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Tag: marketing ideas for small business

6 Creative Ways to Draw Customers to Your Booth at Fairs, Shows and Festivals

August 25, 2015 /

creative vendor booth ideasLooking for some creative vendor booth ideas for the next time you are at a fair, trade show, festival or even farmer’s market? Here are six unique ones I came up with.

Creative Vendor Booth Idea #1

People tend to bring their kids to these things (don’t want to pay for a babysitter) so you need to keep the kids busy in your booth so the parents can stick around longer. I would make one wall of your booth a chalkboard and let the kids go crazy.

Creative Vendor Booth Idea #2

Nothing pulls people into a booth more than free food and beverages. Offer something less ordinary, like espresso, cappuccino or one of those large glass drink dispensers and they can help themselves. Plus, if you give them a drink they feel slightly obligated to look around your booth while they finish it.

Creative Vendor Booth Idea #3

You want to collect leads, and the best way is always through some sort of ballot box (you can capture names electronically through an iPad as well). The draw has to be attractive, such as a daily draw for a $200 Home Depot gift card (since these are home renovators attending the show).

Creative Vendor Booth Idea #4

Instead of useless swag give a useful handout, like a checklist of all the things you need to do to your home to prepare it for winter. This is something people are more likely to keep, even post on the fridge. Make sure it is well branded with your company’s info.

Creative Vendor Booth Idea #5

Have a fun mascot that kids can pose with (with your company’s name somewhere on the mascot that won’t get hidden behind a posing child). Then encourage their parents to post the photo to Instagram (maybe doing this gives them a second ballot in the draw). Posting the photo to Instagram gets your company seen by their followers.

Creative Vendor Booth Idea #5

Get the word out in advance on social media by tweeting out to people attending the show to bring a digital photo of their home for a free, on the spot transformation (you bring the photo into an editing program and quickly swap out windows, doors, siding, etc. so they can see the possibilities). Show the before and after transformations up on a big screen for all to see.

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About Me

A 20+ year marketing professional, small business consultant, ebook author & blogger, my advice has been featured in the NY Times, Success Magazine, American Express, Big Commerce, Business2Community to name a few – so this is professional advice you can trust!

I have consulted for thousands of small businesses since 2012. It really does help to talk to someone who is objective to get a new, but professional, perspective. I have also written publicity pitches for clients that resulted in them being 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.

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© 2015 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. Creative Vendor Booth Ideas.

10 April Marketing Ideas for Your Small Business

March 25, 2015 /

by Gail Oliver, Small Business Marketing Consultant

If you are on social media a lot, especially sites like Twitter, you have definitely seen trending hash tags such as #NationalPuppyDay (that was Monday) or #NationalCheeseSteakDay (that was yesterday). Now these “national’ days and observances may seem silly but they actually have a lot of marketing potential.

National Days for April

So what are some big national days coming up for April? Well, there is pretty much one (sometimes two or three) for every day of the month, but the ones that I think have the most marketing potential are:

    • #NationalChildrensBookDay (April 2nd)
    • #NationalBeerDay (April 7th)
    • #NationalPetDay (April 11th)
    • #NationalScrabbleDay (April 13th)
    • #NationalJellyBeanDay (April 22nd)
    • #NationalAdoptaShelterPetDay (April 30th)

How to Use National Days to Promote Your Business

It doesn’t have to be anything complicated to take advantage of all the trending these holidays do on social media and in the press. For example, you could simply send out a tweet with the cover of your favorite children’s book from childhood (with the hash tag #NationalChildrensBookDay) and ask people if they love it too, and if so to retweet. Be sure to retweet other people’s choices as well.

Cute animals always do well on social media, so for National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, why not do some good at the same time and go down to your local animal shelter, take a photo of a pet that needs a home, and post it to Instagram asking all of your followers to “like” it.

Other PR & Promotional Opportunities

There is a lot going on in April, with other events and occasions that present opportunities to get press for your business and capitalize on promotional opportunities. Just a few:

    • Opening day for Major League Baseball League (April 6th)
    • Coachella Music Festival (April 10th)
    • Game of Thrones season premiere (April 12th)
    • Earth Day (April 22nd)

This is why you will love my Social Media Posting Ideas because I give you creative ways to capitalize on these holidays, plus so much more!

 

 

 

© 2015 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. 

18 Great Marketing Ideas for Selling Online

February 12, 2014 /

marketing ideas for selling onlineLooking for some truly awesome marketing ideas for selling online?

Whether you sell on Etsy, on Amazon, on Shopify or somewhere else online, these marketing ideas are  from my 12-Month Marketing Strategy Plans for Online Shops.

