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Blitz Ezine # 220 August 4, 2003
Holiday Marketing Plan - Important Dates

Note: This is an archived issue. Some links and/or content may be outdated

The Blitz-Promotions News Letter.
Issue no. 220, August 4, 2003

************ In This Issue **************
Comments
Food for thought
Articles
The Classifieds
Next Issues

Holiday Marketing Plan

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Food for thought
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In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou has attained it thou art a fool.
Simon Ben Azzai

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Getting your site ready for the holidays.
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Christmas is only 4.5 months a way. During August we'll be looking at some ways that you can drive more traffic and sales to your site. The different topics we'll be covering are listed below.

August 11 - Holiday marketing plan

Without a plan your holiday marketing is lost before you start. This lesson will cover things like making the plan and then sticking to it.

August 18 - Search engine touchups.

Ten things you can do to help make sure you get found in the search engines by the shopping season.

August 25 - Streamlining the sales process

The difference between making a sale and not can often be a click.

Below are five things that you can do to start the process.

1. Test your site.

You need to make sure that everything works on your site. Here are some suggested things to do.

A- Test your order forms / process. Ask a few friends to place some test orders and then ask them how easy it was. If it wasn't easy then make some changes.

B- Believe it or not some folks still use dial up. The slower your site loads the more likely they are to go somewhere else. You can test your load times for free here.

http://www.netmechanic.com/maintain.htm

C- Make sure all your links work. Below is a link to free software that will check the links on your site.
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

Physically check links on your links pages - many times sites change hands and you may not like the new owners much.

2. Prepare a budget.

We'll talk more about a marketing plan next week. Realize now though that you will need to spend some money on advertising. So start thinking about that now.

3. Calendar of Events.

When did you get your bulk so sales last year - buying patterns usually remain consistent. Now leaving that month out you are going to plan on offering specials to your newsletter and former customers. Example -

August - Shop Early Sale - offer free shipping on orders of $50.00 or more.
September - Snoze and Lose sale - buy one get one free on select items.
October - Sooner than you think sale - save 10% off any itme.
November - No sales
December - Procrastinators sale - free shipping upgrade and gift wrap.

4. Plan your follow-ups.

Make sure that you have a good follow up plan. For the holiday season you may want to expedite things a bit (instead of contacting them again in two weeks - contact them in a week). More details on follow ups can be found at the link below.

http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz185.htm

5. Getting your wholesalers in line.

Contact your wholesalers now and see if you can get some better deals if you buy in bulk etc. Look for new avenues of revenue.

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Links you can use -
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A no cost paid search engine chart - shows you which search engines you're ad will show up on when you buy advertising on Google, Overture, etc.

http://www.did-it.com/sem_poster.php

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Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - How to Tap in to the Holiday Publicity Bonanza

by Bill Stoller Founder, PublicityInsider.com
http://www.PublicityInsider.com/
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If your product or service can be given as a gift, a publicity windfall awaits at the end of the year - but you need to start working in June. Each December, media outlets cover the newest, the hottest and the most unusual Holiday gifts. The reporters assigned to develop these pieces typically depend on two sources of information:

1. Phone interviews with local store owners
- and -
2. Press materials that have been sent by publicity seekers.

Let’s deal with Point 1. Here’s a cool trick: In early November, write a letter to stores and major websites that carry your product. Remind them that they may be hearing from journalists soon about hot gift ideas, and request that they consider mentioning your product when that happens. Point out a few reasons why your product is the newest, coolest, best or whatever. Ask the vendor to drop you an e-mail or give you a call if a story results that mentions your product.

Now, on to old-fashioned publicity. When to contact the media depends on the publication or program’s lead time (how far in advance of publication or airing the material is developed). Magazines like Woman’s Day have a lead time up to six months, so get materials to them now. Newspapers have a lead time as short as a week for feature material, so send materials in November. In between are wire services, medium-lead magazines, "in-flight" magazines and others. To learn the lead time of a particular media outlet, call the editorial department. If that doesn’t work, try the advertising department.

What you send should be kept simple -- a press release about your product/service, a pitch letter explaining why it’s such a great gift idea, and, if applicable, a disk with color product photos. See our articles
"How to Write a Great Pitch Letter"
http://www.publicityinsider.com/pitch.asp
and "How to Write a Great Press Release"
http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp
for more details.

As you craft the materials, think about where your product/service fits. Based on its nature, cost, rarity or usefulness, it may work with a variety of typical Christmas Gift stories such as: Great Stocking Stuffer Ideas, Gifts for Teenagers, Gifts for the Person Who Has It All, Gifts for Executives, Gifts that Relax, etc. By suggesting a category for your product, rather than simply stating "Here’s a product that would make a nice holiday gift", you’re making yourself stand out -- and maybe even giving the journalist an idea for a story angle that he or she wouldn’t have thought about otherwise. Either way, your chances of getting coverage are greatly improved.

About The Author:
Bill Stoller, the "Publicity Insider", has spent two decades as one of America's top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses
http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp ,

he's sharing -- for the very first time -- his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips and much, much more, visit Bill's exclusive new site

http://www.publicityInsider.com

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