Valentine’s Promotions – Harnessing the Power of Two or More, Advises Image Marketing Consultants

Valentine’s Day celebrates the power of romantic love to join together two separate human beings into a kind of joint action.

Businesses and non-profits can broaden the theme behind this holiday to bring together people to work together for a common cause.  Restaurants can partner with other local organizations to address healthy living.  Real estate agencies can work with the shelters about training those without homes in how to develop marketable skills.  And non-profits can ask school children to create symbols of what it means to be a community.

Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, extends to you the sweet treat of a complimentary consultation about your marketing, public relations, partnership, special events, and social media needs kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.

 

 

 

 

Small Business Can Thrive Amidst Big Boxes, Reassures Image Marketing Consultants

Small businesses tend to tremble when they hear the rumor that a big box is moving into their neighborhood. They fear that big box will crush them.

Image Marketing Consultants is not the only one reassuring you that you can survive.  In THE HAMDEN JOURNAL, Christopher LaTorraca wrote the cover story “Local Retailers Compete Against the Box Stores.”

In it LaTorraca explains that the little guy has been thriving by making business personal.  That is, they go the distance in customer service.  That includes knowing their customers so well that they have in their inventory exactly what will be purchased.  There is no need to wait.

Other initiatives which have been effective for clients of Image Marketing Consultants is hosting special events.  Online fatigue has set in and people are again eager to go out, especially if the event is free.  The cheese shop can put on a cooking demonstration of how to make a cheese soup and the clothes retailer can stage a fashion show for one demographic such as women over-50.  In addition, small businesses can partner with each other as well as larger companies to sell products and services they couldn’t manage to do alone.

According to American Express, 100 million will shop at locally owned business.  The challenge is to ensure that your shop will be among them.

Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you to a complimentary consultantion on marketing, partnerships, public relations, special events, and social media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-

Holiday Marketing: Thinking Outside the Usual Box

Black Friday is a week from today.  That means businesses will be competing aggressively for sales.

One of them – Toys R Us – has come up with an outside the usual box tactic for getting shoppers’ attention.  That’s having children anchor its TRU News Network to describe the hot toys of the season.  That simulated news is being run on television as commercials as well as through social media such as Facebook.  The target audience is anyone who needs to know what kids really want as that special gift.  They will get that information straight from the kids themselves.

The genius of the tactic is that it turns expectations upside down.  The good news is that it doesn’t take rocket science to come up with your own out of the box approach.

That can be as simple as playing with traditional colors.  Instead of green holiday trees for your business, you have black ones decorated with white ornaments.  Another could be a public interest message not to overspend.  The Federal Reserve reports that the average credit card debt for households is $7,150.  That could attract more than just shoppers.  The media could show up.  There are endless possibilities for special events such as Santa Claus or Mrs. Claus working out with a personal trainer at your spa.  In addition, you can always run a contest for the worst kind of promotion for the holiday season.

Marketing need not be expensive.  A good contrarian idea well executed could cost you pennies per acquisition of new customers or more purchased by current ones.

Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you to a complimentary consultation for marketing, partnerships, public relations, special events, and social media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.

 

Holiday Special Events: 3 Tips from Image Marketing Consultants

Holidays are wonderful platforms for special events.  That’s what we at Image Marketing Consultants recommend to our clients.

For  example, for Halloween, pet stores might sponsor costume parties for cats and dogs and for Christmas family restaurants could provide children chats with Santa. Those create good feeling about your enterprise, enhance the brand, can attract new business, and give the media a fun reason to cover you.

Yet staging a special event represents an investment of time and money.  The first step in succeeding is to have people attend.  Here are 3 tips from Image Marketing Consultants.

Blend classic with novel.  Everyone loves the ghoulish themes associated with Halloween.  But what pulls them to your event and not the one two businesses over is the fresh twist.  You could have an expert on the paranormal present a slide show on the history of Halloween.

Provide incentives.  Often consumers need that extra push to participate.  Here you can partner with another business, creating publicity for both of you.  For example, everyone who shows up is eligible for a drawing for a complimentary yoga lesson with the spa down the road.  Have those from that business participate in your event.

Promote. If the event is highly visual, you might be able to get the attention of the media.  But even if it isn’t, you can leverage your own social media to create excitement.  That could include Facebook, tweets, blogging, videos on YouTube, email blasts, podcasting, and webinars. When the event is over some of that material can be sliced and diced and repurposed for other uses. In creating buzz before, during, and after the special event, if you’re partnering, make the promotions a joint effort.  That both can increase the impact and stretch both budgets.

Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations for Special Events, Partnerships, Social Media, Advertising, Public Relations, and Social Media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.

Your Organization’s Anniversary: 3 Marketing Tips From Image Marketing Consultants

Every week some organization, both private sector and non-profit, is celebrating an anniversary.  They do that because years in business or serving the needs of the homeless is a platform for marketing, fundraising, getting media attention, attracting partners, and hosting special events.  More importantly, you have the opportunity to reach out to your current constituencies and thank them for being there all those years.

So, yes, if this is your second or 34th year in buiness or being a helping hand in the commmunity, consider positioning and packaging that for reinforcing your branding, increasing sales, gaining access to new funding, and staging an activity which the media can’t miss.

Here are 3 tips from Image Marketing Consultants:

Highlight theme of gratitude, show it.  You wouldn’t have made it to yet another year without the customers/clients, employees, vendors, contributors, public services, elected officials, and the media.  Show how grateful you are through a special event such as a complimentary ice cream social, a steep discount, or free training in your expertise such as decorating cakes.

Tell the world.  Few will know that it is your anniversary unless you spread the good news.  That in itself can be leveraged as a brand enhancer if you create a special symbol and/or graphics for the announcement.  That can be communicated through all your digital sites such as Facebook, blogs, Twitter, and Google+ as well as your newsletters, store/office windows, and tags employees wear.  If the community permits, members of your organization can dress up  in thematic costumers and distribute flyers and maybe some goodies in target areas.

Introduce New Whatevers.   Attention gets attention.  Since you have that attention, use it to feature new products, services, funding objectives, kinds of community outreach, expansion of territory, and celebrity support.

In addition, participating in other organizations’ anniversaries provides you with what could be a productive networking activity.  From it could come partnerships, incremental sales, and a fresh source of funding.

Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations for Marketing, Partnerships, Advertising, Public Relations, Social Media and Special Events Kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.