http://www.stservicemovie.com

For those of you who are unaware, this was a drawing from all the subscribers to GiftEntrepreneurs Magazine.  The deadline for the drawing was March 31 and the drawing was done yesterday, April 1.  Every subscriber was assigned a number with the numbers put into a box.  Rhonda’s number was the one drawn.

You can still subscribe to GiftEntrepreneurs online magazine at www.giftentrepreneurs.com.  The next issue (which will be available by subscription only) will be online on May 1st and promises to be as informative as the first issue.  You can still download and read the first issue for free.

Many of us create our own websites using either FrontPage, Dreamweaver, or Expression Web.  Pat Geary and Tina Clarke, owners of the website www.frontpage-to-expression.com , provide a wealth of information for FrontPage users who want to migrate to Expression Web.  If you have any interest in learning how to use Expression Web to create a website, this site is one that you should visit.

But back to this marketing idea. . . the two ladies have created a giveaway with prizes that any user (or potential user) of Expression Web would love to win.  All you have to do is write about the giveaway on Facebook, a blog, etc. and let them know about it.  Some lucky writers will be the lucky winners of the great prizes. 

This is my entry because I would love to win any of the awards but also because I think they provide outstanding information to anyone interested in the program.  I’ve made it a practice to never recommend something that I wouldn’t use myself and this is not an exception.

Now that I’ve encouraged you to enter that giveaway, let me also suggest how you might use a similar idea to market your own business.  People love FREE.  They love the opportunity to win something.  And they rarely hesitate to enter their name in a contest that is giving away something they want.  But what makes this marketing technique different is that you have to tell others about their product if you want to win it.  In other words, you give to receive. 

Some gift basket companies have a monthly drawing for a free gift basket in order to collect email addresses.  Why not make those entering your contest work a little bit for it?  Enter their names in your drawing if they mention your business on Facebook or write something about you in an ezine or newsletter or blog.  That giveaway gift basket (and you could make it even more enticing by adding a few other simple prizes) then provides a return on your investment.  And isn’t this what marketing is all about?

So go check out their giveaway at Expression Web Giveaway and create your own marketing campaign.

Why Santa’s Marketing Works Better Than Yours!

©2001-2009 Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article written by Sean D’Souza.
Wouldn’t you love to stumble upon a secret library of small business ideas. Find simple, yet electrifying ideas,on website strategy, marketing strategies, copywriting, public speaking, article marketing, sales conversion, psychological tactics and branding. Head down to http://www.psychotactics.com today and judge for yourself.

 What have you done to promote your business today?

Other valuable questions are: 

• What did you learn today?
• What new promotion did you hear about this week that you could adopt or adapt for your business?
• What technique did you read about that could make your business more efficient?
• What new website did you hear about that can help your business?

Rick Siegel, a master at retail selling, suggests creating an idea book.  This is something I have been doing for years but I have called it a swipe file.

You can use a file on your computer, buy a notebook just for the “idea file” purpose, or set up a folder in your filing system or even use all three methods.  Each and every time you read or hear something that you could use and adapt, add it to your “idea file”.

 I collect ads, from every kind of publication ranging from the daily newspaper, the Wall Street Journal and even AARP magazine, that trigger an ah-ha moment.  Looking through this file, ideas are generated for headlines, graphics, and even descriptions.  It’s like having more brains than my own working together to create effective marketing materials.

For example, an ad that I cut out of the Wall Street Journal several years ago was something about an investment company not being a cookie-cutter company.  I took the idea from my “swipe file” and created an ad with a graphic of a gingerbread man and the headline “Creative Gifts To Go is not a cookie-cutter gift business.”

Try an “idea file” for yourself.  I think you’ll be surprised at how helpful it can be

Are you concerned about customer loyalty? Are your customers so loyal that they will stick with you through hell and high water? And if not, you really need to question how you can create a customer relationship that’s so gluey, that you never go bluey in the face. Funnily you don’t have to go far. Reach for your Webster’s dictionary and you’ll discover a hidden secret to customer loyalty.

Do you find it amusing? Giggle if you must, but stick with me and I will show you the simplicity and longevity of this sane advice that will change your marketing strategies and tactics forever.
 

But First, Let’s Look At Nasty Hurricane Andrew
In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew went bananas. Like a drunk on one too many Tequilas, he tore into South Florida with wind gusts of 175mph, redrawing the landscape as he stomped onwards. Approximately 600,000 homes and businesses bore the brunt of his menace.

By the time Andrew left, he had run up a tab of $26 billion dollars and the curses of some very, very angry insurance companies. Andrew had single handedly run up the highest insurance recorded payout in history , if you don’t count September 11.

Many an insurance company looked gloomily into their crystal balls and decided the future was too dicey. So while they grudgingly forked out the costs required to cover the claims, they refused to renew customer policies.
 

