that traditional holiday moment.

Whether you sell jewelry, decor, kids products, beauty products, food, art or printables, there are many so opportunities to create Christmas-theme or holiday-theme products if you just get creative!

Get More Christmas Sales Tips

Get more hot tips in my 2019 Etsy Shop Holiday Sales Planner out now! You’ll love it, packed with over 65 tips, tricks and ideas to get the most out of your holiday sales season. Read more about it at my Etsy Shop here.

Customer Success Stories!

Congratulations to one of my long time customers, Formulary 55 as I was so happy to see that her beautiful bath and body products are now being carried by the store, Francesca’s.

Also, remember how HGTV Magazine used one of my customer’s address signs in a feature in their June issue? Well they did it again this month! Congratulations to Jessica of Live in Mosaics who will again be in the magazine’s September issue.

My Marketing Tips for Your Online Shop for the Week of December 21st – Christmas Edition

December 21, 2015 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

First of all I have to congratulate one of my clients, Nadine Savino, creator of The GCap, for appearing on Good Morning America this week and presenting her invention to Joy Mangano (the momtrepreneur whom the movie, Joy, is based on). Be sure to check out Nadine’s appearance here. The GCap is a reusable, stretchable bottle cap for kids drinks. Nadine also received a $10,000 check to help further her business. Congratulations, Nadine!

The week of Christmas can be one of the the slowest for an online shop so I don’t expect you to be doing too much this week, but here are some things you may want to do, if you have the time.

8 Ideas for Shop Promotion This Week

If you have a blog, come up with your own “Best of 2015” list and promote the post on all of your social media sites.
Add a section to your shop that is entitled “Up to 50% Off”.
Email a link to the shop section above to all customers (after Christmas), along with wishes for a Happy 2016!
Find a three-word keyword phrase that describes your most popular item and run a Google Adwords ad based on this phrase, just for a month.
Review your shop traffic statistics and invest more time and effort in the top three traffic sources.
Go through all of your social media followers lists and follow back anyone who is following you.
Post to social media an animated (gif) holiday greeting. There are some free ones here.
Hot trending topics on social media this week: First day of winter (Dec 22), start of Capricorn (Dec 23), Christmas (Dec 25), National Pumpkin Pie Day (Dec 25), National Candy Cane Day (Dec 26).

Have a wonderful holiday, and if you haven’t done it yet, be sure to check out my new site, OnlineShopLove.com and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

My Marketing Tips for Your Online Shop Post Black Friday

November 30, 2015 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

If you are looking to drive traffic and sales to your online shop, here are a few things to try this week.

Marketing To Do List for December 1 to 7

Thank all customers who bought from you on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday by emailing them a coupon for use in January.
Pantone introduces their color of the year on Wednesday and it always trends big on social media. Be ready on social media with any products you offer that match the color they announce.
Send out pitches to print media now for Easter editorial (for fashion, decorating, entertaining, etc.)
Follow all new customers on their social media sites and add them to your email list.
Run a one-day $25 Facebook ad for gift ideas based on products in your shop.
Respond to any relevant Help a Reporter Out (HARO) media requests.
Submit an entry in Instagram’s Weekend HashTag Project and comment on all entries.
Kindly ask friends and family to post a favorite product from your shop to their social media pages.
Trending hash tags to capitalize on this week: #NationalPieDay (Dec 1), #GivingTuesday (Dec 1), #NationalCookieDay (Dec 4), #SantasListDay (Dec 4), #Hanukkah (Dec 6), #MondayMotivation, #ThursdayThoughts, #FridayFeeling, #gifts, #gift, #giftideas.

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©2015 Gail Oliver, Attention Getting Marketing. All rights reserved.

Other Holiday Posts…

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Gift Search Phrases

Send Coupons for Free

Repeat Business

Download Sales

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Make the Offer Irresistible

How to Write the Email

Want to Know Why Your Business Isn’t Selling?

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Tips for Your Black Friday Ads

What Sells Big on Black Friday?

Marketing Strategy & Business Consulting

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Top Halloween Product Searches

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Examples of Product Sets

Top Searched Gift Sets

About Me

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Flat Christmas Trees

Christmas Wall Murals

Chunky Knit Tree Skirts

Christmas Song Lyrics Signs

Personalized Santa Door Signs

Other Holiday Product Ideas

Get More Christmas Sales Tips

Customer Success Stories!

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8 Ideas for Shop Promotion This Week

© 2015 Gail Oliver, Attention Getting Marketing. All rights reserved.

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Marketing To Do List for December 1 to 7

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