Eight Holiday \"Gifts\" from Grip to You

[gripmarketing]

Advertising for Xmas? A holiday primer.

The holiday season is nearly upon us, and for the most successful salon operators, fourth-quarter programs are in full swing. Some are still in the consideration phase, and then there will doubtless be others who will be the Johnny-come-lately’s who will try to advertise at the last minute. And, unfortunately for their bottom lines, countless others who won’t advertise at all.

The pressure to maximize revenues and reduce costs continues this year as everyone looks to leverage existing customers to generate more revenue per customer (lifetime value) than in years past.

Holiday Spending

Consumer spending represents approximately two-thirds of the U.S. economy, and wallets open wide as we approach the critical holiday shopping season.

Several promising signals over the last few weeks portend a strong fourth quarter. Among the most encouraging is the stock market. What makes this even rosier is the number of shopping days on this year's holiday calendar.

Tanning marketers must seize on this increased spending activity during the holiday season. One of the key drivers of improved fourth-quarter revenue is pushing consumers to start shopping earlier, then continuing that push through the remainder of the season.

Mail as a Marketing Tool

Old and New salon owners alike have rushed like never before to build mail databases, develop marketing intelligence, and build strategies to better understand and communicate with customers. As we've proven in the past, Mail used as part of an integrated approach is one of the most effective and efficient push-marketing tools.

What have we learned, and what will marketers be doing this holiday season?

Here are eight Grip mail "gifts," presented step by step, to help you optimize revenue per customer and make your cash registers ring this fourth quarter.

1. Make Your List...
Review and analyze your current customer database. Clean up your customer file. Create a model based on your best customers, then execute acquisition campaigns based on that model.

2. ...And Check It Twice
It’s critical to make sure your databases include transactional, historical, and behavioral data on each customer to create and deliver tailored, relevant ad offers. Have your list CASS certified (address corrected by USPS standards with a mail fulfillment house) before mailing from it to insure the highest deliverability rate.

3. Segment That List
Drill down into your list for a deep understanding of your active and inactive customers. Make plans to reactivate inactives NOW.

4. Package and Tag
As consumers become increasingly savvy, it's vital to use knowledge of what has and has not worked in the past. Use tried and true, proven offers to craft more hard-hitting campaigns the next time around. Each segment (prospect, active, and inactive) deserves its own targeted promotion. Master marketers, like Grip, can help you identify which offers should be deployed for each segment and whether the offers should be outside or in-store promotions.

5. Develop a Response/Nonresponse Strategy
Response (and nonresponse) info is one of the great influencers of ongoing ad campaigns. Map out a strategy that addressed those who respond, and those who don't, each step of the way. If someone fails to respond to your initial campaign, test additional variables and alter your next effort to better pique the recipient's interest. Your offers must sound irresistible!

For those who do respond, determine the next step in their path toward an add-on sale, after you've generated a transaction with the initial effort. Set up triggers with your staff and put their responses on auto-pilot.

6. Integrate With In-Store Promotion
Mailing in a vacuum seldom outperforms an integrated approach. Your in-store and outside marketing should complement and supplement each other. Everything should shake hands and match.

7. Send Service Announcements
Thank-you messages, birthday cards, comment cards, and cross- and up-sell ads have become critical in retail. Customers have come to expect announcements and reminders from you, and marketers that don't offer them are at a disadvantage. Sending these reminders about you improves “top-of-mind” (you’ll come to the top of their minds), customer attrition rates, and overall loyalty.

8. Post Mortem: Analyze, Optimize, and Research
All the intelligence generated and gathered by mail marketing -- response rates, transaction dollars, and behavioral data -- must be collected and flowed back to someone in the know. There it can be analyzed and used to build benchmarks and best practices for future efforts.

[West Side Tanner]

Thanks Gary.