The good news for retailers this Valentine’s Day is that consumer spending is on the rise. An annual Valentine’s Day survey, conducted by the National Retail Federation, suggests an 11% increase in spending on Valentine’s Day purchases. The expected total spending on all the romance is in the neighborhood of $15 billion dollars.

If you’re a retail store or restaurant owner, you should definitely be reaping some of those benefits from increased consumer spending.

And if you’re a retail store or restaurant owner, you should definitely be planning how you will attract those sales. Throwing a few paper hearts in the window is great, but come on: you can do better than that.

Even though we are less than one week to V-Day, you can still make the time count.

10 Last-Minute V-Day Marketing Ideas

1. Market to the ladies! Though men traditionally spend more on their Valentines than the other way around, women still comprise a large chunk of Valentine’s change, with the average female consumer expecting to spend around $80 on Valentine’s purchases this year. So clear out some of that lacey, heart-shaped stuff and put together some gift packages and product promotions that any red-blooded male would be happy to receive as a gift.

2. Put together a last-minute shopper’s package. Or several. There will be many who delay shopping until the last minute, and if you can present options that are thoughtful, creative, beautifully packaged, and good for several price points, you can get their business.

3. Hold extended hours on the weekend before Valentine’s Day. If you’re not usually open on the weekend, make an exception. Stay open late on Saturday night. Open up for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. Advertise your additional hours, of course, as a special time for Valentine’s shoppers.

4. Offer Early Bird Specials on V-Day itself. This year Valentine’s Day falls on a Monday; open up a couple of hours early for those wanting to grab a gift on their way to work. Put together a special discount for the Early Bird Shoppers. Have some piping hot coffee available, too. Donuts wouldn’t hurt.

5. Offer free delivery. Of course, not every business is set up for this, but if you are, then capitalize on it. Restaurants could offer pre-made romantic dinners to be delivered the day of (or a day ahead) with instructions on cooking or reheating as needed. Retail shops (beyond florists!) could offer beautiful wrapping and timely delivery of any Valentine’s gift purchased. It doesn’t have to be free, either.

6. Offer a custom shopping service. If you have some talented sales staff, offer to assist shoppers; uncertain or time-crunched spouses can call in with a price point, a few details about their significant other’s tastes, and then have you pick out, wrap (and deliver?) and charge them for a great, custom-selected gift.

7. Appeal to the rebels and creatives. Break out of the traditional Valentine’s Day flowers-candy-chocolates-dining gift list. What do you have that is quirky, funny, creative, off the cuff, special in a non-sappy way? There are plenty of people who are tired of the same old options. Give them something refreshing for a change.

8. Go with a red-and-white color theme. Help yourself think out of the box by promoting anything that fits into your red-and-white criteria as potential Valentine’s material. You could even offer a discount on any red or white items purchased between now and February 14th.

9. Offer an incentive with a future deal. Give a coupon towards 20% off future purchases with any purchase made for Valentine’s Day. Designate amounts if you want. Or make it for a specific product or service.

10. Extend your great offers through “Valentine’s Week.” Offer deals for the dudes in the doghouse (“Forgot Valentine’s Day? We can help!”) or the gals who didn’t get what they wanted (“Not loving your Valentine’s gift? Come pick out your own!”). Hey, when love is in the air, don’t just leave it hanging!

Image: Samantha Marx.

Why a Valentine’s Day Special?

Once we make it beyond the great buying and gifting extravaganza that is the Christmas season, local retail stores tend to hit a low point in retail sales. It can be a very low point, and even if you’ve pulled in a great amount of business over the holidays, you still have to keep paying bills and, well, making money. So, local business owners, don’t forget that the other holidays coming up on the calendar – even the minor ones – can be an excellent way to promote sales and increase slow winter business.

Options for a Valentine’s Day Special

1. Get a partner.
Valentine’s Day is all about romance, remember? So emulate the love by starting up a business partnership with another local business. Business affiliation for particular events and special deals can help you pull in a new crowd of customers, and give your current customers another reminder of why they want to give you more business. Contact local business managers and owners and start a conversation about promoting a Valentine’s Day event together, putting together a special Valentine’s Day package, or promoting each other’s businesses in some other way revolving around the Valentine’s Day holiday. If things go well, you can extend and work that partnership for other events and specials.

