The interesting thing is: retailers may not be making any money, in spite of that number. Everyone has been desperately slashing prices in an effort to close the year out with some sales (better than none), so now profits are so tight they squeak, and the only ones that are happy are consumers (go us!).

From what the article said, I gather that people are buying more pragmatic gifts this year. 54.7% of shoppers bought clothes. So while we’re still spending money, we’re staying away from over-the-top extravagant purchases and leaning toward more useful gifts.

Sales continue today on what they’ve dubbed Cyber Monday. Now that shoppers have eked out all the savings from Black Friday, they’re looking for great deals online. This is a smart way for brick-and-mortar retailers to get a little more out of shoppers now that they’re done with the physical store.

I’m thrilled I got a Leapster for my son (regularly $49.99) for $29.98. Shopping in your pjs rocks.

This comes at a time when Starbucks is seeing a decline in sales. Will the new incentive program get people back buying coffee? Some say no; that the program is too complicated. I say, for those people who get their Starbucks fix every day (multiple times a day), the card will be a great success. But these are the people who would buy coffee there anyway.  The Gold Card won’t, in my opinion, stimulate people like me, who just go for an occasional treat. If the card were free, yes,  I would sign up. But paying a premium for the privilege to save money just doesn’t add up, in my book.

What I learned at the recent Loyalty Expo is that to create loyalty you need several ingredients (and none of them are doublenonfatsoy):

1. a real understanding of what your customers want

2. interaction (hmm, sounds like Marketing 2.0)

3. relevance. loyalty and needs change.

4. simplicity

So while Starbucks hits a few of these points, I think there’s still room to grow.

What’s your opinion? Do  you have a Gold card?  Has it made you more loyal to Starbucks?

This year? Not so much. With the economy down the toilet, retailers started pushing aggressive sales in early November. Stores like Kmart and Kohl’s started sales early, and Kmart even added prize giveaways with Disney to entice shoppers. Seems it’s like pulling teeth to get people to spend money these days.

Wal-Mart is creating Value Bundles of items that sell well to generate more sales. The Nintendo DS can be purchased with games and accessories for $149.

I could be wrong, but if you go out today, the crowds might be a little thinner. You might not break a bone this year.

If you’re sadistic enough to go out on Black Friday, check out this site that lists all the savings.

Although…I have to wonder. Will OfficeMax have the success it had last year? Can you duplicate a viral marketing campaign? We shall see. I plan to count how many times I get an ElfYourself email from a friend. Not that that will be a true gauge of the campaign’s success, but it will give me something to do.

Ain’t my family cute?

This post got me thinking about how fads come and go. And while certain social networking sites have peaked in popularity and now settled to a lower place on the totem pole, you have to admit, social networking is here to stay. The very way we do marketing has changed. And it is, in fact, all about change. Here are my rules for this new place we’re in:

1. New marketers have to accept that change is part of the new landscape. Twitter and Facebook are hot right now. Get the most out of them, but be prepared to shift gears when that new marketing tool comes out.

2. Change is good. I know, you’re too busy to learn yet another social media app. I feel the same way. But think about this. While right now, the percent of businesses who use social networking is somewhat low, that will change quickly. Even the plumber down the street will have a Facebook profile, so you can’t bury your head in the sand.

3. It’s okay to use old school methods. As long as you mix them up with Marketing 2.0 (email, social networking, blogs). Don’t rely on a single tool to get you through. Create a portfolio of marketing tools.

4. Be aware of your time. My first objection to social media was that it was too time consuming. And it can be. But first of all, don’t let these tools be an excuse to procrastinate from things you really need to be doing. That’s your issue. And second, narrow it down. You don’t have to be on every site out there. See what’s working and what others are using and use no more than 3 tools (I use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn).

Do you have any rules to add to this list? Let’s hear them!

It might be too small for you to see. But on the Post-It looking part, there’s a note to me! Susan! Telling me where I can buy this product! Down the street!

It was eerie. It’s like they knew…

So, yes, The Marketing Eggspert is impressed with this targeting, which prints the name of the subscriber and the closest retail store for the product. I “eggspect” we’ll be seeing more of this soon.

Have you seen examples of this in your magazines?

Check out this great post on SIM Spin called 5 Tips to Measure Success in Social Media Marketing. Then read on.

A lot of the people I talk to about social media  want to know how to track it. How can they measure the results? What can we project as far as sales? These are difficult questions to answer. Certainly there are ways to see how much traffic to your site comes from, for example, Twitter, but sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how well social media is helping you.

I think we need to shift our thinking about marketing results in terms of having absolute control and ability to micromanage the results and just sit back and let it happen. You won’t see results overnight, but if you use social networking sites correctly and participate in the right conversations, you will see a positive change. You will see traffic to your site increase. You will see sales climb. Just relax and let it happen.

Let’s all take a deep breath and let out all those years of being control freaks, of needing to know exactly how everything will pan out. Marketing 2.0 is happening as we speak. There is no precedence set. We are making history with internet marketing and social media. Do you want to go along for the ride or sit this one out and regret it later?

