Posts filed under 'Promotions'
In addition to the popular national holidays that we traditionally celebrate, there are hundreds of organizations that celebrate their causes through a day or month of recognition. For example, you may not be aware that March is:
- American Red Cross Month
- Irish-American Heritage Month
- National Nutrition Month
- National Noodle Month
- National Peanut Month
- Women’s History Month
- Workplace Health and Safety Month
Any of these can serve as a basis for marketing your gift basket business.
And most of these have web sites that include information to support your promotional efforts.
For example, the American Red Cross offers a multitude of opportunities for Americans to donate time and money to many worthy causes. Have you ever checked in with your local Red Cross office to find out about their activities? Maybe you can arrange to have some percentage of your gift basket sales donated to the Red Cross? Your customers may appreciate this opportunity to have their gifts also be a “gift” for someone in need.
You might check out the National Irish-American Heritage Month web site and get some ideas about what local communities may do to celebrate. If you find that local organizations in your community are holding a parade or some type of special event, you may be able to promote your gift basket business by joining in the festivities. Donate a basket to giveaway or set up a booth on the parade route.
National Peanut Month or National Noodle Month provide opportunities for you to design and promote a special basket featuring those products. If you do more research on the web, you can find recipes that you can add to a “pasta” basket or “fun facts” that you can use to make your “peanut” basket unique. (Did you know that four of the top 10 candy bars manufactured in the USA contain peanuts or peanut butter…how about a peanut butter candy bar basket?)
Spend a little time on the web and use your imagination to learn about these “national holidays”. Then, create exclusive basket designs and unusual marketing opportunities to promote your gift basket business.
February 12th, 2010
Are you trying to attract a new customer base to your gift basket business? Think about using direct mail advertisements. I just read an article that suggested while we may believe that the younger generation is only interested in all things electronic, direct mail may still offer a good way to deliver a message to the younger generation about your gift basket business.
Read the full article “Reaching Younger Generations in the Mail” for author Ethan Boldt’s ideas. But here’s one interesting idea from the article that caught my eye: “According to Keith Goodman , vice president of corporate solutions for Modern Postcard, seniors and boomers are more receptive to the more traditional letter-type formats, while Gens X and Y are more receptive to postcard and other self-mailer formats.”
So if younger buyers may still be attracted to direct mail attempts, I started to think about sending postcard promotions. This led me to check out the United States Postal Service where I found a link to the “Premium Postcard.com”. USPS now provides a way for businesses to create and send postcards to promote products or special events. Check out this web site and find out about all the options that are available including a variety of postcard sizes, many different template designs, design and graphic services. You can use your own mailing list and buy new mailing lists. Be sure to look into this great service offered by USPS and use direct mail to attract many new customers to your business.
February 7th, 2010
I recently read an article in Incentive Magazine about corporate holiday parties. “After a brutal year of highly public censure of meetings and events, corporate planners will devise their holiday parties very carefully….the current environment makes 2009’s year-end functions golden opportunities for corporate social responsibility”.
It occurred to me that 2009 could also be the perfect time to incorporate charitable giving into our daily business activities. How about promoting a particular gift basket design by donating a percentage of sales to popular charities in your community? Involve the charity that will benefit by having them announce your promotion in their newsletter.
Or, think about asking your customers to help out with your charitible giving program. When customers place their orders, they might also purchase one or two extra products ( eg: a box of cookies or chocolates; a package of popcorn or nuts) that you will include in basket to be taken to a local nursing home before the holiday. The more products purchased, the more baskets you’ll be able to create, the more nursing home patients and staff will benefit!
Think of ways that your business can provide opportunities to give to others. Your staff will be proud to participate in these giving programs and your customers will support you with their loyalty!
October 26th, 2009
As we move into the Fall and Holiday season with assurances that the economy may be making a comeback, we still need to think about ways to attract customers. Many people are still being very careful about what they spend. So it’s up to us to think about ways to assure our customers that we are still trying to give them the best quality products and service that we can offer.
With this goal in mind, Apex Gift Foods is introducing several new programs this year.
- With the “Apex Xtras Value Priced Items” program, Apex has designated many popular products that have been priced so that customers receive the best values in the marketplace. These are all “name brand” items from major manufacturers who cater to gift basket businesses such as Ghirardelli, Mille Lacs, First Colony, Vision Pak, Lindt, Walker and Nikkis Cookies. As a buyer for your gift basket business, you can be assured that your customers will receive high quality gourmet items while you save on your purchases.
