Holiday Email Planning

HO! HO! HO! Its’ that time of the year. Yes it’s time to start planning your holiday emailing.


If you have been at this a while you already have a list of email addresses you can use. If not here are some holiday tips to get you in the right direction.


Start with building your subscriber list with your Social Media F’s (you know, Friends, Fans, Followers) this might be your greatest resource in securing email address fast. IN addition it will cement your Social Media and your business marketing together giving you a maximum reach with your Social Media Marketing and (hopefully) fewer kick backs and spam digs on your account. If you are providing content that is worth their, your recipient’s interest with things such as educational tips, valuable coupons or time sensitive discounts you on the right track. At the same time, through Social Media alert your F’s that you have special offers heading their way and that they should be on the lookout for them. At the same time if you are hitting multiple Social Networks you should be tailoring your offer and content specifically for them. This is not print (like we talked about yesterday, and it is not as costly or difficult to change copy. Be flexible like the channel demands and always end with a call to action! Tell them what to do to BUY!


At the same time you can be testing the format and different kinds of offers to see what entices your customers and prospects to take the action you want, do they want $10.00 off on a large purchase or does a 25% off grab their attention more? Give it a try.


As for make-up and the visual aspects of your email, test where to put a call to action (buy) button, up, down, right, left? Color, red, green, blue, yellow, pink (?). Then clean up those navigation bars Make them visible and make sure they work!!! No I’m not kidding, check the links!


Then as stated above, segment your target audience into categories, site you got them from, age, sex, geography. If you want to take this down deeper, take a look at the activity of your F’s on your list. At the active or inactive? Another step is to find out (dare I say ask) how often you’re F’s want you to contact them. Not that they can’t change their minds on how much email they want from you but at least you are engaging them and teaching them to talk to you.


As with any marketing campaign the key word is always engagement. You want to have as many people as possible talking and interacting with you. Only in this way will your message, your brand, your offer(s), penetrate the marketing noise that bombards your customers and prospects.


Larson Notes & Satire: Start now friends. If holiday marketing is important to your business now is the time to get into gear. If it is Halloween your almost too late. Thanksgiving, run fast. Christmas, you have enough time if you start out as a good pace. It can get easier. If you started working on this a year ago, yes look back I did a blog like this about a year ago, you would already be working on what you need to be doing to have it all in place. Heck you might have made the Back to School blitzes that were going on in July and early August.


Email does work. Its cheep so you’re ROI can be very good. But if done wrong, you will get a black eye to how not just your customers and prospects see you but how the search engines and internet providers see you has well. Do it wrong and you will end up with 2 black eyes.


“We don’t sell lists, we find customers.”


Remember our 3 new programs for 2011
1st is our Virtual Sales Manager Program.
2nd our Sales Function Outsourcing Program
3rd our Virtual Business Consulting Program


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
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