Spa and salon owners should show appreciation for their customers to retain business. Personalized business gifts and letters can help establishments thank clients for their continued patronage and reinforce their relationships. Smaller presents and unique promotional products could be the best tools for finding new business and expanding into new markets.

Do it yourself
Branded beauty kits can be excellent surprises for your customers around the holidays. Between family celebrations and work parties, clients must look their best this season. Consider distributing manicure and personal care sets to your loyal patrons so that they can look their best during every holiday outing.

After an appointment, show your clients how to use your promotional manicure kits to take care of their nails. Alternatively, you could give away packages with brushes so your customers can keep their hair as beautiful as it is when they leave your salon. Branded vanity mirrors might be the perfect promotional item because they can be conveniently carried anywhere.

You should also send greeting cards to each of your customers. You can include messages of gratitude with seasonal greetings so that recipients know you appreciate their business.

Mail personalized Christmas cards instead of postcards with generic messages and labels. If your clients usually work with the same employees, ask your staffers to fill out the cards. A small personal touch can go a long way toward establishing a solid relationship and improving customer retention.

Finding new clients
It can be difficult to expand a salon or spa, especially if your establishment primarily serves local clients. Mailing lists can be particularly valuable resources for finding potential clients and opening direct lines of communication. You can find addresses for leads who share similar traits to your current customers and send them advertisements.

Instead of traditional flyers, you can send promotional holiday cards to consumers during December. Recipients may be more likely to read your letter if it is printed on a card with seasonal imagery.

Gifts and special promotions can boost increase the effectiveness of your mailers. For instance, you can include a promotional magnet in the envelopes. Additionally, you can print QR codes on every card and offer discounts to new clients. Consumers may be hesitant to try a new salon or spa, but offering low prices for first appointments may entice your mailing list leads to visit your establishment.

When new customers come in, you can give away traditional promotional products to encourage repeat business. Develop unique strategies to encourage regular patronage. For instance, include coupons for different services on every page of your promotional wall calendars.

Smaller gifts like promotional pens can help you grow your marketing presence and find more leads. The Baltimore branch of the American Marketing Association (AMA) writes that items like pens are frequently shared, so giving the branded gifts to your new salon clients can lead to even more business down the road.

The beauty industry can be competitive, and implementing new marketing tactics can help establishment owners gain a marketing edge. Promotional gifts and postal advertisements can help raise the visibility of a salon or spa and motivate consumers to try a new business. 

The post Promotional products by industry: Health & Beauty appeared first on Small Business Marketing Blog.

Dentists can capitalize on the amount of sugar eaten around the holidays with their promotional giveaways. Patients may not realize the oral damage they're doing during their seasonal celebrations, but medical professionals can inform consumers of the dangers while encouraging new appointments.

Doctors can touch base with their clients by sending personalized Christmas cards with holiday health tips and reminders to schedule checkups. Patients may be surprised to learn about the amount of harm they're doing to their teeth, but letters can make sure that information is readily available. Dentists can also include tooth-shaped promotional magnets with their phone numbers so clients can make appointments as soon as their festivities are complete.

No one wants to hide their teeth while they smile during the holidays and dentists can help ensure that all of their patients have pearly whites by reminding consumers to come in for cleanings

The post Dentists should advertise around the holidays appeared first on Small Business Marketing Blog.

It's considered good business etiquette to distribute presents to clients. Some businesses, however, can't afford extravagant giveaways for all of their loyal patrons, but that doesn't necessarily mean that budget-conscious establishments can't participate in the seasonal tradition.

Whether you give larger gifts to a select group of clients or want to distribute unique promotional products to all of your customers, you don't have to break the bank this holiday season.

Something sweet
The only thing sweeter than receiving a gift is being given candy. Customers love sweet treats, especially around the holidays. For businesses, confectionary delights are inexpensive presents that clients appreciate. Owners can pick their favorite treats and share them with their patrons.

Assorted chocolates are usually well-received by gift recipients and owners can have their logos emblazoned on the centerpieces. Owners who want to give gifts to more consumers can distribute small packages of various candies like jelly beans.

Using promotional items
Many of the giveaways you'd normally distribute for marketing purposes can be repurposed for the holidays. You can give more high-end versions of everyday items or limit your promotional items to a handful of customers during the holidays.

