Seasonal

Friday Five – Saving Money on Boxing Day

December 21, 2012 By Melissa Leave a Comment

The Boxing Day Sales are a tradition here in Australia. Most shops, especially in big shopping centres, have sales where they slash prices.

If you are hitting the sales this year, keep an eye out for specials on the following products to help your business.

Wrapping Paper – if you offer free gift wrap as a Christmas promotion, then Boxing Day is the time to stock up for the following year. You will need space to store it, however most wrapping paper is half price or less. If you’re lucky, you will be able to find paper that looks generic and can be used during the year.
Christmas Cards – as with wrapping paper, the prices of Christmas cards are cut dramatically. If you send cards in the mail, stock up ready for the following year. Pick up an extra pack or two if you’re not sure how many to purchase. They can always be used the following year or for your kids to give out at school.
Decorations – Christmas decorations in all shapes and sizes have reduced prices. These can make a special gift for your best customers or suppliers, as a gift with purchase, or even something to spruce up your office. Pick up a few decorations for use the following year. These can also be used as teacher gifts or as a gift for the person who just shows up for a cuppa in the lead up to Christmas.
Packaging – there are a number of boxes and gift bags that can be used as packaging for your products. Some are obviously Christmas themed, however there may be plain ones that can be used during the year. If you go looking through the piles of items in the sales, you could come home with items that can be used for your business during the year.
Office Supplies – there are some shops that discount almost everything. If you are smart with your shopping you could save money on supplies for your office – from paper to office equipment. If you are planning on buying something in the sales, make sure you do your research before Christmas so you are sure you have a genuine deal.

Do you have any other tips on how business mums can save money in the Boxing Day sales, or have you got a bargain that can be added to this list?

Filed Under: Christmas, Friday Five, Seasonal

We Wish You a Merry Christmas…

December 25, 2011 By Melissa 2 Comments

It’s Christmas Day! I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading, and I hope you’ve found the information here useful.

The blog has been a bit quiet lately, but I’ve been working behind the scenes with plans for 2012. I look forward to sharing with you again next year.

In the mean time, have a wonderful and safe Christmas and a happy New Year.

Filed Under: Christmas, Slider

Melbourne Cup Day 2011

November 1, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

It's Melbourne Cup Day today

Today is Melbourne Cup Day. Here in Melbourne we have a public holiday and we all pause to watch a horse race, even those of us who have no interest in horse racing any other day of the year!

Have you done anything creative in your business to promote it for the Melbourne Cup?

Filed Under: Seasonal

Marketing Monday – Choose Your Holiday

October 31, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Today is Halloween. It is not a day we observe in my family, even though it seems to be gaining popularity in Australia. For this reason I find it very hard to give you some Halloween marketing ideas. If you really want some ideas, check out this post from last year.

So, instead of giving you some ideas for Halloween, I’ll give you this tip – choose the holidays you will use for your marketing.

It can be tempting to come up with an idea for every holiday that comes along, however it may not fit your business. This could be for a number of reasons:

it’s not a holiday you or your family observe
it doesn’t suit your business
there are too many other things happening for you to give it your full effort and run your promotion well
or something else

There is nothing wrong with not having a promotion for a particular holiday. For example, if you have a business full of items for men, you may not want to do a Mother’s Day promotion or marketing push. You may want to save it and put all your energy in to a Father’s Day promotion.

Another example: I used to send Mother’s Day cards to my clients instead of Christmas cards. Christmas was such a busy time of year I ran out of time and 99% of my clients were Mums!

One of the main benefits in choosing your holidays is that you can put more energy into creating something creative to promote your business as well as helping you budget for those promotions.

Do you create a promotion for every holiday that comes along, or do you save your promotional energy for those holidays that best suit your business?

Filed Under: Promoting your business, Seasonal

Friday Five – Top 10 Lists

September 23, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Top 10 lists are an easy way to create free reprint articles, blog posts, content for your newsletter and present information to customers, both present and potential. There were more ideas in last weeks posts.

While these lists are great, sometimes it can be hard to work out what to write about. Here are five ideas for things you can use to write your Top 10 Lists.