State Farm Insurance Had a Different Opinion
The biggest reason Hurricane Andrew blew the roofs off the houses was because contractors had not anchored them to the frames. State Farm not only happily forked out the policy claims but also paid its customers more to bring the houses up to code.

Amazingly, this insurance company was willing to overpay just to make sure their customers have peace of mind should Andrew or one of his family come visiting.

State Farm Wasn’t Too Far From the Leo Burnett Advertising Agency
Agencies are like turnstiles. Clients come, clients go and it’s the same mantra for employees. Not if you look at the Chicago-based agency called Leo Burnett. At Leo Burnett, over a four-year period from 1986 to 1989, 98 per cent of business came bounding back from repeat clients. No other agency even came close.

Furthermore, this Houdini of advertising has had an almost zero client defection rate for decades. In an almost boring, old fashioned way, they adopt a loyalty based management that keeps clients superglued to them. And it continues to amaze and fascinate the roller coaster advertising industry that can only watch in awe and extreme fascination.

Which Brings Us Back to Webster’s, Doesn’t It?
Now let’s look at how Webster’s Dictionary defines the word Client. It says: A client is one who comes under your care, guidance and protection.

See those words?
It doesn’t say someone you need to get money or make profits from. It asks, even beseeches you to care, protect and guide your clients, like you would with your own child. Everything you do, you do unselfishly for that child. You put your heart and soul into creating a safe, educated environment. You become the guide and the protector. You create a bubble as secure as you can to make absolutely sure they get the very best.

Scary, isn’t it? Especially when you look out there at so many companies, whose single motive is to simply get the sale and move on.

Hurricane Andrew Moved On, State Farm Moved Up
As soon as the brouhaha of Andrew’s visit died down, up came the vultures from other insurance companies. They tried to woo State Farm policy holders with discounts and other incentives. Most of them found doors slammed in their face. Their customers were staying loyal no matter what bait was being dangled in front of them. When the chips were down, State Farm pitched in to help like family. There was no way the customers were going to let down their own family.

Adhering strictly to Webster’s, State Farm had cared, guided and protected its clients. And the clients were repaying that with rock solid loyalty.

Leo Burnett Did The Same With This Hidden Clause?
The same principles apply to Leo Burnett. Like mother hens, they fuss over their clients, doing acts of guiding and protecting that other agencies would never even consider. Its first client, Green Giant, is still a customer some sixty years later. Even back then, founder, Leo Burnett, put in an additional clause that enlarged the standard vendor agreement of buying space, producing ads and maintaining confidentiality.

It read: Counselling with you in regard to your advertising and sales efforts, seeking new ways to improve your advertising, make it more productive, and in every way within our power, working with you to advance your business.

Founder Leo has been dead for over 30 years, but the tradition of caring, protecting and guiding doggedly lives on. Their policy is simple. If a customer runs into a bad year and has to cut back on its advertising – let’s say by 50 percent – Burnett doesn’t automatically cut back on its services by 50 percent and pull half of its management off the account. The company is willing to lose money on an account over the short term.

The inevitable result, Of its 33 clients, 12 have been with the company for over twenty years, and 10 for over thirty years.

Paying Attention to Webster’s Is Not Enough
It needs more. And that more is called sacrifice. Just like with children, you can’t deal with fifty all at once. Each child needs its own time, space and guidance. This requires huge resources, and if you chase every possible client, you’re soon going to run yourself pretty ragged.

The Leo Burnett Agency chooses carefully. It selects its potential clients, as you no doubt will. In 1994, 54 companies invited the agency to talk about a business relationship. Burnett pursued only five.

If your selection of customers isn’t deliberate and systematic, you will run yourself ragged trying to service customers that share neither your dreams nor standards. Invariably, you will find discord and the desire to care, protect and guide will evaporate like moisture on a hot summer’s day.

Care, Protect and Guide – Even If You Have To Send Clients To Your Competition!
If you’re scared, back out now, because I’m going to ask you to do something no seemingly rational business does. That is, you care about your client so much, that you take pains to send them to your competition if you cannot help them.

Hang on. This isn’t as bizarre as it sounds. If you really do care for your clients, you should want them to get the best advice possible. However, no one said you shouldn’t make money off this.

If you sell high end BMWs and you know your client needs a more economical Toyota, you should logically send them over to your competition. However, if you set up a deal with the Toyota dealer, you can not only generate a commission, but also give your potential client a bonus or discount if they go specifically through you.

Hey, those customers are going to walk anyway, once they find their exact needs aren’t being met. And if they get stuck with something they don’t really need, they’re going to be mighty mad once they find out. You aren’t doing yourself or them a favour by making them stick to what you have to offer. Sending them to a competitor that you know will treat them well, endears you to the customer and ensures a tidy profit as well.