- A new line of “Recession Buster Gourmet Assortments” is also available this year at Apex. The same fine quality nuts, snacks, candies and chocolates that Apex has sold for years, have been repackaged in smaller bags. Once again, you can feel confident that your customers will receive the excellent products they have grown to expect in your gift basket designs.
In your gift basket business, you can offer the same type of “value” in the baskets that you design. By pricing your most popular baskets at prices that are a lower than in the past, you may make up in volume what you will lose in your mark-up. For customers who are willing to spend a bit more, offer similar designs that include more products, a fancier container, or more enhancements.
You may also want to consider a line of “Recession Buster Baskets”. Design a line of gifts that are a little simpler than some of your current baskets. Use a fewer products or choose a less expensive container. Take advantage of sales offered by your vendors to purchase the products that you like. Continue to offer “good value” by creatively presenting the basket design accented with an inexpensive, colorful wired ribbon bow. Show these “Recession Buster Baskets” alongside more expensive versions of the basket for those customers who are willing to spend a bit more.
Now is the time to think creatively. Let your customers know that you have their needs and concerns in mind. You’ll be satisfying your existing customers while attracting a new group of buyers who will come back again.
August 16th, 2009
Visit from Beth Groundwater, Author of the Claire Hanover Gift Basket Designer Mystery Series
Many thanks to Lorie for inviting me to submit a guest article to her blog as part of my virtual book tour to promote the second book in my series, To Hell in a Handbasket. This book, along with the first, A Real Basket Case, stars a Colorado Springs gift basket designer as an amateur sleuth who solves murders that fall in her lap (literally, in the first book!). Claire has a part-time gift basket business in the basement of her home and puts together different types of baskets in the books.
I’d love to answer any questions you have about what it’s like to write a mystery series based on someone in your profession, and anything else you want to talk about. Every person who comments is automatically entered into a contest for a free set of both books autographed by me. If you have any funny or embarrassing stories to tell me about baskets or deliveries gone wrong, I’d love to read those, too, and may even use them in a future book!
Here’s a favorite gift basket recipe that I hope you’ll enjoy and use for someone who adores all things mysterious.
Recipe for a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket
Color scheme: black, red, and either white or gray
Container: black-painted basket, bucket or box, with a lid or handle sticking up, from which you hang fake spider webbing
Stuffing: dried Spanish moss or red-dyed tissue paper, shreds, or wood shavings
Contents:
- A Real Basket Case and/or To Hell in a Handbasket mystery books (email me at beth07@bethgroundwater.com to find out how to obtain discounted copies)
- CD of eerie music such as Mystery Movie Scores or Mystery Sound Effects
- Pocket-sized mystery party game or travel Clue game
- Movie DVD: Clue, Mousetrap, an Alfred Hitchcock or Sherlock Holmes movie, or a movie collection (Mystery Classics: 50 Movie Pack)
- Chocolate or bubble gum coins or other mystery-related chocolate shapes such as blood drops, knives, or guns (see http://www.chocolatepen.com/pieces.html for a sample vendor)
- And a selection from the following list:
– Magnifying glass
– Pair of play handcuffs and/or sheriff’s badge
– Rubber knife
– Glasses, nose, mustache disguise
– Skull-shaped/logo item(s): tea-light candle holder, squeeze ball, notepad, drinking cup (see the Halloween collection at www.orientaltrading.com)
– Bottle of stage blood from a costume or makeup supply store, or make your own (see chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/fakeblood.htm)
I hope many of you gift basket designers will use this idea for a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket, and don’t worry, you won’t have any competition from me! Unlike my amateur sleuth, Claire Hanover, I do not have a gift basket business of my own. My business is writing mystery novels. My debut, A Real Basket Case, was released in March, 2007 and was nominated for a 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award (named for Agatha Christie). To Hell in a Handbasket, the second in the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, was released May 15th.
I live in Colorado Springs, where I defend my garden from marauding mule deer and wild rabbits and try to avoid getting black-and-blue on Colorado’s black and blue ski slopes. I have loved to read since I was a child and savor those monthly meetings with my Book Club, and not just for the gossip and wine. For more information about me and my books, and to sign up for my email newsletter and enter a contest for free books, go to: http://bethgroundwater.com/. You’ll also find the schedule for my blog book tour there.
So, readers of Lorie’s blog, do you have any more ideas for creative ingredients to add to a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket? Do you have any interesting stories that I can use in future Claire Hanover novels?
