VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business

How to Tackle the Super Bowl Hype & Score with Your Customers

Regardless as to whether you’re cheering for the Giants or the Patriots in the upcoming Super Bowl on February 5, chances are you’ll tune in to watch not only the game, but the commercials too. Advertisers are bringing sexy back as H&M debuts a 30-second ad starring David Beckham wearing nothing more than his boxers, and Go Daddy has Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels painting the body of a super model.

The Times reports that NBC is charging an average of $3.5 million for 30 seconds of airtime. Sponsors are already creating hype around the expensive ads to get the best return on their investment.

So, without a gazillion dollar budget and Hollywood celebs or super models, how can your small biz leverage the Super Bowl hype and score with your customers? Prepare to take the snap and execute a strong offense with these tips:

Just Do It: Super Bowl hype is building. Even if your business doesn’t cater to the “typical” football crowd, you can still capitalize on the theme. For instance, use a football themed subject line to capture attention in the inbox and leverage the theme in your email marketing template or in your messaging. Just because you don't sell TVs, food or beer doesn't mean you can't have some fun and be creative with your message.

Try subject lines like:

• Are you ready for some savings?
• Kick off the savings in time for the Big Game!
  
• Big Game Super Deals
• Score! Save 50% off + Free Shipping
• Down, Set, Savings!

Last year, fashion retailer Banana Republic pulled this off in a winning campaign cited in Sherry Chiger's article on the The Big Fat Marketing Blog. BR used a staid subject line for its email, sent Friday before the game: “Super Bowl savings: 25% off! + FREE Shipping Every Day.” The body of the message, however, played off a corny joke: “What was the cheapskate’s favorite football play? To get the quarterback.” Amid drawings meant to resemble a coach’s play diagrams, and a headline read, “This weekend only get a quarter back. 25% off all full-priced items.” Banana Republic managed to link a sporting event to women’s fashion in a simple yet effective way.

 

 

I was super impressed with the email I received from Kiva this past Friday with the subject line, Super Bowl Friday. It grabbed my attention because I thought what does Kiva have to do with the Super Bowl? Turns out that's exactly what they intended and it worked. They even wrote a blog about it here. Kiva does a brilliant job spinning the Super Bowl into an opportunity to get their users and prospects thinking about making a microloan.

Check out the top of the fold creative from their email:

 

 

Kiva set up two lending teams based on the Giants and the Patriots and does a great job with their messaging. Touchdown Kiva!

Go Small: Yep, I said go small. While the big guys will be paying out the wazoo for a 30-second ad, you can produce your own mini commercial and upload it to YouTube. Include a link to the video in your email and use a subject line like, "Check out VerticalResponse's Big Game Commercial!" All you need is a camera or phone with video recording capabilities, some creativity and you're good to go.

Use Your Special Teams: While email marketing is your quarterback for delivering your message to your receivers, make sure you call in your special teams: Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn, to reach a wider audience. You can send a link to your above-mentioned video to your social networks and cross your fingers it goes viral!

Party: That's right, I am telling you to have a party. Rent a big screen TV and show the game in your location. Offer food and beverages and special savings to anyone who shops during the game. You can offer discounts based on the score, the number of touchdowns, etc. You can even use our Event Marketing tool to plan a great event.

Target the Non-Ballers: Though 111 million people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl last year, that still leaves lots of folks who are tuned out and looking for something, anything to do that doesn't involve football, so cater to these people too. This is especially beneficial if your business is slightly less attuned to the whole football aesthetic. You can host a special event or sale for these folks too. Theme it around a football respite or, "Who Cares About the Super Bowl?" Your non-ballers will certainly appreciate it.

What will you do to promote your biz during the Super Bowl?

Posted by Kim Stiglitz.

Kim Stiglitz is the Director of Lifecycle Marketing at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @Stiggy1.

