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Many owners of gift basket businesses are creative people. But even the most gorgeous designer will fail to make sales if they don’t spend time and money advertising their business. Here are four ways that will get your name out there and increase sales.
The old fashioned way of advertising in newspapers and on the radio can still work, but they don’t always give you a good return on investment. Do your best to track where your orders come from so you know if it is worth it to continue to advertise on these mediums. Offer coupons in the newspaper. Focus on advertising at times when people are most interested in gift baskets, such as during Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. If cash flow is an issue, see if you can barter with the local radio stations so that you will provide corporate gifts for airtime.
Local business referral groups can be a great way to get your services known about in the community. A referral group works by having one person of each profession join. So there will be one realtor, one web designer, and one gift seller. The premise is that each person in the group will use each others services and recommend these services to their friends and family.
The internet should always be considered as a way to advertise gift basket businesses, whether the focus is on local sales or sales online. Local residents are just as likely to turn to a search engine such as Google to find a company as they are to open up the Yellow Pages. Make sure your gift basket business is listed in Google’s local index. You can also build a website and do SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, to make sure that your result has a top listing. You might want to consider using pay per click advertising, such as Google Adwords. This can end up costing you a lot of money, so be sure to go slowly and track ROI.
No one should overlook community involvement as a form of advertising. Many charitable organizations hold raffles or offer door prizes. This is an ideal fit with gift basket businesses. You should pick charities that you support and ask them if they could use your services. If they have an office location, you can drop by a gift basket full of goodies for them to enjoy. Let them know that you are willing to donate prizes to support them. Be sure to leave your business card.
It can be hard to find the balance between managing the creative aspects and the financial aspects of gift basket businesses. Take a conservative approach and don’t spread yourself too thin. Keep great records and track return on investment as much as you possibly can. After awhile you will be able to generate more sales for each dollar spent.
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Source by Carrie Tyler
