Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
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Black Friday. Small Business Saturday. Cyber Monday. Three shopping holidays designed to entice consumers to open their wallets as the countdown to the holidays begins. Do you have a marketing strategy in place to remind shoppers that your store is stocked with goodies to quite literally help trim their trees this holiday season? While the mega-retailers like Amazon may have a lock on the kids' wish lists, the holidays are an excellent time to encourage your customers to indulge in a big-ticket splurge or some practical stock- ing stuffers that will help them keep their property looking prime through the holi- days and all year long. I've compiled seven marketing tips and tricks to help keep your dealer- ship top of mind with consumers this holiday season and guarantee that your store makes the holiday gift list. TIP #1 GET FESTIVE In addition to adding a little festive cheer to your physical store location with decorations, update your social media imagery to reflect the holiday theme, add holiday-themed graphics to your website, and consider the holidays when making updates to the content on your site. Regularly updated content is a must to win the search engine ranking game, and adding some holiday-themed keywords like 'gifts for dad' or 'holiday gift guide' will help you bolster your search engine optimization (SEO) this holiday season. TIP #2 REWARD THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT Run a holiday lights contest on your Facebook page. Contests are a fantastic way to create some buzz around your brand and encourage social sharing. Third-party apps like Woobox (https://woobox.com/photocontests) make it super simple to get a contest rolling. You can also use your social posts to encour- age people to share their holiday light pictures and reward the photo with the most likes and shares with a special incentive like a $20 gift card. TIP #3 OFFER GIFT CARDS Speaking of gift cards, if you don't already, you should absolute- ly offer them. Gift cards are the most popular holiday gifts bar none. While you may be skeptical that shoppers will see outdoor power equipment as a thoughtful gift, it's time to get creative to get shoppers excited about all of the fun that the "toys," which masquerade as tools you sell, can deliver. Who wouldn't get ex- cited at the prospect of getting to pick out a brand-new chain saw for the holidays? TIP #4 HELP DAD SHOP FOR MOM AND VICE VERSA No, I'm not suggesting that you try convincing your customers to buy their wives line trimmers for Christmas, but what about part- nering with other small businesses in your community to promote a "Shop Local for Mom" event? Spas, specialty gift shops and other businesses are hoping to sell to their clientele's spouses, who may well be on your email list. Promote the "Shop Local for Mom" event via your email and social channels, and have your dealership serve as a rest stop, offering a gift wrapping station and refreshments. You may want to invite Santa to your party and have him add your in-store visitors' holiday gift wishes from your aisles to his list along with their sig- nificant other's email address. After the event, you can share the shopping advice via email to score some unexpected new shoppers this holiday season. TIP #5 PARTICIPATE IN SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY Encourage your customers to #shopsmall this Small Business Sat- urday. Started in 2010, Small Business Saturday taps into the lo- cal shopping movement, encouraging people to spend with small businesses in their hometowns the Saturday after Thanksgiving (November 28). American Express Open offers up a full collection of digital and print marketing tools that you can personalize for your dealership to take advantage of the growing popularity of this shopping holiday. For more information, visit www.american express.com/us/small-business/shop-small/. TIP # 6 MAKE YOUR LIST, CHECK IT TWICE, AND SEND CARDS Send your best customers an honest-to-goodness print Thanks- giving card, thanking them for their business in 2015 and remind- ing them to think of you for the holidays and into 2016. While I absolutely recommend that you use your dealership's newsletter 7 MARKETING TIPS & TRICKS to treat your bottom line this holiday season IMAGE ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/IVANNIKULIN ■ BY COLLEEN MALLOY FEATURE STORY | Website Solutions 22 OCTOBER 2015 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com