Postcard marketing CEO of PostcardMania, Joy Gendusa, advises that businesses should still promote heavily for the holidays in order to flourish and prosper despite economic uncertainty. Her 10-year-old company is determined to help American businesses continue to get higher impact on their marketing in the rough economy. She gives 6 holiday marketing tips for businesses who wish to thrive in the rough economy.
Even if companies have not started marketing they still have time, Gendusa warns:
1. Set targets for each week for this coming season that are higher than last year’s weekly revenue.
2. Figure out what kinds of specials or offers you can promote this year. They are going to have to be better than ever. Look for a loss leader (an item you can break even on or lose on in order to bring people in and get them to spend more once they arrive.) Office Depot does this with copy paper. They lose money on that item, knowing they'll make it up with other purchases. Have a brainstorming meeting with your sales people and come up with a long list of ideas.
3. Mark on your calendar when you want your last piece of promotion to hit your desired market – when you want it to arrive in their mailboxes.
4. Mark on your calendar one week earlier as your drop-dead mail date.
5. Do the same thing for each postcard moving backward in time – mail date and a week later hit date.
6. Once you have your schedule get your order in as soon as possible – this is time of the year when printers get busy and everyone has a deadline to hit. Keep your attention on handling the customers stampeding your establishment instead of on whether or not your promotion will be ready on time.
“I do believe that people are going to spend less this year, but they will still spend,” Gendusa said. “WHERE they spend depends on who markets and who markets the most.”
About PostcardMania:
Using a powerful, simple, extremely cost effective way of communicating with customers has earned Joy Gendusa Inc Magazine’s recognition as the nation’s fastest growing direct mail postcard-marketing firm with year 2007 revenues at nearly $19,000,000. Gendusa began in 1998 with zero investment capital. Today, her Clearwater, FL firm called PostcardMania, employs over 150 people and prints 4 million and mails 2 million postcards representing more than 31,000 customers in over 350 industries each week. Visit www.postcardmania.com
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