May 29th, 2009
I was contacted a couple of months ago by Beth Groundwater, the author of two mystery books. Beth just published her second novel: “To Hell in a Handbasket” and the principle character in the book is a gift basket designer. To promote her new book, Beth has offered to write a post for this blog that will be posted on Thursday, May 28th.
Join Beth Groundwater on her book blog tour right here at Apexgiftbasketpros.com. She’ll discuss her new book release, “To Hell in a Handbasket“, give behind-the-scenes glimpses of how the book was created, her life as an author, and answer your questions about her blog posts. You may even get a chance to chat with her protagonist, Claire Hanover, and other characters from the book!
In addition to discussing her book, Beth will make some suggestions for creating a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket. With summer quickly approaching, customers start to ponder their “beach reading” and this might be a great gift idea for your customers who want to share a new mystery novel with their best friend, spouse, boss or anyone who is a lover of mysteries.
If you comment on Beth’s blog post, which will appear here on May 28th, you will be entered into a drawing for an autographed set of both books in the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series: “A Real Basket Case” and “To Hell in a Handbasket”.
May 11th, 2009
If you’re not already of the Gift Basket Association, check out an example of the newsletter you’ll receive when you join. In addition to some great suggestions for increasing your business (mini gift baskets, baskets for Seniors, and personalizing products), author Debbie Quintana also offers her ideas for supporting and giving back in our local communities.
Join the Gift Basket Association now for just $8.25 per month and be part of a growing number of gift basket professionals who are learning and growing together.
April 29th, 2009
According to Platform-A, AOL’s advertising business, more and more people are using on-line generated coupons for purchases than the traditional newspaper coupons that were popular in the past. Furthermore, “younger couples are the most likely life-stage group to use online coupons, indicating an opportunity to influence product choices within this segment.” Full story.
With this in mind, those of us in the gift basket industry might try incorporating more of this type of marketing on our web sites.This can be done simply. Create a coupon using Microsoft Publisher or any other design software that you use. Most software includes templates that you can use. Save your coupon to your desktop. Then simply upload the coupon to your web site just as you upload photos of your gift baskets. Send an email to your customers directing them to your web site in order to print the coupon.
A few other tips: Make sure you are very clear about the promotion you offer (Save $5 on your next purchase; Get 10% off your next purchase, Receive a discount on a particular category of products such as all Baby Baskets, etc.). State the dates when the coupon can be used. Also be sure to indicate if there are certain items that you carry that for which the coupon does not apply. Use your logo or your “tag line” on all your coupons.
April 18th, 2009
National Pet Week will be observed the week of May 4th and this is a grand opportunity to introduce some new basket designs to your line. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturer’s Association, almost 40% of U.S. households include a dog or cat. Moreover, pet owners are mad about their pets! (That’s me with my wonderful, loyal, best friend!) “Amidst one of the worst economic downturns in decades, the pet industry continues to remain robust. Total pet spending topped $43 billion in 2008, and a 4.9 percent increase to $45.4 billion is projected for 2009, according to the American Pet Products Association.
Check out Gift Basket Business.com for resources on pet products. Create some new baskets for dogs and cats that also include a gift certificate for a local pet spa or pet day care facility. This way, you can double your marketing efforts by joining forces with these other businesses to promote “luxury” items for the family pet.
April 14th, 2009
April is a big month for holidays which means you can add some fun to your offerings of gift baskets to your customers. Send an email to your customers or put together a flier that you can mail. Ask other retailers in your community to hang your flier in their stores. Include a 10% OFF YOUR NEXT PURCHASE certificate with your notice.
- April 1st is April Fools Day. Design a basket that includes some games/toys from your local variety store in addition to your gourmet treats. Alert customers that have kids in college: this might be a fun gift to send to students who are getting ready to study for exams.
- April is National Pecan Month. Offer a basket full of pecans, cookies and chocolates with pecans, etc.
- Easter falls on April 12th. Instead of loading your inventory with Easter candies and novelties, check out some Ready-Made Gift Baskets that you can advertise to customers.
- April is also Customer Loyalty Month. Send a small gourmet gift to your best customers to thank them for their continued support.
- For National Pretzel Appreciation Day on April 26th, design a basket with lots of flavored pretzels and dipping mustards.
Even though times are tough, this is the best time to market your business. Let your customers know that you have lots of new gifts that they can send their loved ones, friends and business colleagues.
March 31st, 2009
Previous Posts
