We hate to be a part of the always-too-early chatter about the holidays – it’s not even Halloween – but the time for planning your holiday marketing is now. Here are a few ideas. [level-members]
Gift Packages
I’m not calling these “gift baskets” because in some states you can’t sell, the cheese, fruit, and other goodies usually associated with that term. Plus, that’s a pretty saturated market. Instead, you can put together mixed-case specials (or groupings of 3 or 6 bottles) that center on a particular region, a particular varietal, or a particular taste profile. You can also put together a wine-of-the-month offering along similar lines. And each of these can be offered at a range of prices.
Gift Certificates
For the more particular of your clients, your clients’ loved ones will love you if you offer gift certificates so Mr. Persnickety can pick out the bottles he loves. You can discount these to make them more attractive, or bundle them so that the gift buyer perhaps gets a smaller gift certificate free when purchasing the larger value gift. Don’t worry about the discount you give being a money loser: it’s fairly typical for less than 90% of the gift certificates sold to be redeemed.
Post-Holiday Promotions
There’s nothing like exhaling early in January after having survived the onslaught that is the holidays – until you realize that you’re staring down what is typically everyone’s slowest season. One way to liven it up is to include post-holiday promotions. For example, Buy a bottle now, get 20% off any purchase in January. This is a great way to encourage some traffic during a slow period. You could even make them part of a program that rewards overall spending with offers redeemable in January, February and March. Helps you through your slow period, and maybe helps establish a pattern of more frequent visits …
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