For example, instead of handing out promotional pens, you could distribute carrying cases and gift boxes as well. On the other hand, there are luxury pens that business-to-business (B2B) vendors can personalize and give to clients.

There are also gift sets, so you don't have to buy individual presents for patrons. Bundling items together saves time and effort when shopping, which means you can spend less time on gifts and focus on running your business.

Greeting cards
Promotional holiday cards allow you to add personal touches to your gifts. You can write small notes and seasonal greetings to your customers, so they know that you put thought into their presents and that you're not just buying generic gifts.

There is proper etiquette to sending cards that businesses should be aware of before they decide to send anything. Timing is everything, so companies should ensure that their messages are in line with the closest holiday. For example, a thank-you card may be more appropriate around Thanksgiving than it would near New Year's Eve.

Additionally, owners and staffers that write in the cards shouldn't repeat the same messages. Local businesses run the risk of being disingenuous by sending generic notes if customers compare their mailers. It takes the same amount of time to write a sincere thank-you that would be well-received.

Finding business-specific gifts
Companies can find gifts that represent their industries. After all, just because a business is giving out presents doesn't mean it should stray from its brand identity.

For example, the financial sector has various gift-giving options that customers would appreciate. A banker could hand out chocolate shaped like gold coins or an accountant can send branded calculators to clients.

Think of gifts as promotional giveaways – they should reflect the type of business you conduct. Handing out presents that don't have any connections to your company may not reinforce your brand.

Business owners have their own strategies for the holiday season, but gift-giving is a fun strategy that customers appreciate. Picking out the right present doesn't have to be difficult and establishments can be creative, so long as they believe clients will enjoy the items.

The post Great gift ideas to thank your customers this holiday season appeared first on Small Business Marketing Blog.

If you need something compelling to get people thinking about Santa Claus and gift giving a little earlier than usual, try offering promotional cards and other Mr. Christmas gifts that are sure to have people talking about your company and its interesting items.

A universal ad campaign

Even if people don't celebrate the holiday, everyone knows what Christmas is and what it's all about. A time for family, togetherness and giving expensive gifts, it's never too early to encourage consumers to get started on that long shopping list.

Many different kinds of companies are utilizing this advertising strategy as well. Busch Gardens in Florida announced it would be holding a special Christmas-themed event all month to try and pull in more attendees. Shopping centers nearby are also getting in on the push in Christmas spirit by hosting special sales to go along with the celebration.

To draw attention to these campaigns, offering items that could easily become promotional gifts will encourage people to keep the holiday shopping spirit alive. Not only that, providing them with an additional incentive to patronize a certain store by offering a free gift will bring in more foot traffic, which will hopefully generate more sales conversion.

Celebrate for charity

Not every purchase this July will be for personal gift-giving, though. Many shoppers may be drawn to groups like Habitat for Humanity and Toys For Tots that ask for charitable donations for needy families.

Retail stores can partner with these entities and offer special holiday promotions to go with the Christmas in July drive theme, encouraging them to come in and buy items to support charities in exchange for a promotional item. Both the business and consumers helping a worthy cause in the true spirit of Christmas, they're also associating the store with future holiday shopping, promotional giveaways and community awareness. All this visibility and positive association can only help boost sales even more come Black Friday.

An existing market

Believe it or not, these Mr. Christmas and other themed promotional items may already be something on shoppers' lists, as some people are already actively tackling their annual lists.

According to Harris Interactive and CouponCabin, nearly half of all Americans have already begun holiday shopping. Nearly one in five is almost completely done shopping already, however, so businesses may want to consider moving up their holiday card and other promotional item drives anyway, seeing as the market could be shrinking as the summer ends.

"Every year we see holiday shoppers getting a jump start earlier and earlier," said CouponCabin's president, Jackie Warrick. "Planning ahead for holiday shopping, as it gives them plenty of time to buy gifts and find the lowest prices possible."

With this price-mindedness at the top of shoppers' lists, businesses need to find creative ways of leading consumers to deals. Offering a free Christmas promotional item could be the boost to convince customers that your business is truly the best.

The post Get shoppers in the holiday spirit with Christmas in July appeared first on Small Business Marketing Blog.