Don’t get lost in the advertising clutter (Part 2)

Today, I want to go back to providing some additional Christmas business tips for startup and small businesses by re-emphasizing the importance of not getting lost in the advertising clutter. 

I find that particularly for these types of businesses, the inability to expend the big budget on advertising can present a real challenge in getting the customer’s attention and more importantly, play on the psyche of the entrepreneur. 

Remember however that your business is not the same size nor does it have the same kind of budget as the bigger businesses do.  In your own corner, use tried and tested methods such as direct mailing, email blasts and in-store/dashboard promotions to get your message across. 

Image courtesy of Advertolog

The following are just some quick tips from me to you; to help you remain grounded and keep your expectations realistic this season:

·         Don’t try to compete with bigger competitors, you will lose; and any profits you make over the holidays will be eroded after paying for those big advertising bills you racked up in the run-up to Christmas

·         Focus on creating lasting relationships with customers; use customer interactions to build your database and keep in touch.  Give your customers a wow experience to improve the possibility of securing future and referral business from them

·         Keep your expectations realistic; remember what you put in, is what you will get out.  If you spend small, your returns may not necessarily be small but the key is to maximize your spending by selecting the very best marketing mix to reach your targeted audience. 

·         Conduct an evaluation of your marketing programme after the holidays; this will help you to determine how well (or not) the marketing mix worked, identify any gaps that you could have plugged as well as to help to quantify the returns on your marketing dollar.

The Christmas season is always filled with high expectations; businesses tend to expect more than the ordinary simply because it’s the season of giving.  The key to keeping you grounded however is to project expectations in alignment with trends from previous months as well as from the previous Christmas.