2. Promote what you need to sell in a Valentine’s package or deal.
Unwrap and repackage that older inventory you need to move by including it in part of a Valentine’s special deal or package offer. Not everything sold as part of a Valentine’s Day special has to be heart-shaped. And if you need to move inventory, you can use it to add value to the specials you do offer for this heart-shaped holiday.

3. Host or participate in a Valentine’s Day event.
This option is perfect for local restaurant and retail shop owners. These type of brick-and-mortar small businesses lend themselves readily to a Valentine’s Day theme. Restaurant owners can host a special Valentine’s banquet, offer special meals, desserts, and wine tastings. Retail shop owners can showcase their Valentine’s merchandise, have special shopping hours, and offer gift wrapping and delivery. Don’t forget the option of partnering with another business for a Valentine’s event, as well.

4. Offer 2-for-1 Deals and Couple’s Packages.
Play up the romance of Valentine’s Day by offering tailor-made discounts and packages for the holiday, and the days leading up to it. Restaurants, event venues, specialty shops: come up with 2-for-1 offers (2 appetizers for the price of 1, 2 tickets for the price of 1, or buy one item, get one free..) and packages for couples along the same lines. Make them exclusive, time-limited offers and promote them with all your online and offline advertising options.

Put your heart into it, and you’ll be able to see a boost in those slow winter sales.

Image by clevercupcakes.

Here’s a marketing strategy to save for next year – or maybe just for two weeks until you put out the Valentine’s Day merchandise… Hopefully, you change your retail stock with the seasons, or perhaps you have special services that change with the time of year. But how do you market for the holidays if your products or services aren’t seasonal? Here is an easy three-step process for your idea file:

1. Create a Holiday Environment

What’s your brick-and-mortar store like? It may be plain Jane for much of the year, but spend some time and money on decorating for the Christmas season (or any other holiday, for that matter). Remember, this is the biggest shopping season of the year; even if your products and services don’t appear on many wish lists, you can participate in the season by being festive in-house.

2. Create Holiday Specials

So perhaps you offer a professional service: CPA, lawyer, electrician, marketer, house cleaner, anyone? Those aren’t services necessarily oriented with the holidays, but you can still offer a holiday package and promote holiday specials. Your services may not be changing with the seasons, but the packages you offer and prices can shift to reflect seasonal deals.

3. Promote Your Heart Out

With your store decked out and your holiday specials created, all that remains is to promote your specials as part of the holiday shopping season. Go ahead and advertise in the local paper, put up a sign in the window detailing your holiday deals, promote via social media and update your web site. Participate in community holiday events such as open houses and festivals and promote to your e-mail marketing list.

Remember that holiday shopping is often just as much about the experience as it is about the product. If you’re offering a great service, a fabulous product, but they aren’t associated with Christmas gift-giving, start working to change that status quo.

Image by WTL Photos.

Improve Your Holiday Sales by Promoting your Holiday Sales Online

In this day of increasing e-commerce importance, Black Friday is now only half of the post-Thanksgiving shopping megathon. Cyber Monday is the other half, just one more (strong) indication that the masses aren’t just shopping in-store anymore. They are, most definitely, shopping online. As we near the Christmas deadline, the shopping averse, busy mommy in me has once again found myself leaning on e-commerce… With that in mind, I send my annual encouragement to make this the year that you enjoy the increased profits possible from delving into the online world of e-commerce sales…

It’s easier than ever before: You can attract the online shopping crowd even if you’re not selling online by promoting your holiday specials via your website, blog, Facebook page, and/or Twitter account. Any presence you have online is a great opportunity to let the crowds – local and beyond – about your holiday specials.

Do a Little Decorating

Customize your website, blog, or Facebook page with a little Christmas décor. Add a graphic or two, or simply put a big “Happy Holidays” or other seasonal greeting front and center where all the visitors will see it.

Tell Them Where to Go

Put up a graphic, tab, or link on the navigation bar to direct your online visitors to your holiday specials. If you’re using Facebook, you can add a special tab designated as “Holiday Deals” or anything along that line. You can even make that tab the default-landing page for the holiday shopping season.

Talk About It

Have a blog? Put up a post each day describing one of your holiday specials, your great product, your discounts, and why what you’re offering will be the perfect gift. Get customer testimonials and put them on your blog, website, and Facebook page.

Use Twitter

Be sure to promote your holiday specials with your Twitter account. Use Twitter hash tags like #holidayshopping, #holidaydeals, #cyberweek, #shopping, and #deals. Offer good deals and great products, and make sure people know about them.