 

 

Related Posts: 

Super Bowl Super Emails

How to Customize Your Email Marketing With Little to No Effort

How to Put the Love in Your Valentine's Day Marketing

Valentine's Day 2012 is coming fast! According to the experts at the National Retail Federation, retail spending for the holiday will increase nearly 13 percent this year - that's huge! On top of this, the average person will spend $116.21 on traditional Valentine’s Day merchandise this year, an increase of 12.8% over 2011’s total, with expenditures on jewelry and clothing expected to rise substantially.

This makes this Valentine's Day the fourth most popular shopping holiday of the year, just behind the winter holidays of Christmas/Hanukkah, Back-to-School and Mother’s Day.

How can you share in the love-fest and reap the rewards this Valentine's Day? The good news is, no matter what industry you're in, or kind of business you have, you can capitalize on the theme. And, the time to get started is now!

Here are a few quick tips and tactics to get you and your readers feeling the love:

Work with the theme, but be a bit unexpected - Since everyone and their brother will be sending out emails with hearts, cupids and roses on them and subject lines with references to love, you'll want to ensure your emails and direct mail pieces stand out from the crowded mailboxes both online and off.

One way to catch your subscribers' attention is to put a creative spin on the theme and use the basics of content marketing 101 - tell a story to connect with your audience. For example, if you sell jewelry, tell a story behind symbolism of a particular precious stone that's used, or share a story of how a piece is created. You can even share the meanings behind Valentine's traditions or fun facts, like how many roses or how many pounds of chocolate will be sold this year. (The answer? 110 million roses and 1.1 billion boxes of chocolates will be sold throughout the U.S.) This way, you'll draw your recipient in and will hopefully get them to react.

Gift guides make shopping easy - Send an email marketing campaign or direct mail postcard with gift ideas by price point for him and her. If you're sending an email, try including a call-to-action button that encourages your readers to Buy Now. You can also use this free tool to make your own free custom button.

Use social to share the love - It's easier than ever to extend the reach of your messages to potential and new customers by sharing your email content on your social networks. Check out Roost by VerticalResponse, a free tool that lets you easily and quickly create a campaign of posts across all your social networks. The best part is you can do it all from one place and not have to log into Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn separately. You'll have your Valentine's Day campaign ready in a flash! You can also extend the life of your email campaign by sharing the hosted version to your social networks. You've spent the time to create it, now make sure as many people as possible can see it.

Be careful with your subject line - This is a great tip from our pals at the Retail Email Blog about not shortening Valentine's Day to V-Day in your subject line or tweets to save characters. V-Day has a number of meanings and associations, generally violent. Email marketers are always looking to trim characters from their subject lines, but this may not be the best way to shorten "Valentine’s Day."

How will you message your audience this Valentine's Day?

Posted by Kim Stiglitz.

Kim Stiglitz is the Director of Lifecycle Marketing at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @Stiggy1.

Keep 'em Coming Back for More with Loyalty Programs

I received something in my mailbox recently that absolutely thrilled me. I reached gold card status at Starbucks and my new card arrived! If you didn't know, Starbucks lets you register any gift card, and then tracks your purchases made on that card. Once you reach a certain number, Starbucks will send you a gold card. In addition to the cool card with my name on it, I also get periodic free drinks and discounts on products.

Starbucks reminded me in the card info to update my email address so I know when my special deals arrive. Great for email marketing! By updating my address I'm also signing up for their marketing emails, an easy way to grow their list. Any business can do this, and you don't have to set up a special page on your site; this can also be accomplished in person at a register or in your store.

With the exception of the fancy card, this is a pretty simple loyalty program. You probably are part of one or more like this already: "Buy X sandwiches, get 1 free" or "Spend X amount of money in our store and save 25% off your next purchase." A simple punch card is an easy way to start a loyalty program for your regular customers. Knowing that buying from your company or using your service will earn them something in the future will help keep your company top of mind and keep customers coming back for more. There's even a new app called Stampt built specifically with this use in mind, making it easier and faster than ever to create your own loyalty program.

Really, my fancy new card just shows my dependence on caffeine. But now that I have reached this special level I will be more likely to think of Starbucks when I need a pick-me-up. And, that continued business is the true value of a loyalty program.

