Valentines Day Promo Idea

Valentines Day is just around the corner. Obviously this is a good time to reach out to jewelers, candy stores and restaurants but other retailers can benefit as well. Retailers can buy a quantity of inexpensive children's Valentines Day cards and use them to provide a surprise discount to shoppers. The can keep the sealed cards at the counter and invite shoppers to choose one. The Valentines can be marked with a percent or dollar amount discount. They can run an ad with copy saying something like "We love our customers, come in and choose a valentine and save big." The surprise factor makes this promotion fun and interesting.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Make bad weather work for you

Winter can be a tough time for businesses. When the weather is cold and snowy shoppers may be reluctant to go out and shop. One way to entice them is to offer a bad weather incentive to shoppers. Offering a discount on any day with more that an inch of snow or offering a percentage off based on the temperature (10 below means ten percent off). If nothing else this kind of ad creates a "buzz" and starts people talking about the business.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim B.

Sellabrate National Coupon Month

September is national coupon month. With the change in the season and the back to school rush coupon redemption peaks at this time of year. This is a great time to run coupon sections or promotions. Remind your customers that most people who redeem coupons actually spend more than customers who don't. This is a great time for advertisers to ramp up their revenue.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling.

Thanks Jim Busch

Hunting for new business

Through much of the country the fall is hunting season. Particularly in rural areas this is a big event. This generates a lot of revenue for a wide range of businesses from sporting goods stores to auto dealers to butcher shops. Now is the time to contact these businesses and to design any special promotions built around hunting. I have seen papers do special sections during deer season featuring pictures of hunters with their trophy bucks. You can sell the spaces or sell advertising around the photos.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Great promotion idea

Here's an idea I saw in Florida and used successfully in my publication. In Tampa I saw a flyer with the headline "Coke or Pepsi." After this got my attention, I read the supporting copy which offer the callers a choice of a free case of Coke or a free case of Pepsi for setting up an appointment to see a presentation for a water softening system. I like this promo because fans of the top cola brands like to argue about which beverage is best. This is a light hearted argument and most people will be attracted by the headline to see if it supports their case. I used this for a local window company. Their sales person would deliver the consumers choice of soda during a sales call. There is nothing like a fresh idea to engage a customer and get them to think about advertising.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Selling Shopping Centers

Gang pages for shopping centers can be a good source of revenue. They give you an opportunity to land businesses that will not advertise otherwise. Many strip centers and malls have advertising/promotional budgets. Often stores are assessed an advertising fee based on the square footage of their store. In larger centers look up the center office and ask for the public relations person. Give that person a presentation highlighting how your publication is an effective use of their advertising funds. You may need to do this presentation to the merchant group.

Smaller centers may not have an officially designated PR person so you'll have to do some detective work. Call on the merchants and try to determine which business person has the most influence on the group. You need to win this person over and enlist their support in getting the others to participate.

Ideally you should recommend a regular program. It is a great deal of work to close the first sale but these frequently turn into regular advertisers.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch