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Move over Cyber Monday, now there is Mega Monday. Smart merchants have realized that the right marketing can lead to sales way before Christmas, during the holiday, and even the few days afterwards. The cash registers are ringing up furious sales the day after Christmas, which fell on a Monday this year causing merchants to dub it “Mega Monday.” There are a few good reasons for the extra interest in shopping, even or consumers who may have led the charge during Black Friday sales: hefty discounts, entertainment, and gift cards.

Hefty Discounts

Retailers are trying to get sales in before the end of the year, so they can count it into their income. This has caused a traffic increase of about 60 percent when compared to last year. Shoppers are also interested in stocking up on seasonal items for next year, like holiday decorations, Christmas wrappings, and toys. Those will most likely be stashed in an attic or closet waiting for next year’s holiday season. Read the rest of this entry »

Online retailers have found their groove in 2010 with online sales increasing by a little over 15 percent by total sales volume. It seems that after reviewing the last few years and their business consulting options, many online firms began to understand that the sales were only coming if they went out and got them. The old standby, the email list, was dusted off, checked twice, and then used to create some very innovative marketing strategies that helped to raise online sales to a whopping $36.4 billion dollars this year.
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When people see their coworkers being laid off and the high unemployment numbers, the fear of losing their own job becomes a frightening possibility. While struggling business owners can find money via a business loans fast funding to help pay bills, consumers are usually denied credit if they’re unemployed. The loss of a job can lead to a rapid decline in discretionary income as the unemployed raid their savings, leaving them at risk to become homeless or bankrupting their future retirement. Thus, consumers are thinking twice before deciding to buy in an economy where their job may not be there tomorrow. As a business owner, this consumer caution can have a big impact on your sales, if not properly addressed. There are ways to organize your business and to assure your customers that even if they lose their jobs, they will still be able to make their bills.

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Holidays are very tough for thousands of individuals. With the recent unemployment numbers it has meant that for many the holidays are going to be lacking presents, and could even lack a holiday meal. There are certain options out there like the Salvation Army that offer Christmas dinner, but it does not mean everyone can take part in this. In fact, there are restrictions with food stamp help that could make it impossible for some families to obtain a holiday meal.

If you have the holiday spirit and want to entice others to join you it could also help your business. Unfortunately, many consumers like to get something like a gift or other item for as less as possible. They look for coupons, discounts, free shipping and other deals. In a small business it is very hard to offer this, but you can offer a contest or even a donation option. There are two ways to look at a holiday deal that can benefit someone else and increase your sales profits.
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If you’re used to selling offline, you can wow your customers with the actual products and services. You can set up glitzy displays and they can even touch the merchandise. You can carefully place small impulse buy by the register and trigger sales this way, but what do you do when you’re online to trigger those same sales? Do you have to take out a business loan and hire a special media company to create a sales campaign or can you just adopt a few good sales strategies? The most powerful component of your online sales campaigns is actually your sales copy. If you use that to press the right psychological triggers, you will be more likely to increase sales from your online ventures, even more than concentrating on the mechanics of the site.

Your Headings Count

Headings should be designed to create interest, spike curiosity, and literally push some emotional triggers that make them want to read further. Half the time people won’t even read the article or the sales copy of the heading isn’t very interesting. Pay close attention to your headings and subheadings, the content and the formatting.

The Content

Use sales strategies in your content that will light a fire under your readers! Here are a few:

Limited Time Offers – If you offer a special limited time offer to a new subscriber, it can be the perfect way to convert a reader into a buyer. If they understand that the offer is only good for a set time, it will trigger a fear of loss and that will cause them to step forward and close the sale. This type of offer works well in the back end, on a thank you page. You can thank a customer for subscribing, and then offer them a limited time offer for a trial membership at a discount, a value package that is not sold separately otherwise, or anything that you think will convert them.

Limited Quantity Offers – If you have a really great product, but only a few are available in your inventory, then you might want to try advertising it as a limited quantity offer. It’ll alert people that once this product is gone, they’ll have missed out on a great opportunity!

Exclusive Offers – Maybe you’ve developed a one-of-a-kind product that only you are selling. It’s an exclusive offer! You can do the same if one a few select people are licensed to sell the product and it’s a high status product, then it’s still exclusive. Another way to frame an exclusive offer in content is to suggest that only exclusive members of your site will have the option to purchase a particular product at a set price. Then, it’s exclusive to a segment of your audience. This sells on the trigger that people want to feel special and will love getting things that others just can’t have or afford.

Value Offers – When you contribute value to a customer, in price and quantity, they recognize it and it can increase your sales volume. The $5 foot long sandwiches at Subway is a classic example of a value offer that skyrocketed sales volume for the franchise in record time. Why? They provided a recognizable bargain and double the value of other $5 food offerings they were competing against. They could be cut in half, and used for both lunch and dinner! They could be shared and reduce the cost. Half the sandwich was filling enough to make an entire meal! Similarly, look at your inventory and see where you can create value offers that appeal to people in a recessionary climate.

Stacked Rebate Offers – This is a little like bribing your customers. You see this with phone companies who offer a free phone, for signing up to a two year contract. But, wait! You can also get the phone, digital TV, and Internet, and get additional rebates and discounts. Even if you’re not the one giving the incentives out you can stack them. For instance, if you sell appliances, you can advertise the federal and state rebates, and then add one of your own to get people to line up at your door instead of your competitors. It’s not that hard to figure out how to stack things without committing too much of your own money. Grocery stores advertise triple coupon days, and yet, they’re not fronting the full cost of that promotion. If you do it in the form of rebates, it’s pretty common for people not to even claim their rebates and thus you’re still not paying the full amount you plan to offer since not everyone even cares about the rebates.