Jingling Your Customers’ Bells No Matter What The Size of Your Business

Hitting the stores this holiday season?

If you can get past the parking nightmares and the throngs of twitchy, overtired shoppers at the mall, this is one of the best times of the year to study the marketing tactics of your favorite big retailers.  You’ll be amazed at the lengths they’ll go to in order to draw in the crowds.

First, check out the shiny.  Many retailers use vivid light displays and bright colors to draw customers into the store.  But take a closer look at the lighting when you actually wander inside.  Carefully placed spotlights often direct you to high dollar items.  Discounted items areas are placed in darker, less inviting corners.

Next, check out the jangly.  Holiday music in stores is generally upbeat and easy to sing along with.  Store management wants you tapping your toes and losing yourself in thoughts of Christmases long, long ago. The more fun you’re having, the more time you’ll spend in the store.  This translates into higher sales.

Finally, throw your nose into it.  Retailers often pump scents into their stores to help conjure up emotions and memories.  This leads to feelings of comfort and an increased likelihood that you’ll make an impulse purchase or two.  What?  The smell of freshly-baked bread doesn’t make you think of a roaring fire and snuggly puppies on a snowy morning?

Seasoned retailers know that in order to get their fair share of your holiday dollars, they’ve got to pull out the stops to draw you in and keep you there.  

Does this mean, though, that smaller businesses with smaller budgets have no shot at getting some holiday cheer?

Nope.  Small businesses have a few very significant advantages over the megastores.  First, you know your customers.  You can greet them quickly and walk them personally through their shopping experiences. 

You can also offer up some heartwarming scents of your own. Bake a platter of sugar cookies.Set out a pitcher of hot apple cider seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Welcome your customers like they’re visitors in your home and share a cup with them.  Forge relationships with them and they’re more likely to reward you with shopping loyalty.

If you’re an online retailer without the benefit of a storefront to jazz up, add some holiday sparkle to your Web site with a seasonal header.  Offer folks free monogramming or giftwrapping.  Be Secret Santa friendly. Send personal holiday greetings and notes of thanks to your regular customers.

The bottom line is that holiday shoppers are out there with money to spend.  It doesn’t really matter if you’re a megastore with the bucks to hire singing elves or pipe in the smell of gingerbread cookies.  If you take the time to stand out to your target customers, chances are they’ll happily throw a little jingle your way.

{Photo by  *PaysImaginaire*}

Making The Connection

Corporate marketing materials are something to behold, aren’t they? Full color, glossy advertisements that are great at communicating their message. Big budgets allow large companies to go all out. Want folks to buy your perfume? Stick a sample of it in a hot fashion magazine. Selling a car? Make a zippy commercial with a sleek convertible skirting the side of a mountain.

Smaller businesses don’t often have the advantage of bottomless pockets for marketing campaigns. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t create a message that packs a punch.

The secret? Hit ‘em where it hurts.

One of the biggest benefits of being a small business owner is the power to connect emotionally with your customers.

It doesn’t matter what they’re buying, there is always a human being on the other end of the purchasing decision. Your job is to make a connection.

Sparking an emotional connection with a customer isn’t difficult. Tell your story. Get your customers emotionally involved with your products by describing them in vivid detail.
Let’s say you’re shopping for peppermint soap and need to choose based on the descriptions from two different soap companies:

Shop A

“Peppermint Soap. It will leave the user feeling fresh and clean.”

Shop B

“Think candy canes on Christmas morning. Our cheery peppermint soap will leave you feeling refreshed and ready to tango with Santa.”

Which one do you want to buy?

{Photo by mark_sebastian}

Does This Hack Saw Come in Pink?

I’ll admit it. I have a thing for power tools.

Many women love dresses, purses and glittery eye makeup. And while I can certainly get giddy over a trip to Sephora, nothing will woo me quite like shine of a brand new drill press.

I was wandering through one of the big box hardware stores the other day, high heels click-clicking on the concrete floor, when I found the holy grail. Tool World.

I must have lulled myself into a stupor staring at all the shiny things with cords, because a blue-aproned salesman tentatively approached me. With understanding in his eyes, he patted me on the arm and whispered, “Can I help you pick out something for your husband?”

Just goes to show you that someone doesn’t have to be in your target market to be a potential customer. After all, a girl’s gotta have her tools.

{Photo by jolien_vallins}

Why I’ll Always Want a Cupcake, Even if it Costs Me $50

As much as it pains me to say it, I’m on a diet. This morning, instead of slurping down a giant cup of coffee with 2 kinds of flavored syrup and whipped cream that was prepared by a cute young lady in a green apron, I sulked through a plain cup of joe with Splenda.

This is, perhaps, why I am now obsessing over cupcakes. In fact, I’ll pay just about anything to get my hands on one.

Economists love to study people like me. Not crazy sugar-obsessed cake hounds, but people who are willing to buy a product no matter what it costs.

They call it the price elasticity of demand. And, no, they’re not referring to my waistline, thankyouverymuch.

Business owners and economists want to know how much the demand for an item will change if the price for that item is raised or lowered. In other words, if they raise the price of a cupcake by a dollar, will I still buy it? How about 5 dollars?

If the amount of cupcakes that people buy drops significantly when the price is raised, the demand for cupcakes is elastic. People buy fewer cupcakes if the price goes up and more if the price goes down.

Demand is inelastic if folks keep buying a product no matter what it costs. If you have a disease with only one cure, for example, you’re likely to pay for that cure no matter what it costs.

Why does all of this matter? Because in the end, we make the choices that shape how our economy works. If we aren’t willing to pay a higher price for handmade cupcakes produced by the cute bakery down the street, that bakery is going to go out of business. On a larger scale, these decisions affect how many products our country exports and imports, how many jobs we keep, and how our economy grows or falters.

So I’m off to buy a cupcake (hey - there are people’s lives at stake!). Someone else is enjoying a thousand dollar omelet. That’s sure to keep economists on their toes for a while.

{photo credit: littlerottenrobin}