Holidays are often a time when small retail businesses go from “red to black” – and a lot of that has to do with how they do their marketing. How should you market for the holidays?
Don’t think that just because you are done with Christmas that you are done with marketing!
A lot of people got gift certificates and CASH for Christmas – especially kids and teenagers! Guess what – before they go back to school the first week in January – their parents are going to take them shopping to spend their Christmas money – and yet – I don’t often see ads speaking to this.
What if you KILLED it with marketing that starts on December 26th and tries to capture parents and kids wanting to spend Christmas money? I bet you would make almost as much as you did the month before Christmas!
As we’re entering the holiday season, and as we’re reminded of the beauty and power of simply saying, “Thanks,” I want to take a minute to reflect on what we’re thankful for at Hatcher Media.
I’m thankful for Blogs. Here’s a list of blogs and websites that I follow – these help encourage me on my journey and equip me in my business.
As we’re entering the holiday season, and as we’re reminded of the beauty and power of simply saying, “Thanks,” I want to take a minute to reflect on what we’re thankful for at Hatcher Media.
I went to college with a guy named Jon Acuff. We weren’t really buddies… but we had a couple classes together and I would hear his name during roll call.
When he launched his “Stuff Christians Like” blog, I fell in love with his sarcasm and goofy sense of humor. Then when he started writing books like Quitter and Start – I really started developing my man-crush.
One of those books started an online platform building experiment that he used to build community, centered around the idea of living your dream – and over time a second group grew out of that as well. “Dreamers and Builders” and “30 Days of Hustle” are two places online where I’ve made some amazing friends, received and given fantastic advice, and been a part of a supportive and fun community that helps equip and encourage people on their quest to turn their dreams into their lives.
It’s what inspired me to start BlogCamp – and while my group is smaller – it’s still an amazing place!
As we’re entering the holiday season, and as we’re reminded of the beauty and power of simply saying, “Thanks,” I want to take a minute to reflect on what we’re thankful for at Hatcher Media.
While I have a version of Microsoft Office for Mac that I purchased a while back – I’ve found myself working more and more with Google Drive (Docs and Sheets) for much of my work. I can save and share documents easily, collaborate with other staff, volunteers, interns, and clients. I can access my files on any device or machine.
It’s brought a level of simplicity and clarity that I never had before! Thanks Google!
As we’re entering the holiday season, and as we’re reminded of the beauty and power of simply saying, “Thanks,” I want to take a minute to reflect on what we’re thankful for at Hatcher Media.
One of the things we’re very thankful for is Freshbooks. If you have ever been fortunate enough to recieve an invoice from us – you’ve seen Freshbooks at work.
Basically – it’s an online accounting and invoicing system – much like Quickbooks – but web-based. I have an annual fee to use it – but that fee has paid for itself by taking care of recurring annual invoices (like webhosting) that I would have been forgetting!
If you need an accounting system – give Freshbooks a chance. It’s great stuff! I’m thankful for it’s simplicity, and their great customer support!
As we’re entering the holiday season, and as we’re reminded of the beauty and power of simply saying, “Thanks,” I want to take a minute to reflect on what we’re thankful for at Hatcher Media.
First of all – we’re thankful for Good Clients. Clients who communicate their needs to us – who give us a shot to help them market their business. Clients who have dreams and goals, and invite us to be a part of making them happen.
We’re thankful for the opportunity to help those clients think new thoughts, dream new dreams, and take big hairy ideas and make them money in their pockets and food on their tables.
We’re thankful that those good clients say thanks back to us by paying their invoices on time, so we can put food on OUR table too!
We’re also thankful for good clients who help spread the word to their friends and neighbors about the service we give them.
Most of my clients become my friends. And this makes owning and operating a business worth the effort and energy. Thank you, friends, for thinking of Hatcher Media.
As a design / marketing person – and as a person with an undiagnosed slight case of O.C.D. – there are often marketing campaigns that physically cause me pain. By the way- our Rainbow Graphic for this is a perfect example – it uses the fonts I hate the worst – and it illustrates that design CAN be bad, and that it matters. Throughout the month of October, as we get closer to the spookiness of Halloween – we’re look at some of the SCARIEST marketing pieces that I’ve ever seen!
Nissan “Feel Like Royalty”
First of all – this commercial is produced well – and it looks great.