Are you using a loyalty program at your business? How do you make it work?

Posted by: Jill Bastian

Jill Bastian is the Training and Education Manager at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter @Jillieb3.

How ModCloth Takes the Social Media Cake

What's wildly successful, unbelievably adorable, and huge on social media? If you said, "cat videos," or "Ryan Gosling," you're absolutely correct, but I'm also talking about ModCloth. I've given kudos to the San Francisco-based indie online retailer before for their catchy promotions, (can we say obsessed?), however, their success doesn't stop there. For the last two consecutive years, ModCloth has experienced an annual growth rate of 600%, and they credit this rapid growth to their customer engagement and interactivity via the ModCloth blog and social networks. With more than 400,000 Facebook 'likes', 64,500 followers on Twitter, and a stream of guest bloggers galore (including Zooey Deschanel), Modcloth is obviously doing something right. So how exactly does ModCloth take the social media cake? Let's dig in…

Playing Games
Everyone loves a contest and ModCloth is queen when it comes to giving things away, especially just for the sake of engagement. A slew of different contests pop up on a regular basis via ModCloth's Facebook page, blog or Twitter account. My personal favorite, which I've mentioned before, is called: "Name it & Win it,” where customers get three chances to name a new featured product. If your 'quirky' product name is chosen, you win said product, and get a feel-good creative kick for being one with the 'punny' ModCloth writers.

Twitter fans also get treated each week with ModCloth's Twitter-specific contest called "I Spy Thursday," in which a close-up photo of a product from the site is posted on Twitter. The 5th tweet to name the product correctly, wins a $25 gift card. There's also a "Book of the Month" giveaway simply for participating in a blog discussion, giveaways for creating a ModCloth wish list, submitting a photo, and the list goes on.

Most recently, ModCloth held a "Make the Cut" contest, in which they asked customers to submit their own fashion designs. The seven winners, decided by Facebook fans, receive $500 in cash; a sample of their design, and their product will then be sold on ModCloth's site. If that isn't customer engagement (and awesome!), I don't know what is!

 

Why it works: People love to play games, win free things and get involved. If you give your fans a chance to do all three, they'll be loyal, loving, and (hopefully) purchasing customers. Creating contests that bring people back to your site, encourage participation in multiple ways on multiple platforms, also opens up the chance to market to potential customers from a variety of playing fields.

That's What I Want
With a core demographic of 18-30 year-old fashion-forward women, ModCloth does a stellar job of involving their customers in the retail-buying scheme of things. One of ModCloth's most engaging campaigns, "Be the Buyer," allows customers to rate clothing they'd like to see sold on the site, make commentary as to why they like/dislike the product, and if their product is chosen, they get an email notifying them that it's available for purchase. ModCloth also takes "Be the Buyer" commentary into consideration and makes improvements to the products based off of the feedback.

Getting to know your customers provides you with invaluable information that not only hones in on the core of your customer, but also allows you to understand how to actually approach/market to them. So, how do you get to know your customers? By asking! And what better place to do so than on social media. ModCloth's 'Social Butterflies' are a social media team entirely dedicated to sending out enticing tweets, asking engaging questions on Facebook, and simply sharing their favorite finds with fans.

Why it works: Listening to your customers is one of, if not, the most important thing a company can do. Customers will tell you what they want, and giving them the opportunity to do so, as well as implementing their feedback into foreseeable action, will resonate with them.  

Now I admit, this may seem like one big ModCloth love-fest (did I mention they also have a pug mascot named Winston? Squeal!), but you have to give props to the started-in-a-dorm-room, rapidly growing company for knowing its audience so well, and how to properly engage them. With all of ModCloth's stunning success, they not only take the social media cake, they get to eat it ... in cute dresses, too.