So, I’m thinking, if this guy thinks I’m a millennial, and markets to me as if I were one, he’s in for trouble. Not to get into semantics, but I classify myself as Generation X (it’s funny; both generations identified teens as apathetic; it’s just that my generation grew out of it). Where Millennials prefer text message marketing and Facebook applications, Generation X reacts better to direct mail and coupons.

And then what about Boomers and seniors? They’re not as connected online, so strategies outside of internet marketing have to be included.

As you can see, every generation (not to mention every person) has its own preferred method of being marketed to. Don’t waste your time trying to lump everyone into one strategy to reach your own goals!

Sure, we’ve all noticed the strategically placed Coke can in the hand of a sitcom actor. Or the Nikes propped up on the coffee table. Or James Bond’s watch. His car. His computer (James Bond is kind of a brand whore. Don’t tell anyone).

But recently I saw a good example of product placement I wanted to bring up.

Are you a fan of “My Name is Earl?” If not, let me get you up to speed. There are a group of unlikely characters, the majority of whom have redneck tendencies. There’s a plot, and it’s good, but it’s not relevant. What is relevant is how Joy, the epitome of trailer trash (yet still you love her) sees a Kay Jewelers commercial with Jayne Seymour. Joy has to have the Open Heart Necklace Jane is hawking. She begins to hallucinate and see Jane talking to her in her bathroom mirror.

Long story short, Joy does everything she can to get that necklace, and her husband, Darnell, finally gives it to her.

Why am I writing this?

• I fast forward through commercials. I never would have paid attention to a Kay Jewelers commercial.
• It’s a neat product, and I’m more interested as a result of seeing it in one of my favorite shows.
• Jane Seymour makes fun of herself (going from actor to artist to jewelry hawker).
• Kay Jewelers is thinking creatively.

What about you? Have you seen any noteworthy product placements on tv? Tell us about them!

In a sea of Internet noise, how do you stand out?

Keywords.

You may not be into the technology behind search engines, but Google and pals have some very sophisticated algorithms that help them see patterns in what people are searching for. Think about it. You probably think in keywords. If you’re looking for someone to fix your sink, what do you type in? Probably “Plumber Orlando” (or whatever city you’re in.)

Keywords are useful in web copy, blogs and press releases. Anything that search engines can look through to pick out the good stuff.

Not sure how to figure out what keywords apply? Think of how you describe what your company does. Boil that down to a few words. What words are left? Those are likely your keywords. As an example, let’s pretend I own a marketing company ( ):

Orlando marketing

Marketing company

PR firm

Marketing and PR

Online marketing

From this list, use this amazing tool my friend Shannon Hutton introduced me to, SEO Tools, to better hone in on what people are searching for online. Input your keyword (I did Orlando marketing) to see what the similar keywords that people are searching for are. I got:

Online marketing Orlando

Web marketing Orlando

So when I write copy for my website, blog or a press release, I might want to use these keywords since they get better results than mine.

TIP: Don’t overlook both singular and plural words. People search for both, so use both.

Once you have your keywords, sprinkle your copy with these words. This will help the search engines assist people in finding you as the solution to their problem!

So you may know him from Problogger, his blog on the basics of blogging. Well now he’s writing a blog about Twitter called TwiTip. So if you’ve hung in there on this blog as I slowly warm up to Twitter and then become a fanatic, check out Darren’s new blog. It’ll help you understand it and tell you how to use it. I don’t have the time to teach you everything about it…I’m too busy being on it and procrastinating writing my chapter about Twitter in my new book.

But in case you still don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, here’s a few descriptions of what Twitter is.

• It’s instant messaging on crack.
• It’s short and sweet (you get 140 characters to say what you need to. challenging)
• It’s a way to reach a huge potential audience.
• It’s a way to promote your brand, blog or business.
• It’s fun.
• It’s addicting.
• It’s expanding. Every day I find a new list of applications that play off of Twitter and make new functionality.

Do you twitter? Follow me and I’ll follow you. I’m @eggmarketing. If you’re looking to connect, leave your Twitter username in a comment.

Watch the video and start thinking about how your customers think of you. Is it “them and me” or “we?”

That being said, I want to share 5 lessons I and my partners learned from this failure.

1.  Don’t be afraid of failure. I once was afraid of failure. What would it say about me? What would people think? When we tell people that Marble Slab closed, we get that look of sympathy. “Ooh,” it says, “well maybe you weren’t cut out for running a restaurant.” And maybe I wasn’t. But I know that we tried our hardest to make that place work (heck, I did all the marketing!) and it still failed. And that’s ok.

2. Stick to what you know. I live, breathe, eat and sleep marketing. I love it. I’d do it even if I didn’t get paid for it. Ice cream, well, I like it a lot. My first job was at Baskin Robbins. But I was never passionate about running that business. Strike two.

3. Go into partnerships with friends veeery carefully. Our relationship with our long-time friend turned business partner is ok…but strained. My husband and I feel responsible for bringing him into what turned out to be a bad deal. We’ll probably need a break from one another when this is over.

4. Have extra capital. We bought the business from a (thought-to-be) friend and just assumed the loan. What we should have done, given that this was 7 months ago and banks would still give you a loan, was take out extra to use for expenses like when every single piece of equipment broke down within two months. Or when things were slow and it was hard to make payroll.