These detailed downloads are super easy to follow and will help you drive more traffic (and sales) to your online store.

18 Marketing Ideas for Selling Online
  1. Highlight any publicity your business has received with an icon or shoutout on your store page banner. For example, “As featured in this month’s issue of…”
  2. Ask a local photography class to take highly stylized, creative photos of your products as a class project. As a result, you get free high quality product photos to use.
  3. Create a gift card for your store and promote it on your home page and at the end of every product listing.
  4. Add text fly-outs to your product photos that highlight special features or a target customer that would benefit from this feature. See this post for examples.
  5. Get a free Square.com reader for your smart phone, so you can sell your products by credit card anywhere, anytime (out of the trunk of your car, if need be). You also get your products featured in Square’s online shop for free.
  6. Apply to have your products included in monthly subscription boxes to get in front of potential new customers. It can be sample sizes or even a coupon.
  7. Instead of always going after the end user, try to also target potential business users for your products such as restaurants, small hotels, fashion stylists, interior decorators, daycare centers, dog groomers, event planners, AirBnBs, and so forth.
  8. Post something nice about a prominent brand company to your social media sites and tag them on it and they will likely repost it to their social media sites (so your business now gets seen by their followers).
  9. Change or add your shop categories depending on the time of year, and make them as detailed as possible to really attract interest.. For example, Valentine’s Gift Ideas for Kids, Beautiful Holiday Decorating Ideas, New Fashion Jewelry for Fall 2022, etc.
  10. Put your shop logo and url on your smart phone case, lap top, lap top bag, coffee travel cup, yoga mat and anywhere else other people will see it as you travel throughout your day.
  11. Create a free list or checklist that promotes your business or is something your target market would be interested in. For example, if you sell jewelry, create a “10 Classic Jewelry Pieces to Own” list or if you sell wedding products, “Six-Week Countdown Wedding Checklist”.
  12. Attend a popular music or sports event and wear a t-shirt that has your store name and url printed in a large readable font on the front and back.
  13. In your product copy cover the 5 Ws (and one H) and tell customers what it is, who will use it, when they will use it, why they will use, where they will use it, and how they use it (if applicable).
  14. Offer and promote an ongoing discount to trades, professionals, students and/or seniors, whichever is most applicable.
  15. Join a Facebook fan page of something you are truly interested in, like a favorite TV show. Just join in the conversation; never use it to promote your business.  Your avatar and Facebook user name should say it all.
  16. Use your social media avatar like an ad, to promote your latest product or sale.
  17. Have a fridge magnet made with your online store url. Then ask friends and family to put it on the refrigerator in the lunch room of their work place, in addition to their home fridge.
  18. When sending out customer packages at Christmas, include a recipe card with a Christmas cookie recipe on it. Make sure your store name and url are also clearly on it. This is something they will keep and pull out every Christmas, reminding them of your store.

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Download One of My 12-Month Marketing Plans!

Over 300 tactics to try for advertising, promotions, sales, publicity, SEO, content marketing and social media in my 12-Month Marketing Strategy Plans with plans specific for what you sell, including:

 

 

 

© 2014-2022 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. Marketing ideas for selling online.

3 Marketing Ideas to Try on Pinterest

December 2, 2013 /

Marketing-Ideas-PinterestToday I have three Pinterest marketing ideas to try.

Pinterest is a great social media site for driving traffic to your online store.

Traffic on the site has never been higher, especially this time of year with people searching for holiday recipes, gift ideas and decorating ideas.

So take advantage and brush up on your Canvas skills to create engaging and SEO-optimized pins that can essentially act as free ads for your business.

Here are three ideas:

1. Create a Pin Describing Who Needs Your Product

pinterest marketing ideas

One Kings Lane is great at creating “pinnable” images. This one is promoting why you should consider buying a bow tie for the men on your list (you will have to make this pin horizontal and put the text on the bottom in order to work on Pinterest). You can use other text with the image, like a quote or a customer review.

2. Create a Pin Announcing a Sales at Your Shop

pinterest marketing ideas

What better way to announce a sale then to pin it for all your followers to see, like this one from West Elm? What is key here is to ask all of your followers to “Re-Pin”.

3. Create a Pin of a Gift Guide Showcasing Your Products

pinterest marketing ideas

Take photos of a variety of your products and arrange them into a collage for an overall image (like this one from Bauble Bar). Then pin. In the comments, be sure to include hash tags #gifts #gift ideas #gifts for women, etc.

Pinterest is a great medium for driving traffic to your shop, you just have to make sure to stand out among the all the images, and these ideas will help.

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.

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© 2013 Gail. Oliver. All rights reserved. Pinterest Marketing Ideas. 

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