Today’s interview is with Victoria Cook of the Center for Guilt-Free Success. She is a popular author, speaker, and internationally recognized coach who is an expert on guilt-free success. She is the director of The Center for Guilt-Free Success and an official instructor and coach for the DIY Marketing Center.
What can business owners with a retail business do to leverage the holiday season?
It is not too late to start leveraging this holiday season. Who is your ideal market, and what motivates them to take action? Why do they want to buy? For example, say you have a gourmet bakery. You would want to know who is the perfect person to buy your product and why this person is going to buy it.
Gift with purchase – sometimes people will buy if there is a gift with their purchase over just a discount. Again – know what motivates your clients to buy.
What can a service provider offer for the Holiday season?
The holidays are a great time for service-based businesses. They can market their services just like retailers can offer products. I launched a new 30-day program once in the last month of the year and had great success during the holidays.
They can demonstrate appreciation to clients, show their expertise, and raise awareness about their business.
What do I need to know about holiday promotions as a service-based business?
Know who your ideal client is, what problem they want to solve, the challenge they want to overcome, and the results they want to get—knowing the motivations before positioning the offer. Take a cue from retail and create a marketing campaign. It might include sending out a letter, emails, making videos, follow-up phone calls, and special offers to people in our network. Talk about your offer everywhere, business networking, speaking, etc. Being conversational and having something specific to say. Make it easy for people to buy!
Remember, holidays are all year long – not just the Christmas season.
