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March 2009 Marketing Ideas

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Here are some notable “holiday” observances for March 2009 that you can use to build marketing campaigns around:

Monthly
Adopt A Rescued Guinea Pig Month – google “guinea pig rescue” for plenty of options
American Red Cross Month – sponsor a blood drive
Honor Society Awareness Month – free gift to honor society member
International Mirth Month – tell a joke, get a discount
Irish-American Heritage Month – discount to anyone wearing a “kiss me i’m irish” pin
National Craft Month – craft store offer a discount
National Frozen Food Month – sale on all frozen food
National Nutrition Month
National Social Work Month – discount to social workers
National Umbrella Month – show us your coolest umbrella get a discount
Optimism Month
Play The Recorder Month – play us a toon, get a free ice cream cone
Spiritual Wellness Month
Workplace Eye Health and Safety Month
Youth Art Month – draw a picture and the best one will get a prize

Weekly
National Write A Letter of Appreciation Week: 1-7 – send a letter/post card/email to your customers
Celebrate Your Name Week: 1-7 – hand out “Hello. My name is” tags to everyone who stops in your store
National Cheerleading Week: 2-8 – discount to anyone in a cheerleader uniform
National Procrastination Week: 2-8
World’s Rattlesnake Roundup Week: 13-15
YoYo and Skill Toys Week: 13-22 – show us your best yoyo trick
National Agriculture Week: 15-21 – discount to farmers
Pediatric Nurse Practitioners Week: 15-21 – discount to pediatric nurses
Act Happy Week: 16-22 – offer a happy discount
National Spring Fever Week: 16-22 – spring fever after hours party
American Chocolate Week: 17-22
National Bubble (blowers) Week: 20-26 – show us your best bubble
National Cleaning Week: 22-28 – sale on cleaning supplies

Daily
I Want You To Be Happy Day: 3 – hand out smiley face stickers to all customers
National Anthem Day: 3 – sing the anthem get a free t-shirt
Unique Names Day: 3 – tell us your name
What If Cats and Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs? Day: 3 – love this one
International Scrapbooking Industry Day: 4 – sale on scrapbooking supplies
Nametag Day: 5 – discount to anyone wearing a nametag
Check Your Batteries Day: 8 – come in, we’ll check your battery for you
Barbie Day: 9 – show us your favorite barbie, or discount to anyone named barbara/barb/barbie
Get Over It Day: 9
Panic Day: 9
Mario Day: 10 – anyone named Mario
Salvation Army Day: 10 – offer to take donations for the salvation army
Organize Your Home Office Day: 10 – sale on organization supplies
Johnny Appleseed Day: 11 – free/discount on apples, applesauce, anything apple
Registered Dietician Day: 11 – discount for dieticians
Girl Scout Day: 12 – show us your girl scout uniform
Earmuffs Day: 13 – show us you coolest pair of earmuffs
National Open An Umbrella Indoors Day: 13 – need I say more?
International Fanny Pack Day: 14 (2nd Saturday) – show us your fanny pack
St. Patrick’s Day: 17
National Chocolate Caramel Day: 19
Operation Iraqi Freedom Day: 19 – discount to Iraqi war veterans
Absolutely Incredible Kid Day: 19 – have customers nominate kids and give a prize
Great American Meat Out Day: 20 – sale on veggie burgers, soy dogs, and veggie sausage
Corn Dog Day: 21  – hire a vendor to hand out free Corn Dogs (and fliers about your business)
Maple Syrup Day: 21 – free (small) bottle of maple syrup with your order
Memory Day: 21 – I forget?
National Quilting Day: 21 – sale on quilting supplies
As Young As You Feel Day: 22 – free gift, super discount to anyone over 60
International Goof-off Day: 22
Spring Fairy Fun Day: 22
National Puppy Day: 23 – show us your new puppy
Kick Butts Day: 25
Pecan Day: 25
Legal Assistants Day: 26 – legal assistants get a discount
Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day: 27 – vote for your favorite song title
Viagra Day: 27 – need I say more?
Eggsibit (Decorating Egg Shells) Day: 28-29 – show us your creation
National Mom & Pop Business Owner’s Day: 29
Doctors Day: 30 – discount to doctors
Pencil Day: 30 – show us your coolest pencil

That should be a good start. Creative gifts and discounts keep your business memorable and keep your customers coming back.

As always, this list is courtesy of the great folks at Brownie Locks and the 3 Bears:
http://www.brownielocks.com/march.html

Have any other cool ideas for “holiday” promotions? Drop a comment below!

