Small Business Marketing Strategist
by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant
With only 43 shopping days left, here are some of the hottest Christmas trends I’m seeing so far this season, so maybe some will inspire you!
© 2020 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.
Need some creative advent calendar ideas, as it is a brilliant marketing idea.
Did you know that searches for advent calendars increased 2,000% over the year before? This is because more and more brands have realized what an amazing promotional tool it can be, and it can be beneficial for your small business as well.
Now, I realize this doesn’t work for every type of business or product, but maybe for next year, think of a smaller scale product that is still in your wheelhouse, to add into your shop to take advantage of this annual sales opportunity. In fact, don’t be surprised if brands find a way to carry this tradition over to Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day and more.
UPDATE FOR 2021: Etsy says there’s been a 4,708% increase in searches for crystal advent calendars in the last 3 months (compared to the same time the previous year), a 282% increase in searches for wax melt advent calendars, a 137% increase in searches for pet advent calendars and a 96% increase in searches for alcohol themed advent calendars.
© 2020 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. Advent Calendar Ideas.
Want my hot Etsy tip of the week?
Well, this tip will actually work for any type of ecommerce store or business in general.
According to an article in eCommerceBytes (that I reference below) Etsy says that 7 in 10 buyers (69%) plan to buy gifts online and have them sent directly to the recipient due to COVID not allowing people to spend the holidays together.
So this presents an opportunity for your store!
When you ship out a gift to someone on behalf of the buyer, be sure to include a card inside the package that says,
Let Them Know You Love Your Gift!
Post a photo of yourself with this gift on Instagram and tag us @StoreXYZ, and we’ll send both you and the gift giver a coupon for 30% off your next purchase! Thank you for supporting small business!
Or you could say 30% off of Valentine’s gifts or send them a free gift, whatever you think will be more effective for your target market, but it’s a chance to get your shop some free exposure on social media. What have you got to lose?
Do you know anyone who owns a restaurant?
I have a hot tip for them as well in these tough times for their industry. If I owned a restaurant, I would approach a local charity that does Christmas Hampers/Adopt a Family type donations, to ask their donors if they would sponsor a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meal to be delivered to a family in need. It’s a great opportunity to help both the restaurant industry and struggling families. You could even position it to send a meal to older parents or relatives who won’t be celebrating the holidays with others.
For more restaurant promotional ideas, check out my 12-Month Restaurant Marketing Plan.
Be sure to check out my 30-Day Etsy Success Plan.
© 2020 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. My Hot Etsy Tip of the Week
In need of some popular gift keywords?
If you want to up your SEO game for gift searches this holiday season (not to mention all of the other gifting times of the year), then you need to understand how people search.
Below are some very popular keywords that people use when searching for gifts. They use adjectives you may not have thought of. Therefore, try one of these search phrases below and see if it makes a difference!
Popular Gift Keywords
It’s easy. Just go to Google and try into the search box the following phrases and see what fills down. You can also do this on Amazon and Etsy:
You might also see a lot of searches right now for boss gifts, which is today (October 16th), and Sweetest Day gifts, which is tomorrow.
Also read: 5 Key Holiday Sales Tips.
Be sure to visit my store for downloads and planners.
© 2020 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.
Instagram Giveaway Tips Rules
Here are some Instagram Giveaway Tips Rules to know. A giveaway is a great way to get the attention of your potential customers and increase your social media following.
Use caps and emojis so your offer stands out, but be clear about exactly what they will receive if they win. For example:
CHANCE TO WIN! We’re giving you the chance to ⚡️WIN⚡️ a jewelry set worth US$75! Includes a pair of gold star studs and a gold crescent moon necklace.
It can only be products that you giveaway. You CANNOT giveaway money. That is against Instagram’s rules.
You want to list, step by step, what they need to do to enter the giveaway. For example:
TO ENTER, YOU MUST DO THE FOLLOWING
The reason you want people to like the post, is because then when people on Instagram search “giveaway”, posts with the most likes appear at the top of results.
Now, there are more things you can ask people to do to enter, but beware, many people find that if there are too many steps, they’ll take a pass. For example:
For example:
Ends at 11:59pm PST on 10/2/21.
When the giveaway is over, update the post to say “CONTEST CLOSED”.
For example:
No purchase necessary. US residents only. Official rules here: (include a link to the rules on your blog or website).
Consider launching your giveaway on a Friday to take advantage of #freebiefriday. Other hashtags to include (so your post shows up in searches): #giveaway #giveaways #giveawaycontest #giveawaytime #contest #free #win #freestuff #freebies #freebie
Instagram Giveaway Tips Rules
Make sure, at very least, the graphic says “Giveaway” and has your brand identity. You can have a photo showing what they will actually win, and even list the requirements to enter right on the graphic itself.
For example:
Winner will be contacted by DM and announced here on December 5, 2021.