Take notes and don’t let another year go by without having online shopping options for your business. These same ideas translate nicely to Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s & Father’s Day, etc. – so get out there and grow your business with online sales options!

Image by Medmoiselle T.

Want to add a little holiday cheer to your 2010 holiday marketing? Try these 10 holiday marketing ideas to pump up the sales volume and spread a little holiday cheer all at the same time!

1. Customize your website and/or Facebook page with holiday decorations. It’s fairly easy to make (or find) a holiday graphic that you can customize for your business Facebook page or website, and it creates a festive spirit right there on the Internet, which is where more and more sales are happening (read this article to learn how long it takes for online marketing efforts to “move the needle”). So don’t save the holiday decor just for the brick-and-mortar storefront. Spread the spirit to your online space as well.

2. Have a holiday photo contest. You can theme the contest to fit in with your business, your products, and your services, or you can just keep it generic. Have people submit their photos via your Facebook page and simply “tag” your business page in the photo. You can have a contest for the “Cutest Family Christmas Picture” or “Best Santa Impersonator Photo” or anything holiday-themed. Play it up both in your store and online marketing, and provide a great prize for the winner.

3. Give holiday favors away with every purchase. Think simple and cheap here. A holiday favor can be very inexpensive, something as simple as pen with your logo on it, a holiday pin or sticker, or a individually wrapped chocolate. For the investment of a few pennies per purchase, you get to make a great impression with every customer who makes a purchase.

4. Offer holiday treats throughout the Christmas shopping season. Keep a fresh pot of coffee, a big urn of apple cider, and some holiday cookies out on a table, as a complimentary holiday treat for all your customers. It doesn’t matter if you’re a retail gift shop, an office, or a service-based business; sweet treats are welcome anytime, anywhere. And people who know they can get a cup of hot apple cider on a chilly day will return, and linger while they sip it.

5. Create a “12 Days of Your Product” package. This great marketing idea, from SmallBizTrends.com, gives you an easy, fun, and festive way to introduce customers to more of your products and services. Put together a 12-day package, starting small and building up, and sell it as a holiday special.

6. Send a special holiday e-card to your customer email list. Send it early – well before the actual holiday – and include a special coupon or discount as your way of saying thanks to your loyal customers.

7. Have a tree-trimming day in your brick-and-mortar store. Turn up the Christmas music, hang out signs, invite the public to participate, and have lots of sweet treats handy. Offer special “tree-trimming day only” sales, specials, and discounts.

8. Participate in your community’s holiday events. Is there a parade, a bazaar, a charity fundraiser, a night of carol singing and hot cocoa? Get out there and be part of it. Sponsor something, contribute something, provide some supplies and simply take part in person. Being an active part of your community is one of the best marketing moves you can make anytime of year.

9. Give away your holiday decorations (or some of them). Invest in a big, beautiful holiday wreath or centerpiece; then announce that, at the end of the season, one lucky customer will get to take it home to use in their own decor next year! Offer every customer the chance to enter to win that beautiful decoration; make it easy with slips of paper and a decorated box to put them in. All you need to collect are names and phone numbers (or email addresses). At the end of the season, have a little party, draw and announce the winner, and make even the post-holiday work a reason for celebration.

10. Simplify the holiday gift-buying process for your customers. Offer something like free gift-wrapping, free delivery, or an exceptionally lenient return policy for purchases. Anything you can do to make this time of the year simpler and less stressful for your customers will make it more likely that they spend their money in your store, and remember you when the new year rolls around.

P.S. Here is a post from 2006 on seasonal e-mail marketing ideas that I thought you’d also like.

Image by Howard Dickins.

Tis the season for a holiday marketing strategy. Want to sell more in your retail store or restaurant this year? Try these marketing tips for your holiday sales event, and we bet you’ll sell more stuff!!

Know what people like about the holiday seasons? It gives everyone the excuse to party a little bit more. Holiday events – complete with holiday food – are one of the things people like most about the winter holidays. From Halloween bonfires and chili fests to New Year’s Eve late-night bashes and appetizer buffets, the whole gamut of winter holidays gives us all plenty of opportunities to get together, celebrate, eat, and enjoy the season.

So why not use the natural inclination we all have to mingle and munch? Create a holiday event for your brick-and-mortar local store; invite your customers; promote it publicly; and then be a great host or hostess and watch sales happen.