Related posts:

• It's Not Too Late! Five Ways to Make This a Social Holiday Season
• 9 Ways to Delight Your Facebook Fans Without Giving Away the Farm
• BlogWorld Expo: Want to Resonate with Your Audience? 'Get Real'
• BlogWorld Expo: 10 Steps to Engaging Online Influencers

Posted by: Colleen Corkery

Colleen Corkery is the Lifecycle Marketing Coordinator at VerticalResponse. She writes and reaps about all email-related things. Connect with her on Twitter at @youcollme.

3 Emails To Send Before 2012 Arrives

Just because 2011 is rolling to a close doesn't mean you should sit back and pop the cork on that bottle of bubbly - yet! Consider sending one or more of these three emails below before the ball drops and 2012 makes a grand entrance.

1. The Gift That Keeps Giving - Gift Cards: According to the National Retail Federation, although an estimated $26.3 billion will be spent on gift cards, $8 billion or more will never be used. This is the perfect time to send an email to encourage customers to redeem their cards for great end of year deals.
2. The Gift You Really Wish You Didn't Get - Turn a Return into a Sale: I spent years working at one of the nation's largest retailers and our post-holiday mantra was "turn that return into a sale." You'll have lots of opportunities to turn unsatisfied gift recipients into loyal, happy customers in the weeks following the holidays. Start messaging them now so you'll be top of mind when they get that cash return and want to buy themselves something they really wanted. And according to the NRF, nearly six in 10 holiday shoppers say they plan to take advantage of retailers’ sales and discounts to make additional non-gift purchases for themselves and their families during the holiday season. The average person will spend approximately $130.43 during the holiday season to take advantage of sales and discounts on apparel, electronics, home goods and other items for themselves or a family member, up from $112.20 last year!
3. Last Minute Shoppers: According to the National Retail Federation’s 2011 Consumer Intentions and Actions survey conducted by BIGresearch, as of the second week in December, the average person has completed 46.5 percent of their shopping, less than the 49.5 percent the average person had completed by the same time last year.
   
   “For consumers, the holiday season is more of a marathon than a sprint – typically starting the season strong, pacing themselves in the middle and gearing up again in the final stretch, a trend retailers expect every year,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “As the hours tick toward Christmas, retailers still have a few tricks up their sleeves to entice even the most extreme procrastinators looking to cross the final names off their lists.”
   
   According to the survey, nearly 37 million people (16.5%) had not even started their shopping as of late last week, while 7.6 percent say they have completely finished shopping already. The survey also found the average 25-34 year-old has finished about 50.2 percent of their shopping – the most of any age group. This is your golden opportunity to message these last minute shoppers with deals and anything you can that will help them complete their shopping. Think upgraded shipping, extended holiday shopping hours, gift-wrapping, delivery, whatever you can do to score the sale and convert these last minute shoppers.

What end of year emails do you plan to send? I'd love to hear!

Posted by Kim Stiglitz.

Kim Stiglitz is the Director of Lifecycle Marketing at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @Stiggy1. 

How Lamps Plus Turns Off Their Customers

Our director of MarComm, Alf, recently purchased a new lamp from his local Lamps Plus store. At checkout, they asked him if he would like to get an email confirmation when the lamp arrived at the store, so he would know when to come and pick it up. Alf said yes. That's when the trouble for Lamps Plus began...

The next day Alf received a marketing message from Lamps Plus. The day after that he got another. And the next, and the next. Uh-oh! Alf was still waiting for the promised email confirmation, but instead was getting barraged with marketing messages and sales offers. This is a classic email marketing no-no. When someone signs up for your list you enter into an agreement with them. In this case, Alf opted in to receive a confirmation. What he wasn't told is that he would be getting daily marketing messages (Daily? Really? How many lamps does one person need anyway?).

The crux of successful email marketing is to establish a relationship with your subscribers by delivering them what you promised. It is vitally important that you communicate what you intend to send and how often. When you break that trust, your subscribers will lash back by unsubscribing, or worse, by reporting your messages as spam, which can damage your sending reputation.

So, do the right thing and deliver what you promised. Otherwise you may find yourself in the dark with your subscribers like Lamps Plus because you better believe Alf is no longer on their list.

