Vermont Shortbread Company

Memorable Marketing: Small but Significant Ways to Nourish Your Growing Business

Something as ordinary as breakfast can become instantly delightful when you set out your best china, serve a tasty quiche, homemade shortbread with a side of fresh blueberries, and pour chilled mimosas for a few special guests. Likewise, everyday occurrences in the life of your business can be transformed into extraordinary marketing that gets your readers thinking about you and excited for your service and product offerings.

1. Reach out, make contact.

Just like family and friends, customers require love, care and feeding on a regular basis. You need a way to talk to your future clients that feels personal yet saves you time. An ezine, or email newsletter, solves the problem. Start building your contact list if you haven't already. Test out your first few ezine issues with a f*ree trial account from Constant Contact or KickstartCart.com. You'll be surprised at how quickly your fan base grows with the simple addition of a sign-up form to your website and a monthly email newsletter that lets you address each one of your readers personally and privately, in the comfort of their own home email box!

2. Run a special event or fun contest.

Has customer response been slow lately? Generate some excitement with a simple but fun contest or event that readers can easily participate in via email or forms on your web site. If you're looking to keep your own production costs down, you can even gear the contest around your own web marketing - say, by having your readers rate several newly designed logos, test a product or new technology you've added, or give their opinion in a quick one-page survey.

When you publish the results of the contest or event, be sure to include participants' photos and URLs as an extra exposure boost to say "thanks for playing!" Good and easy to use survey software to check out: SurveyMonkey.com

3. Give a little bit.

Got a bunch of factory seconds lying around the warehouse? Fretting over too much free time and not enough business? Instead of bellyaching about wasted investments or lamenting over your lack of funds, plant some seeds for the future. Give a little of your time or resources to a good cause. Large corporations donate to charitable events as a way to foster positive relations and spread goodwill. You can easily do the same and generate good press for your own business.

I mentioned press. Punctuate the gesture with a ping to the PR world. Is it wrong to toot your own horn? When it comes to getting your brand noticed in all the right places, there's nothing more right. Submit your press releases to PRWeb.com, Clickpress.com and all the major PR sites. Both you and the organization to whom you donated to can enjoy the feeling of being part of a great human interest story that's sure to build brand awareness and future business.

4. Speaking of stories... share yours.

Someone once told me that blogging was good for your business, but I didn't find out exactly why until I took a deep breath and let the real me emerge for all the world to see. Turns out I was able to naturally attract customers who share my passion for food, creativity and honest business practice by sharing weekly tidbits, tales and personal musings on the VermontShortblog. You can do the same for your company.

Dip your toe in the blogging waters and find out if you've got the gift of amazing storytelling. Set up a blog account - Typepad.com offers a no-cost introductory trial that will get you initiated into the ways of the blogging world.

5. Send a token of appreciation.

The way to your clients' hearts is through their stomachs. Each month, the majority of shortbreads we sell serve as business gifts for our customers' customers. Professionals choose VSC to represent their companies for three reasons: 1. We put out a truly high-quality gourmet product. 2. We present our product in simple yet elegant packaging. 3. We can be relied on to deliver in a timely fashion.

When it's time to say, "We appreciate the work you do," "Thanks for your business," or "Happy Holidays," don't forget to surprise and delight your best clients with a small but meaningful token of your appreciation in the form of an affordable gift. May we suggest Vermont Shortbread.

Growing a business from scratch is one of the most difficult tasks you will ever face in your lifetime. It takes endless reserves of time, patience, effort, and the will to keep on going even after you feel flattened by your mistakes. Keep that chin up, don't forget the good people who have helped you along in your journey... and always look for ways to turn mundane occurrences into memorable ones.

Give your best clients a taste of what they're missing: buttery-rich, authentic Vermont Shortbread. Place your order for our corporate shortbread, boxed fresh from the oven and shipped right to your customer's office doorstep, at http://VermontShortbread.com

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