Apr

Besides Your Mom, Who Gets a Mothers Day Card From You?

By emily

I just got an email that told me: According to Hallmark, 96% of American consumers take part in Mother’s Day celebrations.

That’s certainly a lot of cards, flowers, breakfasts-in-bed and car washes to account for! (In my family, we always washed cars on Mother’s Day… maybe that’s not a universal habit. )

What I have found in marketing is that there’s a lot to be said to "hitching your cart" to a movement that’s already taking place. Talking about things that are in the news like new movies or books (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Titanic), news items (The Economic Meltdown, The Credit Crunch, TARP, etc), and timely events and holidays (such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Veterans Day and – of course – Mothers Day) is a great way to add some perceived timeliness to your regular marketing conversations with clients.

How Can You Take Advantage Of Real World Events In Your Marketing?

In your online marketing, taking advantage of current events and trends (here, in the context of Mother’s Day) can mean blogging about Mothers Day, sending an email to clients with novel ideas of how to recognize your mother on Mother’s Day, or running some Specials or sales for people who are out shopping for Mother’s Day.

Plug into the buzz and you’ll seem more timely and "with the program" in your communications.

The same principles you use in your online marketing, can work offline with direct mail, too.

Sending a Mother’s Day card to your clients is a great way to make people feel special (in a way that seems like it’s more about THEM than it is about YOU). Acknowledge your clients as people first and not just as money bags. It will help build good will and name recognition – not only are you knowledgeable, you’re someone who cares.

Give to Give, Not To Get

The thing that’s different about this type of marketing campaign, that is – one that focuses on acknowledging the client – is that it has to be personal – it has to be about them to be effective.

If you plaster your name, logo and call to actions all over a personal Mother’s Day card greeting, the sentiment will be lost in the commercialism of the piece.

Know exactly what response you are trying to create each time to you spend time or money communicating with your clients. If you are going for a warm-and-fuzzy feeling, do not commercialize your communication (your clients should recognize your name from your other, and that’s all you need…). If you do try to sell in this type of correspondence, you won’t do as well, since that’s not the way the message is set up, and you will completely dilute the impact of what could have otherwise been a warm and personal greeting.