Successful Holiday Marketing in a Negative Economy By Shannan Hearne, http://www.SuccessPromotions.com Christmas is just around the corner. E-tailers are struggling to make ends meet in a negative economy headed rapidly into a recession. Keeping the books out of the red and the sales coming is getting harder and harder. But your internet store can keep the cha-ching of the cash register ringing in your ear with some simple planning and successful holiday marketing. The following tips can make the difference in negative or positive sales in a negative economy this holiday shopping season. The National Retail Federation expects total holiday retail sales to increase 5 percent over last year for a whopping $435.3 billion in holiday spending. Will your business get your fair share? Successfully generating holiday sales is all about helping your customers solve their dilemmas of paying their regular bills without breaking the bank on holiday shopping. You must first reach potential customers and then offer them solutions to shopping for their entire family purchasing affordable gifts that are perfect for everyone on their shopping list. First you must reach customers. Contact your existing client base with money saving messages that remind them regularly that your store can help them shop for the Christmas holidays without going over an ever-shrinking budget. Maintaining and working your mailing list (or emailing list) is a cost-effective way to reach people who you already know are interested in your products. Second you must solve the holiday shopping dilemmas of your customers. Providing gift ideas, and ideas that stay within their budgets, keeps you at the top of your customers’ shopping lists. Remind customers of unique gift ideas they can get from you that they can’t get from their local big box store or your online competitors. Solve their Christmas budget problems with specials, combined shipping discounts, frequent buyer programs, and other money saving offers. Third, remember that timing is everything. Some people shop early, while others frantically search for last minute offers and speedy shipping to meet their buying needs. If you plan multiple holiday offers coupled with shipping options for the early bird and the late shopper, you position your e-store to meet the needs of a larger niche market. Don’t forget that many people travel for the holidays and need to get their shopping done and delivered to their final holiday destinations. Offer multi-location shipping so that your customers can shop for friends and family local and far away. Fourth, stay tuned in to the ever-changing needs of your customers old and new. If people are looking for widgets in a color you don’t stock, offer to get the color for them or direct them to another solution within your store shelves. With the cost of fuel rising and gas hard to find, people are searching for shipping solutions that work better than going to the local store. If the economy dips closer to recession and your customers fear for their jobs, buying more for less becomes a consideration. Be prepared to lower prices and offer better bargains at the drop of a hat if the economy requires you to do so. Along that same vein, focus your buying on items that leave you a profit margin large enough to lop some off the top if necessary without bleeding your company dry. Finally, plan your marketing now and launch your campaigns quickly so that you are ready for the early bird shopper and the last minute looker. Don’t wait until your competition announces their holiday specials to compete with them directly. Put together Christmas deals and steals now that appeal to your niche market and let your competition play catch up with you. The early bird still gets the worm. And the earliest marketer attracts the most shoppers. Don’t bury your head in the sand and throw in the towel because the market isn’t what it was last year. Projections are still out for holiday spending to be up from last year and with proper planning, you can see your sales increase, too. Shannan Hearne is the President and Wizard of http://www.SuccessPromotions.com Marketing Your e-Business Better through creative marketing and knowledge. Guerrilla Marketing. One-to-One Marketing. Relationship Marketing. Your Marketing. Shannan is also a founding team member of Inspiring Parents, a network of like minded people building an income and saving money on the things they buy every day and helping others to do the same. You can reach Ms. Hearne via email at shannan@successpromotions.com | 