What do you think?

Posted by Kim Stiglitz.

Kim Stiglitz is the Director of Lifecycle Marketing at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @Stiggy1.

Promos So Fine, They Blow Our Minds

"Oh promos, you’re so fine, you’re so fine, you blow our minds! Hey promos!" - Like a catchy tune, a good promotion has the opportunity to successfully stick in the eyes, ears and mind of an eager or potential customer. In an effort to stand out amongst promotions-gone-wild this season, the holidays pose an excellent opportunity to hone in on our ‘let’s get viral’ skills. Below is a compilation of holiday promotions (and take aways), so catchy and fine, they blew my mind:

1. GapKids: I Want Candy

Do you like shopping? I know you do. Do you have a sweet tooth? Me too! What better way to feed both of these needs than with clothes and candy. This year, GapKids has a sensationally sweet holiday promotion and clothing line appropriately titled “I Want Candy.” Better yet, they’ve brought on Maria Aragon (You know, the little girl who became a YouTube star for covering Lady Gaga’s ‘Born this Way’) to sing and promote the line. Not only am I a sucker for sweets, but Aragon’s cover and all-girl rocker video for the song, “I Want Candy” is too cute to boot. Granted, I don’t even have children, but the promo hit a sweet spot, so I walked into Gap and headed to the kids section to check out the goods. And guess what? Not only were they selling cute clothes, but actual candy! You can bet your candy canes I bought a bag and it was delicious – Impressive! Way to go GapKids, I’m buying your products and I don’t even have a kid!

GapKids "I Want Candy" Video feat. Maria Aragon:

Take-away: Shine the spotlight on someone else. Featuring or repurposing content from others, whether it be a local star, someone unknown, or even a competitor, not only develops and displays professional camaraderie, but also gives you the opportunity to be exposed to new audiences brought in from your guest stars. Always make sure, however, to give credit where it’s due.

 

2. ModCloth: Name it & Win it 

Speaking of sugar and spice and promos that're oh-so nice, ModCloth, a retro online clothing retailer, has a cult fan following, and for a reason. Not only do they provide a constant stream of desirable products, they do an excellent job of engaging their customers in just about every promo they put on. One of my favorite’s featured on ModCloth’s blog is a contest called “Name it & Win it.” Every product sold on MothCloth’s website has a cheeky, ‘punny’ or cheesy name to it. In this ‘Cyber Monday’ edition of "Name it & Win it," Modcloth leaves it up to their customers to come up with a name for a featured product...in this case, a dress. The winner gets bragging rights for naming a permanent product on the site AND they get the dress! That’s not only interactive, but also engaging, and it promotes multiple site viewership. That's winning x2. Yahoo!

Take-away: Find ways to engage and interact with your audience. This may be through contests, giveaways, surveys, or even simple questions posed to your customers via blog/Facebook/Twitter, etc. Interaction with your customers encourages repeat visits and will most likely attract new customers to join in on the fun. Check out this recorded webinar, Social Media Listening and Engaging for more ideas.

   

3. Amazon.com: 25 Days of Free

“Free” and “music” are two of my all-time favorite words. When both of these words/worlds collide, I swear I hear angels singing, for free, of course. With the rise of music streaming services like Spotify, that encourage “borrowing” music vs. downloading it illegally (you know who you are), we’re all getting into the honest & sharing spirit. Amazon.com takes it one step further with their promotion, "25 Days of Free" where they're just giving music to you, for free! Going on now, and every day through Christmas, Amazon will unveil a holiday song to download for free for a limited time. It’s like a zero calorie advent calendar that goes straight to your ears!

Take away: Giving gifts to your customers for free, without any hidden catches, is not only appreciated, but will be remembered. And, when a customer does want to purchase a product, they’ll most certainly come back to you.