But I almost feel like it’s playing a race card.
Don’t misunderstand me because I think it’s AWESOME that they have a beautiful, strong, successful black woman featured as the driver of this car in the commercial.
What gets me is the commercial leads up to a climax – this moment of anticipation to see WHO IS DRIVING THIS CAR?! and the mention royalty – and you see a foot, and there’s suspense – and the music drops out – and then the reveal – and I expect to see a celebrity, or royalty, or SOMETHING that makes me feel that payoff as I’ve waited to see who is in this car.
For some reason – I feel like the advertisers WANT the shock of her race to be the point of the reveal.
I don’t want to think they were intentionally doing that…. but the way the commercial plays – with it’s build up and release definitely communicates this… “Wait for it – we’re going to surprise you – and the surprise is….. wait for it… wait for it…. she’s black.”
I’m glad she’s black – don’t get me wrong – but with that buildup – maybe they should have used a black celebrity – so that that “payoff” would have some weight. I may be completely wrong in this – maybe that feeling is completely unwarranted. Maybe the advertisers just didn’t realize that the commercial would create such a buildup before the reveal – and maybe they just thought that the reveal of a beautiful woman was enough.
The commercial just leaves me unsettled. I think that it communicates an unintended (or maybe intended) message that “You don’t expect black people to drive nice cars like this.” And I think that’s not the right message to send.
By the way – this commercial features a black family driving a car, and it doesn’t do it with a “gotcha” feel at all. I love this one. This one is GREAT marketing.
Tell me – am I way off? Am i just being overly sensitive? Am I missing something? Send me a comment to weigh in your thoughts.
As a design / marketing person – and as a person with an undiagnosed slight case of O.C.D. – there are often marketing campaigns that physically cause me pain. By the way- our Rainbow Graphic for this is a perfect example – it uses the fonts I hate the worst – and it illustrates that design CAN be bad, and that it matters. Throughout the month of October, as we get closer to the spookiness of Halloween – we’re look at some of the SCARIEST marketing pieces that I’ve ever seen!
Earth Justice
First of all – I understand that non-profit public service announcements are usually created by an intern with a macintosh – rather than by a professional. However – this PSA plays while I’m watching Hulu almost every night.
Why is it bad? It’s too much generic stock video that’s completely unrelated to it’s theme.
It reminds me of these fictional commercials for Veridian Dynamics that were featured in the show Ted (a great binge watch on Netflix, if you are up for it.)
If you want to get me to care about Earth Justice – tell me a story. Give me a real interview with a real person that tells me what you really do. Then I can believe in it.
As a design / marketing person – and as a person with an undiagnosed slight case of O.C.D. – there are often marketing campaigns that physically cause me pain. By the way- our Rainbow Graphic for this is a perfect example – it uses the fonts I hate the worst – and it illustrates that design CAN be bad, and that it matters. Throughout the month of October, as we get closer to the spookiness of Halloween – we’re look at some of the SCARIEST marketing pieces that I’ve ever seen!
2012 London Olympics Logo
Oh my word The Olympics for some reason seem to be the heroes of missing the mark when it comes to graphic design. The London Olympics proved this true with a logo that just doesn’t make any sense.
What are the shapes? Why does it look like the drop shadow is coming from two different light sources? Why is a multimillion dollar global event producing work that a sixth grade could have created?
As a design / marketing person – and as a person with an undiagnosed slight case of O.C.D. – there are often marketing campaigns that physically cause me pain. By the way- our Rainbow Graphic for this is a perfect example – it uses the fonts I hate the worst – and it illustrates that design CAN be bad, and that it matters. Throughout the month of October, as we get closer to the spookiness of Halloween – we’re look at some of the SCARIEST marketing pieces that I’ve ever seen!
This ad frequently shows up when I’m watching Hulu – and physically hurts.
1. I don’t know who any of these spokespeople are – other than Youtube tells me it’s “Hope Solo” – Who is she? Is she the daughter of Han and Leia? (Nope – because then I’d know her)
Regardless – the people in this ad don’t “sell” it – they act like they’ve never been on camera before – and it just doesn’t feel right…
Holidays are often a time when small retail businesses go from “red to black” – and a lot of that has to do with how they do their marketing. How should you market for the holidays?