Top gift ideas – with Christmas, Mother’s Day, birthdays and any other occasion, lists of your top gift ideas can be created. This can either be from your products, or products that some of your alliance partners provide. Don’t forget to link to affiliate programs where available.
Top reasons people should buy from you – customers often won’t read long lists of text, however they may read a short list of 10 points. Compile a list of things that set your business apart from your competition and list them as a Top 10 List, and don’t just limit yourself to customers, include wholesale accounts too, if that is what you are wanting. Bibska Bibs recently did this on their Facebook page – Top 10 reasons to stock the Bibska brand.
Top archived blog posts – if you have a blog, create a post or page listing your Top 10 Blog Posts. You could pick 10 random posts, or have a theme, such as your Top 10 posts with school holiday ideas.
Top tips for customers – compile a list of 10 tips for your customers. It could be tips how to use your products, general tips related to your business, such as parenting tips if you sell baby products, or any other points that may be useful to your customers. A general list such as this could be a great free reprint article.
Top recommendations – one easy way to create a list as well as promote some of your favourite businesses, is to create a list with your top recommendations. Decide on a theme, such as your favourite blogs, and turn them in to a list. You never know, those on your list may return the favour and recommend you to their database.

This is only five ideas for Top 10 Lists. Do you have any ideas to add to this list? If so, add a comment and see if we can expand on this.

Filed Under: Blogging, Facebook, Friday Five, Seasonal

Countdown to Christmas – Christmas Range

September 20, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Do you have a Christmas range?

Do you have a Christmas range for your business? If you sell products, these can be a great way to boost sales before Christmas.

If you do have a Christmas range, or are planning one, you need to get organised early, especially if you want to wholesale them. A while ago, I heard that larger shops source their Christmas items back in January/February!

Many people look for Christmas items – clothes, decorations, decor – so they can sell very well. There are also many Christmas markets you can promote your Christmas range.

To find the best time to promote your Christmas range, keep an eye on what is happening with social media and in the shopping centres. There are people who get organised early and start buying Christmas gifts early in the year! Not everyone leaves things to the last minute.

One option is to put the items in your online shop or put them quietly on your market stall when they are ready, but hold off promotion until closer to Christmas. You could also have a special preview sale available for your loyal customers to view your Christmas products early, before you have them available for everyone to purchase.

If you haven’t thought about having a Christmas range until now, it’s time to get to work and get your products organised and ready for sale.

Filed Under: Christmas, Seasonal

Countdown to Christmas – Christmas Cards with a difference

September 13, 2011 By Melissa 4 Comments

Do something different with your cards

Everyone receives Christmas cards at Christmas. Make your cards stand out from the pack by personalising the front of your cards with these two ideas.

If you run events for your clients and take photographs and use them to create personal Christmas cards for your clients.

There are many websites that can help you with photo cards, or use some software on your computer. Find a photograph of your client and put it on the front of the card. Inside the card, include a comment about the photo and how much you enjoyed meeting them, or talk about how their contribution to your event helped make it a success.

If you have a lot of clients, then use these cards for those who have made a huge contribution to your business.

If you don’t run events, but know your customers favourite products, put a picture of that product on the front of the card, along with a note about how you’ve appreciated their custom for the year. You may also want to include a discount voucher for that product so they can treat themselves after Christmas.

Personalising your cards in this way will make your customers feel really special and show them that you care about them. It may also be a talking point and something your customers will share with others, further promoting your business.

Filed Under: Christmas

Countdown to Christmas – on again for 2011

September 6, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Start planning for Christmas!

Last year, I had a series of posts called “Countdown to Christmas”, starting in October. It was quite popular, so I’ve decided to do it again, but starting earlier – in September.

I will share some tips and ideas to help you promote and grow your business in the lead up to Christmas.

The early start is so I can get more ideas in, as well as giving you plenty of time to implement any ideas you think would be useful in your business – especially if you are planning something like writing Christmas cards for all your customers!

If you can’t wait, there are more ideas for Christmas in past posts. You can find them here.

I hope you find these posts useful.

Filed Under: Christmas, Seasonal

Happy Father’s Day 2011

September 4, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Happy Father’s Day to all the Business Dad’s who read this blog.

I hope you are all having a wonderful time and being spoiled by your kids.

Filed Under: Seasonal

Public Holidays

March 14, 2011 By Business Mums Leave a Comment

Relax on a public holiday

Today is a public holiday in Melbourne. One of the features of the labour day holiday is the Moomba festival. This is a great time to spend with the family as there are a lot of great activities, and many of these are free!

What do you do on a public holiday?

Is it just like any other day and you’re madly working, or do you take the day off to be with your family?

For me, I’m having a day off – this post was written last week and scheduled to be published today (I love this feature of WordPress). If you’re worried about having the day off, think, if you were working for someone else, wouldn’t you have a public holiday off?

So, what do you do with your public holidays?

Filed Under: Looking after YOU, Seasonal