Branding, Offline Promotions, Referral Marketing

When Customers Compete … You Win!

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If you run a restaurant or a retail store, you can create a special menu item or product that provides incentive for your customers to compete.

A buddy of mine runs a wing joint. He has several levels of hot wings, with the hottest one being “Volcano”. I suggested that he push the Volcano wings and if they could finish them, he could offer to take their picture and hang it up on the “Wall of Flame”. He now has dozens of pictures up there, and people come in, with their friends, to show off their accomplishment, and they try to beat their friends!

Some other ideas for different businesses:

  • Coffee Shop – “Major Buzz” – giant mug/cup of coffee
  • Bar/Tavern – giant drink from something related to your town or bar – a boot, viking helmet, football helmet
  • Ice Cream Shop – a huge cone “XXXXL”
  • Book Store – “Book Worm of the Month”
  • Restaurant – giant burger, steak, etc.

One way to add to the allure of the competition would be to make them sign a waiver (a fake one of course).

You could also give them a t-shirt or bumper sticker telling the world what they accomplished. It will certainly get people asking them what it’s all about!

Can you think of any products that you could create that could instill competition between your customers?

Blogging, Social Media

Local Coupon Distribution Using Twitter and Blogger

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twitblog

This post is an expansion of the local coupon angle from Erik Qualman’s article, 10 Ways Twitter Can Make Money.

How to distribute your coupons in four easy steps:

  1. Set up a blogger blog where you will post coupon/sales/specials
  2. Get a new Twitter account
  3. Auto-Update your Twitter account using Twitterfeed
  4. Tell your customers to follow you on Twitter

Set Up A Blogger Blog

If are you already subscribed to a google service (like Gmail), you can log in, and start a new blogger blog.

Here are some ideas for a blog name:

  • YourBusinessNameSpecials.blogspot.com
  • YourBusinessNameSale.blogspot.com
  • YourBusinessNameSavings.blogspot.com
  • YourBusinessNameRewards.blogspot.com
  • YourBusinessNameAlerts.blogspot.com

You will be using the blog to post your sales and special announcements. Plus Blogger has a special feature that allows you to post to your blog via email and it will post immediately (Blogger Tutorial).

The blog doesn’t have to be pretty, but you can modify it quite easily to resemble your current website or logo.

If you need help setting up a Blogger blog, check out this Youtube Tutorial.

Get a New Twitter Account

Now that you have your blog set up, you need to get a new Twitter account with the same (or similar) username as your new blog. This should be a separate Twitter account if you already have one.

Twitter requires you to sign up for additional Twitter accounts using a different email address. It is up to you, but I would suggest getting another Gmail account to make things easier. Here is a video tutorial about setting up a Gmail account.

To see instructions about setting up a twitter account or if you just need to refresh your memory, go to Twitter.com, and click the red “Watch a video!” button on Twitter’s homepage.

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Auto-Update your Twitter account using Twitterfeed

First you have to set up a Twitterfeed account. Twitterfeed can also use your Google/Gmail account information to log you in.

Next, you’ll need to take your Blogger blog RSS feed and add it to Twitterfeed. This will automatically update your Twitter account with the specials you post on your Blogger blog. Twitter will display the “Title” of your post and a link to your blog, so your customer can view the offer in more detail.

Tip: If you have created a coupon for your offer (gif, jpg or png format), include it in your post and they can print it from your blog page to bring into your store.

For more information about setting up a Twitterfeed account, check out this Youtube Tutorial.

Tell Your Customers to Follow You On Your New Twitter Account

Just let your customers know that they can get sale offers and specials announcements by following your special Twitter account. You can make them feel special by telling them it is for VIP customers only.

Or you could let all of your customers know about it by printing it on the bottom of your print (offline) coupons. Something like: “Come join the Twitter Savers Club”. Create a flyer telling them about your new Twitter account. Leave a stack of the flyers on your counter. Add one to their bag, or hand them one with their receipt.

One huge advantage to using Twitter for this technique is that your sale message cannot be blocked by a spam filter. Twitter users “twitter” several times a day and will be looking forward to your message, so they can pass it on to their “followers”.

Finally, a great way to get the word out is to go to TwitterLocal, Twellow, or TwitDir to find local people in your area, by searching for your town name and nearby ones too. Follow everyone you find locally and they may follow you back and your Followers will grow as they let other people know about your specials.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my ideas, please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below!