Keys to a Successful Holiday Event

First, you’ve got to create some holiday spirit.
Don’t try to host a Christmas open house if the only decoration you have is a spindly wreath on the front door. Put up a Christmas tree, hang some lights… you know, deck the halls. Get a selection of Christmas music and make sure it’s playing throughout the party. Make the place smell Christmasy by burning cinnamon-scented candles or having a big bubbling pot of apple cider.

The point to remember is that if you’re going to invite your customers in to celebrate the holidays at your retail store or restaurant, you need to create a holiday-themed, celebratory atmosphere. Go all out.

Second, give people a reason to linger.
Food is a key ingredient in a successful event; have plenty of munchable items and a selection of drinks. Make it easy for people to munch, browse, and talk. Keep trays and drinks refilled.

If you’re hosting a holiday event in your restaurant, your food options increase exponentially. You can host a themed dinner, a dessert party, anything you want because you’re equipped with the kitchen and seating. If you’re a retail shop, set up a food area and a bar, hire a couple of servers, and make the food easy to eat (think finger food) so people won’t struggle with using a fork while balancing a plate and a cup.

Entertainment is always a good option as well. You can have party games, a live band, an old holiday movie showing on a big screen, a raffle, a dance floor, a stage for karaoke. It’s up to you and what will work for your space and resources. People don’t need expensive, fancy entertainment to have a good time.

Third, display your products prominently.
Don’t be shy about what you’re trying to sell. Create holiday specials and make big, beautiful displays to show them off. Make it easy for people to see what you’re offering. You might consider having a raffle or giveaway and let one of your holiday specials be the prize. Offer special, event-only discounts and deals. Go over the specials with all your employees so they can easily show them off to guests.

Use your online presence (website, blog, Facebook, Twitter) to promote your event. If you have an email list, send out a special invitation to your email customers. Put up signs in your store. Put an ad in the local paper. Invite the town and be sure they know what you’re offering: food, drink, entertainment, a fun night out. And, of course, some of the best deals of the holiday season.

Image by ms. Tea.

By design, you’ve got customers and lots of them – because they are attending an event that you are hosting or sponsoring. They are a captive audience. Now what?

How do you hold on, keep the edge, make the big event pay off? It’s all about “Leveraging the Boom.”

When you have a dense customer population in your small business – a.k.a. a boom – you MUST make the most out of the event attendees literally while it’s happening in order to grow your business for the long-term. This is the only way to truly get the most return on investment from your event.

To make the most of the bump, you must make smart use of marketing tools to do two things:

1. Capture new customers.
2. Educate them about the benefits of using your company.

There are a lot of ways to accomplish these things, but here are three easy ways to connect that are extremely easy and efficient to accomplish – and fast – ways to turn a short-term boom into long-term sales and business growth for your small business:

1. E-mail. Get that e-mail address! It might not be a hard fact, but it seems like at LEAST 50% of folks have an e-mail enabled smart phone. For example, here’s a fun way to gather a bunch of e-mail addresses at a large event venue: Ask attendees to send an e-mail to you during the event. Then, announce the winner of an immediate prize: move to the front row, get a chair at the chef’s table, win a free dessert, receive an upgrade to the super-duper best package. “Just e-mail us, and we’ll pick a winner… right now.” Taking the 3-5 minutes at an event venue may net you 15 to 100 email addresses – easy.

2. Facebook + TEXT (SMS). While there is a lot you can do with text messaging, here is one free way to gain a connection to your new prospects and customers so that you can sell them more stuff over and over again for a long time.

Start by looking at the number of Facebook “Likes” or Twitter followers you have before the event begins. During the event, post signage and also just ask folks to text “LIKE YOURPAGENAME” to FBOOK (36556). For us we’d say “text LIKE RESULTSREV” to FBOOK on your phone right now. Guess what — you just got a new like! Live events can produce huge bumps in the like numbers for a Facebook Page.

3. Twitter + TEXT (SMS). The same thing holds true on Twitter. Have attendees text FOLLOW RESULTSREV to Twitter (40404). Yep, that’s all it takes to start tweeting. They’ll get your tweets on their phone – even if they’ve NEVER signed up for Twitter before.

But at the end of the day, did that ring you more sales? Probably not today – but it did make sure that you made contact with the people who attended your event. Now, tomorrow, you can stay in touch with them and get to know them better and expose them to new elements of your business – and yes, increase your sales accordingly. It will blow your mind. I promise.

What about you? What is your best method to turn an event into long-term customer relationships (and sales)?

Photo Credit: mastermaq