Small Biz Success Tips – Since 2012
I love creative product ideas, and this Pixar Toy Story Mr Potato Head stacking ring from Bauble Bar is brilliant. It lends to the nature of the Mr. Potato Head product, merged with a stacking ring, which have been so trendy the last few years. Plus, it makes a perfect gift for the Toy Story fan.
© 2022 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.
Are you planning, auditing and reviewing your marketing efforts each month?
My top-selling Marketing Planner offers a more comprehensive plan, audit and review, but I thought I would offer a condensed one for those who feel overwhelmed by marketing. So let’s keep it simple.
Your marketing goals and objectives need to be specific and measurable, such as:
Goal: Increase Instagram followers by 1,000.
Tactical Plan: 1. Run a giveaway every Friday asking people to like and share the post and tag three people in the comments; 2. Boost one of my Instagram posts that had a high engagement to my target market; 3. Post a fun reel showing how to use my product as reels have twice the engagement.
Goal: Increase Instagram followers by 1,000.
Result: 460 new followers.
What Worked: The giveaway brought the majority of the new followers.
What Didn’t Work: The reel brought engagement but not new followers.
What To Do Differently Next Month: Make the giveaway post a reel, and that is also the post to boost.
This is where you chart your monthly results, so you can compare to last month and to next month. This should include:
My 5-page Monthly Marketing Audit makes it easy to plan, review and evaluate your marketing each month. Again, you do not need this if you already have my Marketing Planner.
⭐ I need products to feature (for free) on OnlineShopLove.com so please email me a product link to attentiongetting{at}gmail.com. Photos must be high quality to be considered. Thanks!
© 2021 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. Monthly Marketing Audit.
by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant
Do you want to have your best holiday sales ever at your online shop? Then I have one HUGE tip that I want you to start doing right NOW that will greatly help your sales come the peak period of late October to mid December.
Too many times, sellers do not understand how important your current customer base is. Shops always seem to be looking for new customers as opposed to trying to get more business out of the people who have already bought from them, and this is a mistake.
SO HERE IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO. Starting today, every time you make a sale, include the message below in your outgoing email to the customer (as well as on a card in the package):
Thank you so much for your purchase! We hope you will return for your holiday shopping with this coupon code for 15% off every item in the store: HOLIDAY2016 (valid until December 22, 2016).
Now, you can make the offer whatever you wish, whether it is free shipping, buy one get one half off, or any other value deal that makes sense for your shop. If you offer free gift wrapping, include this as well. The key is you are putting the idea in their head now that they should think of your shop come holiday shopping time PLUS you are giving them an incentive to do so.
You can even get more specific, so if you sell women’s jewelry, for example, you can say:
Thank you so much for your purchase! We hope you will return for holiday gifts for your mother, sisters, children, best friends, colleagues – anyone who loves jewelry – with this coupon code for 15% off every item in the store: HOLIDAY2016 (valid until December 22, 2016).
Now, a few more tips. You may also want to finish with a line such as:
Thank you so much for supporting small businesses!
Again, this reminds people the importance of buying from smaller vendors and not always the big retailers, and it makes them feel better about their purchase and want to support you further.
If you personalize or customize items, then you may want to add:
We are offering FREE personalization for any holiday gift, just be sure to order before December 1st so that it arrives in time.
We can create a gift specifically for someone special (or hard to buy for), just be sure to order before December 1st so that it arrives in time.
This gets them to act faster. You want as many holiday sales as possible before the big hype of Black Friday, where it is going to be tough to compete with online retailers such as Amazon.
If you don’t sell items that typically constitute as gifts, the holiday shopping season is also big for purchases that have to do with decorating and entertaining as people are getting their homes in order for family visits, holiday parties, and so forth, so you could say something such as:
Thank you so much for your purchase! With the holidays just around the corner, we hope you will return for any of your holiday decorating or entertaining needs with this coupon code for 15% off every item in the store: HOLIDAY2016 (valid until December 22, 2016).
Did you know that I offer a 30-Minute Phone Critique of your Etsy shop for just $59? I evaluate every aspect of your shop and advise you on the changes you need to make to get more traffic and sales. You can order it from my Etsy shop here.