 

4. Starbucks.com: 12 Daily Offers

Starbucks fans are hardcore, and I can see why. Not only does Starbucks brew up some of the strongest coffee in the industry, but they put a lot of thought and effort into their promotions, even if they only last 12 days. From December 1-12th, Starbucks puts a new gift idea on sale for one day, in their "12 Daily Offers" promotion. It’s a gift guide & sale in one! There’s an animated site made specifically for the promotion displaying a lit up tree, falling snowflakes and carolers that transport me into a winter wonderland of coffee and hot deals. Starbucks run anyone?

Take-away: Offer a gift guide, a sale, and a sense of urgency. Some people need all the help they can get when it comes to buying gifts. Providing your customers with friendly ideas via gift guide along with a deal will ease their sense of gift-giving panic. Providing a limited time on your sale also urges customers to purchase sooner than later. The amount of effort you put into something, such as a sale, will also resonate with your audience, no matter how big or small the deal.

 

5. Kate Spade New York: Give Colorfully

Kate Spade is living in color. The 2011 Holiday campaign and collection “Give Colorfully” displays handbags, jewelry, clothing and more in splashes of color galore. To promote the campaign, their blog explodes with color and colorful topics, short, sweet and visually appealing videos, and more. There’s even an interactive gift guide on the site that allows you to virtually ‘unwrap’ goodies by scrolling your mouse over colorfully wrapped packages. The campaign, colors, design, videos, creativity and interactivity on the site are not only aesthetically pleasing, but fun to get lost in, more so than I should probably admit, but it was for research right?!

Take-away: Never underestimate the power of a clean, simple, colorful design. This concept doesn’t just apply to websites, but to your email campaigns as well. Eliminate clutter, keep it simple, and consider white space.

6. UrbanOutfitters.com: Take it Off

When you hear the phrase “take it off” are you thinking of savings? Sure, me too. Well, whatever your mind may be making up, UrbanOutfitters.com sure did a great job of grabbing my attention. In a ‘quickie’ of an email, I received the promo code: TAKEITOFF for an additional 20% off a $100 purchase. They placed the promo code in the preheader, and sure enough, I opened it up in a split second to check out the…er, savings.

Take-away: Attention-grabbing copy (when done tastefully and truthfully) is key, so take some risks! If you’re worried about performance, conduct a split test and send the catchy attention-grabber to half your audience. Make sure to track and measure your results – you might be pleasantly surprised! Here are some slides on holiday copywriting and content to get you in the catchy copywriting mood.  

That 'wraps' it up! Hopefully this compilation of promos got your own creative brain geared up and ready to take on some catchy promo action, so fine, it’ll blow your customers’ minds!

Posted by: Colleen Corkery

Colleen Corkery is the Lifecycle Marketing Coordinator at VerticalResponse. She writes and reaps about all email-related things. Connect with her on Twitter at @youcollme

How Williams-Sonoma Rolls out the Welcome Mat with Email & Direct Mail

While preparing for a recent move, I contacted the US Postal Service to change my address. While doing this, I was given the option to update my mailing address on a few catalogs and magazines I receive. It's pretty smart for publishers and retailers to pair up with USPS on this one. I chose to update my mailing address for the Williams-Sonoma catalog because I love receiving the recipes and seeing all the new swanky cookware.

About 3 days after my move, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email in my inbox (I was opted in already) with the subject line: Congratulations on Your New Home! The email had a cheery, welcoming feel and tempted me with this line: As our housewarming gift to you, a special offer will arrive in your mailbox soon.

I was impressed with the connection they made between the update to my mailing address, sending me a targeted email, and tying in a direct mail piece.

A few days later this arrived in the mail:

Nice! There was a consistent look and feel to the direct mail and the email I had received, so I remembered it. The 10% discount offer was a nice touch and an incentive to encourage me to buy. Their efforts paid off. I purchased some new wine glasses to toast the new pad and am a loyal customer. Win-win for Williams-Sonoma.

What can you do to roll out the welcome mat for your customers?

Related Posts:

• Lifecycle Marketing: What it is & Why it's Important to Your Business
• How Virgin America Soars with Proactive Communication
• This Holiday Season, Say it with a Postcard

 

Posted by Kim Stiglitz.

