A Lesson in Promoting Your Gift Baskets
One of my gift basket designer clients learned a marketing lesson she won’t soon forget.
As she delivered three birthday baskets to a corporate client, she saw more than 100 gift baskets arranged on the client’s conference table.
They were baskets she did not make.
The designer found out from an employee that these were thank you gifts and later asked the client why did he ordered the baskets from another business.
The answer was short and telling:
“Because I didn’t know you made them.”
You’ll see a thank you gift basket video on the GiftBasketVideo.com site.
The designer was heartbroken at first but then realized that her promotions focused on certain designs and not others. Her new plan is to ensure that customers know the full range of her design expertise.
How do you keep your customers aware of the gift basket varieties you create so that they buy from you and no one else?
Gift Basket Advertising 101 – Matching Clients with Costs
How do you advertise your business?
Advertising is a branch of marketing. It’s an investment in carefully-selected methods that build long-term trust with people who read or watch specific types of media.
Advertising must be planned for one reason: it costs money, and you want this to be a worthwhile investment rather than a waste of cash.
Numerous advertising methods that work for us are explained in chapter 7 of How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business.
Which types of advertising work best for you to build trust and convince prospects to become buyers?
Where Do Clients Come From?
At the Washington Gift Show, one of the first trade shows I attended when starting my business, a woman sitting next to me at a lunch table asked, “How do you market your gift baskets?”
The answer was a big dilemma for me. I had a great product. How would I find people to buy?
After displaying my gift baskets at street fairs, I realized that public events weren’t the best place for marketing.
It seems that being in the wrong place to market is usually your first route. When no sales occur, your ideas change, bringing you closer to the right way to find customers.
Soon after, I began to find clients by understanding their traits. My clients were:
When you began selling gift baskets,how long did it take to realize that clients were within your business and personal circles?
Which Marketing Materials Will You Buy in 2010 to Promote Your Gift Baskets?
All of the activity surrounding holiday gift basket orders and deliveries takes most, if not all, of your energy right now.
Even though your focus is squarely on this year’s profitability, investing time this month to concentrate on how you will market to prospects and clients in 2010 is just as important.
Large, traditional firms begin their next year’s planning in August and no later than early September. That’s because each department must calculate raises, bonuses, and other costs to make sure that the company’s yearly profits are higher than the current year.
This is the one lesson I’m happy to have learned during all the years I worked for outside employment.
Most of my years were spent in an administrative role, looking at numbers and seeing that no matter how valuable or dedicated certain employees were, they received just 2 or 3 percent raises each year while their supervisors received astronomical raises and bonuses.
That’s the way it was in the places where I worked. On the flip side, when you dictate your own future, it’s just as imperative to map out your plan early in the year so that you, too, can deliver great value to clients and high profits for yourself.
Part of your planning is deciding how you’ll alert potential buyers about the products, service, and value offered when buying your gift baskets.
What marketing items have you or do you plan to purchase to spread the word and ensure your profitability next year?
How Did Your Gift Basket Business Achieve Success this Year?
What were the ups and downs of running your gift basket business in 2009?
Operating a business requires as much preparation as it deserves a look at the triumphs and challenges experienced in the past months.
Was your business:
Looking back, I prospered because of opportunities that became available during networking events, and though I didn’t meet all of my goals, planning for high sales made each month’s results worthwhile. I’m optimistic that the same is true for you.
How would you sum up your 2009 sales, and what will you do to increase your success in 2010?
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