© 2016 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.
by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant
Summer is here and people are out and about – travelling, going to farmers’ markets, the beach, outdoor concerts – you name it. So it presents a lot of great opportunities for you to get your business seen by your local market with only a little bit of investment.
Are you inspired? If you can’t use one of these ideas, hopefully you are motivated to come up with one of your own!
IMPORTANT! If you want to get your products into holiday gift guide editorial for print magazines, they are working on these issues right now! Download my July Planner as it includes a Holiday Gift Guide Media Contact List for 40 major magazines and don’t miss out! If you need a reminder of how to pitch, be sure to read my post, Why You Should Be Pitching Your Products for Holiday Gift Guides NOW.
© 2016 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.
by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant
There is lots going on this holiday weekend, so if you wish to get your business seen on social media in the next few days, this is the type of content you need to post that will likely get share.:
© 2016 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.
by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant
At the beginning of the year I told you that because this is an Olympic year, patriotic products (for every country) will sell well and are ripe for tons of press opportunities. Well now that the summer Olympics are just two months away, and combine that with the fact that this is also a US election year with one of the most hotly contested presidential runs in recent history, American patriotism is also riding a huge wave that will likely carry into the new year.
The big US brands such as Coke, Budweiser, and Hershey’s have all released products with patriotic packaging or a red, white and blue twist to the product. Consider these products from major brands and retailers such as Ray-Ban®, TOMS®, Urban Outfitters, Modcloth, Skittles®, Nordstrom and Pottery Barn.
The overall feeling is that these brands are trying to counteract the negativity that has been brought on by the political campaigning by reaffirming American pride and patriotism, and it seems to be catching on.
Amazon is currently showing searches for patriotic products, everything from “USA” bikinis and decorative pillows to car decals and onesies. Stars and stripes on iphone covers, neckties, scarves, underwear, leggings, pet clothing, beach towels, flasks, sheets and mugs are all making their way to the forefront of online and retail shops. Even on Etsy, there are searches for a wide range of red, white blue products from wreaths to dog collars to flip flops.
Therefore, if you haven’t added at least one patriotic product into your shop, you are missing out on a great opportunity.
© 2016 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.
by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant
Adding more products to your online shop is another obvious way to increase your sales. Now, it might not always increase your profits right away because costs could increase with the addition of the new products, but it is another obvious way to grow your business. So, what are some creative ways to expand your current product line?
Start by taking a look at your current product line and see if you can offer different:
For example, one of my customers, Bad Tags, sells cute dog tags in a variety of sayings, colors and shapes. They even have tags that indicate if a dog has special needs and add-on accessories such as rhinestone rings for the tags. Therefore, how do they expand their current product line even further to increase sales? Since their tags do have sayings, maybe they could offer them in different languages other than English to broaden the market; or they could do a higher priced line of dog tags with embedded birthstones or diamonds (trust me, there are customers for this); or they offer a dog tag that has an LED light in it so the dog is seen when walking it at night. They have customers buying tags for animal fundraisers, so they could offer a value bundle strictly for fundraising purposes.
I know a lot of art and photography shops have taken their art and put in on everything from t-shirts to mugs, which is great, but now everyone is doing it, which is not so great. However, these shops could take their work and sell it in a different form, such as an image spliced into three images. They could try putting the art or photograph onto a trendy new medium, such as glass, or onto supplies such as fabric and ribbon and now they can sell to other businesses instead of just to the end user.
Even repackaging items can help if you don’t wish to add new products. If you sell monogram necklaces, for example, sell a mother daughter monogram necklace set, which means you now get two sales but to the customer it looks like one. If you sell baby blankets, sell a set of three together that are embroidered with “crib”, “car”, and “stroller”. Simple ways to turn your current products into more listings.
Need ideas on how to expand your product line? I can take a look at your products and give you ideas on how to expand, just book my 30-Minute Phone Consultation.
© 2016. Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.
I'm Gail Oliver and since 2012 I have advised thousands of small businesses and I can help yours too! Feel free to email me at attentiongetting@gmail.com with a question!
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