One of the questions I’m frequently asked by designers worldwide is, “How do I market my gift baskets?”
It’s the same question I was asked by a gift retailer in 1990 at the Washington Gift Show. We exchanged information about our businesses, and she asked me to reveal my marketing plan.
I became defensive but realized that my plan couldn’t help her because our businesses were in two different places catering to distinctly-separate customers.
This fact is also true for you and other gift basket designers, whether they are local competitors or outside of your region.
No one else’s marketing plan will work for you. The plan that’s perfect and correct for your business is created by you from experience and dictated by the people most likely to buy your gift baskets.
Marketing plans, tips, and ideas available in books and on the Internet provide insights on how to craft your planning, but none of it is usable as is no matter how much you want it to be.
When you started your business, how long did it take to realize that marketing plans created by others had to be customized to your specifications?
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Thank you for posting this important message.
During my years of being the gift industry, I have requests from basketeers asking questions that implied that there is one right customer or one right marketing plan.
I discovered early on that while I could benefit from learning what others are doing, I needed to find the way that worked for my personality, business style, customer needs and locale. Every marketing plan is specific, and until a business tailors marketing to their needs, they will have less than outstanding results.
Hi Flora,
Your points are “right on.” One plan does not fit all, a fact I also learned early in my gift basket-making years.
This point became magnified for me when speaking at trade shows throughout the U.S. and learning that what worked for designers in Atlanta was not a marketing option for designers in Chicago or New York or Los Angeles.