Current eMessage > Creative Solutions > November 2016

Creative Solutions

Tick-tock…the holidays are almost here

By Ryan Thompson, Creative Services Manager

Ho, Ho, Ho…Merry Christmas! Okay, maybe the holidays aren’t that close, but the clock is definitely ticking. If you’re scrambling to come up with some ideas for a holiday special, or just a way to say thanks to your customers, we’ve put together some quick and easy suggestions.

Now is a great time to start a refer a friend plan
The holidays bring people together and when folks get together, they talk. This makes right now a great time to start a refer a friend plan for your services. The best plans provide a deal for the new customer and a reward for your current customer for putting in a good word about your company. Keep the plans simple and the rewards meaningful to give your refer a friend plan the best chance for success.
 
Give the gift of speed
In today’s connected world, nothing seems to carry as much weight as faster Internet speed. For this reason, now is a great time to offer customers a free trial of a faster tier of Internet. Many times, once they try a faster speed, they’ll keep it even after the trial period is up. Giving customers an incentive, like a gift card or a drawing, will likely increase the response rates and provides a call to action on your advertising pieces.

Utilize devices that highlight your services
From connected crockpots to streaming media players, there are thousands of devices on the market that utilize your Internet service. Consider using one of these devices as an incentive for customers to upgrade their services or start new accounts. Streaming media players like a Roku or Apple TV make good giveaways as they are both popular and easy for consumers to use. More importantly, they rely on a fast Internet connection to work properly.

12 Deals of Christmas
When it gets really close to crunch time, you can use your website and social media to publicize a 12 Deals of Christmas promotion. The idea behind the promotion is that for 12 days in advance of Christmas, you have a different deal for your customers each day. The special doesn’t have to be radically different each day, just something to generate buzz in the community and keep people paying attention to your marketing efforts.

Contests and drawings
Contests and drawings are often popular regardless of the season, but the holidays are a great time for these efforts as they’re a way to thank your customers for their business. While there are many different flavors of customer contests, two to consider are food drives and social media bingo. For a food drive promotion, customers are entered into a drawing if they bring canned items to your office for the local food bank. Besides helping a worthy cause, food drives increase foot traffic in your office. Social media bingo has been discussed before in the MACC eMessage and many clients have found it to be popular with their customers. The concept is simple. Using a bingo card that’s distributed in your bills, customers play bingo by following your company on Facebook or visiting your website to get the numbers. Having more Facebook followers and website visitors provides more opportunities to sell your services.

Looking for some elves?
If you need help implementing any of these ideas, MACC is here to help. Our Software Support Team can provide guidance on using Customer Master to help with many of these promotion ideas. From identifying groups of customers to providing talking points in the Suggestive Marketing module, Customer Master offers robust support for your promotion needs. For an extra dash of creativity, contact the Creative Services Team.  They can help work out the details on these holiday promotions and design all of the material you’ll need. We can be reached at [email protected] or by calling me at 402-533-5381.