5. Life goes on. I’m not crying in my pillow about this situation. If you’re an entrepreneur,  you’ll have more than one success and more than one failure. We’ve had a few (”where is that oh-so-lucrative gift basket company you started in college, Susan” you ask) failures, and this is just one more. Life goes on.

So now that you’ve had full disclosure from me, share your failures. Come on, don’t be shy. We learn from one another. After all, isn’t that why you’re here?

Click here to view the embedded video.

And links to previous email articles:

4 ways to to keep your email marketing out of the Viagra Inbox

Email Marketing Is Dead, Long Live Email Marketing

Become an Email Marketing Eggspert

9 Email Marketing Secrets Marketing Professionals Will Kill Me for Revealing

This Just In� Do-It-Yourself Email Marketing Ebook Out on Virtual Shelves

Interview with Winton Churchill: Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles

Florida hasn’t even been declared yet (don’t get me started; I’m biting my nails that we can pull through and get our sh#5 straight this go ’round).

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about Obama as a brand. You see t-shirts that say “Obama Mama.” You see “Change” bumper stickers and signs everywhere. Will it go away once he’s president? Will we embrace a president that is a brand? Or as my hub says, a rock star?

Clinton was a rock star/brand in his own way. He showed us that all presidents aren’t stuffy white guys. Some play the sax (and have affairs but that’s a different brand altogether). But social media has propelled Obama to a level of brand never before seen. Everyone on Facebook and Twitter is talking about the election. Not just intellectuals. 18 year olds. Moms. Plumbers. Electricians. Everyone.

And they’re picking sides. But with Obama, it’s not just picking sides, like in a presidential election. It’s like picking a brand: Coke or Pepsi (or rather, old, flat Pepsi). You’re saying something about who you are when you proudly say you support Obama. It says you’re:

• hip
• liberal
• open-minded
• creative
• have a sense of humor

I’m interested to see how far he carries the brand in his politics. Or how far we carry it in support of him.

Viva Obama!

Companies have been threatening promising to start sending consumers marketing messages via text for years. I attended CTIA 2 years ago and met a lot of text message services. But until this year, I hadn’t seen any in action. Here’s what I feared text message marketing would be:

• Invasive. There were plans for stores in a mall to know when you walked in and immediately bombard you with coupons for their stores. Not something I want.
• Difficult. I met companies at CTIA that offered barcodes that could (hopefully) be scanned off of a phone to be redeemed as coupons. If you had the right kind of phone.
• Expensive. The cost of texting has gone down significantly, but I know I had concern that I would be charged for the message when I didn’t necessarily want it.

Fast forward to 2008. As some of you know, I own(ed) a Marble Slab Creamery (more on the past tense of that in an upcoming post). The latest promotion we had was a text message coupon promotion. Visitors to our store could text a specific code to a specific number, and they would begin receiving coupons. I signed up, of course. About once a week or two I get a text with an offer for buy one get one, get $1 off, etc. All I have to do is show my phone to the Marble Slab employee and they would apply the discount at the register.

Non-invasive.

Simple.

Cheap.

I thought it was a great concept. So tell me then, why did no one sign up for the promotion? Why did we get no takers on the text coupons? I have no idea. Maybe the world isn’t quite ready for text message marketing. What do you think? Have you seen or used text messages as marketing promotions?

Of all the candy sold annually, 1/4 of it is sold during Halloween
After Christmas, Halloween is the most commercially successful   holiday
Americans spend $1.5 billion on Halloween costumes each year!
We spend $2 billion on Halloween candy

Here are some interesting Halloween marketing articles:

Scaring Up Halloween Marketing Ideas

Halloween Marketing Ideas

Ideas for Realtors for Halloween

Here are some previous posts on social networking:

Marketing Your Business with Creative Networking and Volunteering

More Ways to Market Your Business with Networking

More Networking For Your Business

Putting the “Social” in Social Networking

So what is cobranding? It’s when two (or more) brands team up to offer a new product or a hybrid of an existing one. Your Cheer detergent may feature Downy fabric softener. Your Ford Explorer may be designed by Eddie Bauer. Your Pillsbury brownies may have Nestle chocolate chips in them.

Why cobranding? Cobranding does a few things:

1. It expands a brand’s market reach. If you love Godiva chocolate but have never tried Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn (I’m making this up), you might want to try Orville/Godiva popcorn chocolate treats. (mmm. that would be good).
2. It boosts a brand’s reputation (well, it can. Or it can go the other way). Say you have a line of yogurt products no one has heard of. But through some kind of act of God, Kashi wants to partner with you. Now you can label your products (and ads): “Now with Kashi goodness.”  People identify with Kashi, even if they don’t identify with you. By being tied to such a well-known brand, you are boosting your reputation (and sales).
3. Cobranding enables you to take on a feature or quality you couldn’t otherwise possess. If what you do is make really good yogurt (can you tell I’m eating breakfast?), you probably don’t want to take the R&D time to develop really good granola. But Kashi already does that, so it’s win-win.