Direct Marketing

Keep Your Customers with Greeting Card Marketing

Written by Rayzelle Forrest Young for Gaebler Ventures

Tips on how and when to use greeting card marketing to keep your existing customers.

As a small business owner, one of your challenges is to be able to keep your existing customers.

People are enticed all the time to move their business over to the competition.

Free marketing is the American way of capitalism. For instance, throughout the day on the television, there are numerous commercials for cable customers to switch their services to satellite tv and satellite tv customers to switch their services to cable. What usually ends up winning a customer over or making a customer stay where they are is the ability for a company to make their customers feel special and appreciated. If you're a small business, greeting card marketing is and excellent way to keep your existing customers.

For your greeting card marketing campaign to be a success there are certain things you will need to know about your customers. When a customer purchases your products or services, have them fill out a short form to get information such as their name, address, phone number, birth date, number of children, etc. If you let them know that it is for marketing purposes and that their information will not be sold to any other company most customers are more than happy to cooperate.

Birthdays

Send out birthday cards to your customers. The day a person entered this world is usually a special day for most people. This is a great way to show your customers that you appreciate their business and love having them as a customer. An added touch to this would be a product coupon or freebie offer to go along with the card.

Valentines Day

Valentines day is the second largest retail selling occasion next to Christmas. This means it is highly regarded by people as an important day. Send your Customers a valentines card along with a promotional giveaway or coupon. This marketing tactic could work wonders for the person that has no one special in their lives. Imagine your card being the only one they get on Valentines Day. They will surely remember your company and be encouraged to continue to do business with you.

Mother's Day/Father's Day

These two days are excellent opportunities to use greeting card marketing. Mother's and Father's can be a way for you to show your customers that are mothers and fathers that their hard work and dedication to their children is appreciated. Purchase these cards in bulk with a general message attached to them and then make sure to add your own quick personal message. It doesn't take a lot to make someone feel special, especially when they aren't expecting it. This card will be a nice surprise because mothers and fathers generally expect to get something from their children and spouses and that's it.

Christmas

You certainly don't want to overlook this holiday in your greeting card marketing campaign. The Christmas season is the leader when it comes to greeting card sending and receiving. You'll definitely want to send your end of the year thanks out to all your customers and of course include a bonus product or coupon to show your gratitude as well as a way to encourage them to shop with you during the holiday season.

Make sure you hand write all of your card messages. The messages can be as short as "Thinking of You" in order to save time with sending them out. If you can't write them yourself, enlist the help of employees to do the work for you. The key to keeping customers with greeting card marketing is to make them feel special and unique. There is nothing special and unique about a computer generated pre-written message.

Rayzelle is an entrepreneur and writer. Based on her experiences as an owner of her own dance studio, she will share her personal tips on being a successful entrepreneur.

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