marketing ideas small business Archives

Are sales a little sluggish? Need some marketing ideas for August? Here are a few things I recommend if you need to get things going for your small business this month.

August Marketing Ideas

If you’re a female-run business, pitch your success story now to your local newspaper’s business writer for any articles they are thinking of for National Business Women’s Day on September 22^nd (they need a few weeks lead-time).
At very least, if you’re a female business owner, pose in a shirt with your business name on it, post the photo to your social media with the hashtag #nationalbusinesswomensday. Then ask followers to #like and #share for some free publicity. Also give a #shoutout to a few female businesses you support – maybe mine :).
Whether you sell online or in a brick and mortar, include a one-page holiday gift guide-type flyer for your business in every customer’s package, to get them coming back for those big Christmas sales.
Are any of your products a possible gift idea for a local business to gift to their employees and/or clients this holiday season? Then ready your pitch for early September as a way to get a few volume orders. Even if you are a service business, like a restaurant or travel agency, you can pitch gift cards or gift certificates for your business.
Did you know that “Labor Day sales” is the most searched sales weekend after Black Friday sales, and it accounted for $2.6 billion in revenue in 2020? So plan for an epic Labor Day Sale as a great way to clear out summer items and promote fall merchandise. Try something unique, like mystery boxes of products or other bulk purchase-type offers.
Fall is all about fairs, festivals and other Halloween and Thanksgiving events. So take advantage of your local market by seeing if there are affordable opportunities to advertise your business. This can be in flyers, signage and other marketing materials.

Easily and affordably market and promote your small business every month with my sure-fire tactics, outlined in my 12-Month Marketing Strategy Plans, where everything you need to do is laid out for you. Download today!

About Me

As a long time marketing consultant who has been blogging about e-commerce since 2012, I advise, coach and mentor small businesses selling online. I first got involved in e-commerce back in 2002, wanting to sell online a book I had written. After years of selling on Amazon I decided to take the experience I had in e-commerce, merge it with my professional marketing background and start a blog with marketing advice for small businesses selling online. My advice has been featured in the NY Times, Success Magazine, American Express Open Forum, Big Commerce blog, Business2Community and SheKnows to name a few.

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.