You have to make sure to let people know this has nothing to do with Instagram. For example:
Disclaimer: This giveaway promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Instagram.
Be sure to read Instagram’s full rules for a giveaway.
Instagram Giveaway Tips Rules
Be sure to check out my best selling 365 Social Media Posting Ideas Calendar. It will make posting so much easier and time-saving!
You might also like 35 Free Business Card Templates.
© 2021 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. Best Tips for Doing an Instagram Giveaway
Want to know how to get Corporate Holiday Gift orders? You need to start approaching local companies now about what their plans are for both Christmas gifts for employees and for their clients.
Obviously, for a lot of businesses this has been a difficult year, and this might be something they decide to forgo. However, it is a great opportunity to do volume sales, and with the push to support and buy local right now, you do have this in your favor.
So don’t wait. Start sending out emails in late August. If you sell on Etsy and haven’t gotten my best-selling Etsy Shop Holiday Planner you are missing out on key opportunities.
© 2020 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. How to Get Corporate Holiday Gift Orders
by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant
I always tell my customers that if you can quickly jump on something that is trending in pop culture, it can bring you a ton of traffic and sales that can have residual impact.
Two days ago when I read about how a “VOTE” necklace that Michelle Obama wore at the DNC drove crazy sales for the designer of the necklace, I quickly emailed several of my jewelry customers and told them to get one in the shop, if they can. The very next day, “Vote Necklace” was the top trending search on Etsy, and it’s still trending today.
The results: Well, other shops had the same idea and soon there were over 1,200 Etsy listings for a VOTE necklace. One new Etsy shop sold 51 vote necklaces in a 24-hour period, accounting for almost 1/3 of their sales to date. Another new Etsy shop sold 25 vote necklaces in a 24-hour period, accounting for over 25% of their sales to-date.
Another benefit to capitalizing on a trend is that it brings traffic into your shop to see what else you sell. At this slow time of year, it’s a great way to get new customers that you can then come back to when it’s time for Christmas gift buying.
Be sure to visit my Etsy shop to see all of the business and marketing products and services I offer.
©2020 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.
by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant
August is upon us, and if you are looking to get your products featured in holiday gift guides, for print magazines, you need to be pitching NOW and to blogs by mid September.
My 2020 Etsy Holiday Sales Planner has a list of more than 85 of the top gift guides, as well as other tips for success.
Here are just a couple of the tips to find success pitching your products this year:
Whether it is your city, your state or your country, the movement to support local businesses due to COVID-19 is greater this year than ever before. Therefore, make sure you indicate this when pitching i.e. “If you were planning any holiday gift guides to support Portland small businesses / Oregon small businesses / American small businesses” (pick one) and so forth. At very least, you are putting the idea in their head and they might do a separate category just for this.
If you are a black-owned business, this is your time (not to mention the fact that August is National Black Business Month). In the last two months, every major publication and blog has had some sort of editorial with a list of black owned businesses to support (Google it), so this will carry into the holiday season as well.
The quarantine situation has definitely caused stress for many, so you will find that gift guides this year will want to feature products for isolating, comfort gifts, self-care gifts, mental health gifts, and stress relief gifts.
Small gifts and inexpensive gifts will have a good editorial opportunity this year as most people will be on a tighter budget, plus the top holiday gift searches always include White Elephant gifts, Secret Santa gifts, gift basket fillers, advent calendar fillers and stocking stuffers.
For your best success, magazines and blogs tend to like to feature products that are:
My 28-Page Etsy Holiday Sales Planner has 86 of the top holiday gift guides to submit to (complete with email addresses, saving you a ton of time), not to mention other advice, over 200 of the top holiday search phrases, and various planner pages.
Is your Etsy shop ready for the big holiday sales season? If you think it’s too early, you’re wrong!
My 28-page 2020 Etsy Shop Holiday Sales Planner is out today (and it’s on sale!), and here are just a few interesting tidbits from the research portion of the planner:
Of course, my Holiday Planner also has a ton of my latest tips, as well as planner pages, and bonus items such as 36 days of social media posting ideas, 86 of the top holiday gift guides to submit to and a countdown to-do-list starting in August all the way up to December 29th!
You can purchase my 2020 Etsy Shop Holiday Sales Planner now.
by Gail Oliver, Marketing Consultant
Has your online business jumped on the face mask band wagon?
The marketing potential for face masks has not been reached yet, especially since many cities are now making them mandatory.
From the seasonal to holidays to stylish to quirky, here are some of my product ideas that you may want to consider for your face mask line:
Everything is personalized these days, and since you likely don’t want family members mixing up whose face mask is whose, why not create masks with first names, monograms and family names on them.
I'm Gail Oliver and since 2012 I have advised thousands of small businesses and I can help yours too! Feel free to contact me at attentiongetting@gmail.com with a question!
© 2024 Attention Getting
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
FOLLOW ME