Kim Stiglitz is the Director of Lifecycle Marketing at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @Stiggy1.

Put the Green in Any Holiday

I recently received an email from a local florist here in the Bay Area and I thought I'd share this quick post. Since I've purchased from them before, I wasn't surprised to hear from them.

Dear Janine,

Good morning! Just a reminder that today is Boss's Day, and this week is Boss's Week (October 17-21).

Remember to do something for that special boss! We have very nice orchids in planters this week for that very special person and all of our arrangements are available for fast delivery. If you place your order directly online through our website at http://www.rossirovetti.com/bossesweek/ then you should also use discount code 'boss' for an extra $5 off ! Just type in the discount code into the Discount Code box after clicking the BUY button when checking out. The website will calculate your $5 off automatically.

Thank you again for your patronage! We really appreciate your business!!

Jason
Family Owner
Rossi & Rovetti Flowers

I didn't know it was Boss's day, so if my boss and I weren't getting along and I needed to brown nose a bit...perfect! I would have probably used a nice template with a pic of the featured flowers instead of a text email, but it still got my attention. One other thing, since he didn't use an Email Service Provider, he'll never know if I opened the email or clicked on a link and he certainly isn't providing me a way to unsubscribe.

A week later they also reminded me that I had sent flowers to a friend the year before for her birthday and wondered if I wanted to send some to the same person again. First of all, a great way to remind people of an upcoming event. And secondly that's a powerful way to use data they had collected from their customers.

What holidays (other than the obvious) have you been able to use to sell?

Posted by Janine Popick @janinepopick

Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse, a provider of email marketing, social media, online survey, event marketing and direct mail marketing solutions.

Small Business Saturday is November 26 - Start Marketing Now!

Small Business Saturday is November 26, the day after Black Friday and right before Cyber Monday, and it was created by American Express. They’re asking millions of Americans to shop at their favorite local stores and help fuel the economy, and we couldn't agree more! But you need to hurry, because it's right around the corner.

I uncovered some pretty nice numbers about the promotion last year. According to American Express OPEN:

• An estimated 200,000 U.S. customers shopped at independent stores as part of the first-ever "Small Business Saturday."
• 27 percent of small retailers that accept American Express cards saw an increase in sales in 2010 compared with the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2009.
• 30,000 Tweets were sent using the hashtags #SmallBusinessSaturday and #SmallBizSaturday.
• 100,000 small-business owners downloaded point-of-purchase and promotional materials from the event’s Facebook page.
• 1.2 million people joined the movement by “liking” Small Business Saturday on Facebook, and it's over 2.2 million now.

Based on the percentage of revenue per stores that take American Express, they also believe local stores got a bump from this through various other payment methods as well. 

American Express and FedEx are investing millions of dollars into promoting this. So what can you do NOW to capitalize on this special day as a small business?

1. Head to the Small Business Saturday site now and check out what it’s all about.
2. Get on over to their Facebook Page, where you can get in-store signage and posters to print out, FREE.
3. If your customers register their AMEX card and they spend more than $25 with you, they get a $25 credit. How’s that for a great deal? FREE MONEY!
4. Try out Facebook advertising. You get $100 worth of Facebook ads to drive people to your biz.
5. Send an email marketing campaign to your customers letting them know about Small Business Saturday. Give them an offer they can’t refuse, then tell them it’s practically FREE because they’ll get a $25 credit if they register their cards and use it for your great offer! Use the nifty VerticalResponse email marketing templates to do it! We created them just for this special day.
6. Post your email marketing campaign to Facebook and Twitter, and include the hashtag #SmallBizSaturday.

And no, American Express isn’t paying me to write this. I just think it’s a great idea and all businesses who accept American Express should jump on board. It won’t cost you anything and you’ll be sure to get business from it.

Posted by Janine Popick

Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse, a provider of email marketing, social media, online survey, event marketing and direct mail marketing solutions. Follow on Twitter.