Welcome To The Land Of Endless Loyalty

Loyalty at its very roots is exceedingly simple. It’s exactly like a parent-child relationship. While no doubt you will come to depend on technology as your client base grows, the enduring thread that binds it all is the underlying psychology.

Inevitably, you won’t always have a trouble-free course, and both Leo Burnett and State Farm have had stormy days. The only way out of the driving rain is to heartily embrace the care, guidance and protection concept. Let it be your guiding light, far superior to any mumbo jumbo mission statement, leading to exponential profits and devoted clients.

All you have to do to succeed is play Mother Hen.

And say a silent thank you to a certain Mr.Webster.

* Source: The Loyalty Factor by Frederick Reichheld.
**Secondary Source: Me. I worked at Leo Burnett in the 90’s.

One that I discovered recently, or rather the owner of the blog discovered me and introduced me to her site, is “Selling Wholesale to Gift Shops”.  I’m aware that most of my readers are more interested in buying wholesale than selling wholesale BUT information from this blog is invaluable to all of us.  Selling is selling.  And, tips for owning and growing your own business apply to any industry.  This blog, written by a sales rep in the industry, is a goldmine of information.  Take the time to read “My Story” as well.  It is an excellent example of building relationships on the internet by letting people get to know you as a person rather than just another blogger.

Two other websites that you should be familiar with, if you are in the gift industry are:
GiftPros - a great website/forum, owned by James Hartier,  for valuable information about design and marketing
and
GiftRetailersNetwork - one of my sites which includes a private forum for gift companies and vendors, discounts from vendors, articles and other valuable information.

Both sites require registration and approval (to keep spammers out) but are great resources to help you grow your business.  And, if you are a gift basket company that wants to grow not only your internet business but your local business as well, you should be a member of GiftBasketNetwork.  It’s an online directory that you pay to be listed in, but has been proven (read the testimonials) to drive traffic to your website and business.

The resources are there for you.  If you really have a desire to learn and to grow your business, you should be taking advantage of them.

But your customers may not be speed readers and will quickly go to something else if you don’t catch their attention immediate and KEEP IT!

Here are some tips for doing just that!

• When writing business memos, letters, blog posts, emails, and articles, get to the point quickly and don’t digress from your message.  Follow the journalist’s mantra of include who, when, what and why in the first paragraph.
• One of the most important things that I learned in writer’s workshops was that it is best to set your work aside for a few days, let it season, and then come back and reread it before clicking send.  That’s not always possible in today’s fast-paced techno world, but at least take the time to read through it again before sending it off.
• If you’re a fisherman, you know you have to keep the tension on that line all the way from the time you hook that trout until you reel him in.  A reader shyould feel the same sort of tension.  Otherwise, just like that big fish, you’ll lose him!
• If you’re writing something that will be around for awhile, such as an article, it helps to read it out loud.  Some writers read into a tape recorder and then play it back.  If you stumble while reading or something doesn’t sound right to your ears, it may not read right either.
• Remember to use short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. 

According to a news flash from ASICentral: “The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has charged four apparel manufacturers with deceptively marketing their products as eco-friendly when the companies’ production processes were, in fact, harmful to the environment. “With the tremendous expansion of green claims in today’s marketplace, it is particularly important for the FTC to address deceptive environmental claims,” said David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The accused companies, which use the business names of Jonäno, Mad Mod, Pure Bamboo and Bamboosa, have claimed some of their clothing products are made from bamboo fiber. Instead, the FTC says those clothes are actually made of rayon, a man-made fiber created from the cellulose found in plants and trees and processed with a harsh chemical. With its latest action, the FTC is pledging to more tightly scrutinize greenwashing, a term used to describe unsubstantiated environmental claims about products. “When companies sell products woven from man-made fibers, such as rayon,” Vladeck says, “it is important that they accurately label and advertise those products.”

To support fair advertising among manufacturers, the FTC has produced a new publication designed to help businesses properly sell clothing and textile products that are made from bamboo. For more information and for FTC compliance rules, go to: www.ftc.gov.

The Forest Service had begun it’s campaign in 1944 but the bear was simply one drawn by an artist specifically for the campaign.

But in 1950, a real baby bear, rescued from destruction in a New Mexico forest fire, became the office “Smokey Bear.”  This little bear, frightened, badly burned and clinging to the top of a tree became one of the most recognizable symbols in the United States.  Since his paws and legs were burned, he was first called “Hotfoot” by the firefighters.  As the story spread in the national news, little “Hotfoot” became the official “Smokey Bear”.  After his death in 1976, he was returned to his New Mexico home and buried without fanfare.

But Smokey’s story and symbol for forest fire prevention lives on.  Communities throughout Smokey Bear country are celebrating his 65th birthday this year.

What does this have to do with your business?  It demonstrates the power of capturing your audience’s emotions and imagination.  Find a symbol or something unique that has emotional appeal and you have a powerful marketing message