Mother’s Day is fast approaching and you likely already have your Mother’s Day promotion plans in motion, but if not, here are a couple last minute ideas that also incorporate the use of social media marketing.

Something to keep in mind: women do most of the household shopping and make up the majority of users when it comes to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Host a shopping party – Display all of your most popular Mother’s Day gift ideas prominently with signage so that they're easy to browse. Before the store opens, take a video of your store display and the products. Post the video to your Facebook page with a post that your store is the local "Mother’s Day Gift Headquarters."

Host a mother/child shopping event – Have a special shopping day for mothers to bring younger children so they can shop together. Serve tea and cookies to draw in customers… you could even have crafty gifts that children can personalize right in the store to give to mom. To tie in social media, take videos of children talking about why they love their mom and post it on your Facebook page, tagging Mom so all of her online friends can see the video.

Offer a gift with purchase – A gift with purchase promotion is common, but put a new spin on it by offering it to your Facebook fans only. Use the promotion as a way to get new fans by promoting the gift with purchase in other marketing you do, such as your e-newsletter and listing the free gift with purchase as a benefit to “Liking” your Facebook page.

Last week we wrapped up the largest, most successful SPREE to date. I met, spoke to, shook hands, and shared ideas with more inspiring, intelligent specialty retail entrepreneurs than ever before. This week is back to work at the office and I now find myself at my desk with pockets full of business cards and notes… which got me thinking about the importance of follow through in business.

It seems to me that we're more closely connected in business than ever, which makes staying in touch and following through on promises more important to our businesses. Here are some tips on improving follow through and customer service to build and nurture all the business relationships that are so important.

Keep up with contacts as you go
I used to think that saving important emails and follow up calls for a quieter point in my day was the best way to handle them. However, that catch up time never seemed to materialize and I would get more and more backlogged. Since then I’ve found that it’s easier to keep up with people and handle issues as I go along—although it doesn’t always happen this way. Life and schedules move quickly, so enter new contacts in your database and/or social media right away. This is also a great policy with customer and client service issues—handling them right away will let others know that they're important to you.

Never let anyone fall through the cracks
Create a well-planned system that works for you and your business to take in new contacts and follow up on customer/client inquiries. A recent study by Forbes showed that 69 percent of businesses have customer retention/service as a top priority, but only 18 percent have a company-wide strategy. That’s a recipe for customers and issues to fall through the cracks. If customer service is a priority, you must have a system in place to provide superior service.

Use social networks
Communications are increasingly happening online and using social media. People appreciate knowing they are being thought of. Use these networks to help you save time and keep in contact with your customers and business contacts. It’s a great way to keep your business front-of-mind for your customers and send quick notes to contacts that you want to keep up with.

Becoming a good communicator with great follow through will always work in your favor, and is critical to building a lasting business.

We heard in the news a few days back that Harry & David filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the company believes it will survive, once given some breathing room, and continue shipping its famous pears and other assorted treats. For us in “the business” one lesson to learn from Harry & David is that having a great brand is not the end all, be all. Although there are probably many factors at play in Harry & David’s financial woes, from what I’ve read poor customer service may be one of them.

So, how can you collect, monitor and address customer service issues that may be affecting your business? Here are some thoughts:

Monitor social networks
One failure of Harry & David may have been that they didn't monitor what shoppers thought of them online. These days shoppers are more likely to record their experiences with your store online… as a popular shopping blogger did, posting a scathing review of Harry & David’s customer service.

A great place for you to get a read on the quality of your customer service is to regularly scan the Internet for customer feedback. Set up a Google Alert for your store’s name (and your name) and when just about anything is posted on the Internet that includes your search terms, you'll receive an email. If you see a negative review online, don’t panic, deal with the complaint in the same public fashion so that those reading the post will see that you care and respectfully handle customer complaints.

Go out of your way to let customers know you want to hear from them
Make sure you're asking for customer feedback at all points of your customer touch. Ask for it on your website, in your email marketing, on your social networks… and make it simple and easy for customers to offer feedback both online and in-store. Of course, make sure your staff explicitly tells customers that you desire their feedback. Customers want to know they’re important to you and generally like being asked for their opinion.

Spend time speaking with your staff
As we know, asking customers what they think is important, but remember that your staff collects customer feedback constantly, even when they’re not at work. Take time to pick their brains and create an atmosphere where they feel comfortable sharing negative comments with you. Perhaps have an off-site, roundtable meeting at a local coffee shop to share comments and brainstorm ideas to improve customers’ experiences.

Paying special attention to offering exemplary customer service will help ensure your store doesn’t go the way of Harry & David.

Your email marketing tip of the day from SPREE

When I presented my email marketing seminar on Wednesday at SPREE, I was thrilled that our seminar room was packed to the doors. I believe email marketing is crucial to the success of a business, and based on attendance, I believe they agreed. As promised, I’m including some of my tips here so you don’t feel left out.

The next time you sit down to create an email marketing blast, keep in mind these five stages of email viewing (the order in which most people read their emails) in order to improve your readership.

Stage 1 – From line
We all know that when we flip through our email, whether on our smartphone or a laptop, we usually quickly scan who emails are from. Make sure you're using a name (your company name or your name) that will be recognizable to your recipients, otherwise they’re more likely to delete your email before viewing it.

Stage 2 – Subject line
Create a compelling subject line that is both creative and informative. Ask a question such as, “Did you know Mother’s Day is around the corner?” A salesy or boring subject line may land your email in the trash bin. And bear in mind, what you put in the subject line could land you in the spam filter so avoid subjects with a heavy sales pitch.

Stage 3 – Preview pane
Put your call to action in the top left corner of your email, otherwise it may fall out of the preview pane and never be read by recipients. Create a call to action compelling enough to urge readers to further open your email, such as a special offer, coupon or an invitation to "click here."

Stage 4 – Opened email
Put your most important messaging “above the fold” of your email, meaning above where most readers’ computer screen naturally cuts off, causing them to scroll down. Having your most important message right up top so readers see it without scrolling will improve your email's success.

Stage 5 – Fully viewed email
We often start at this step when designing our email, just assuming that readers will receive our email and go right to step five, fully viewing every email we send them. In a perfect world, perhaps, but not in our frenzied reality!

So next time you design your email keep this list close and start from the top.

Yesterday I presented a seminar on email marketing at SPREE, our annual expo for specialty retail entrepreneurs. The seminar was quite popular, so I thought I’d share with you some of my favorite tips to inspire greater success and readership for your emails.

• Collect qualified email addresses – If you reward employees, clearly state the benefits for being on your list and offer a free gift for signing up. Your list will grow exponentially and quickly.
• Be creative and interesting with your content.
• Test messages – Take the time to send test messages, look for what works and go with it.
• Use reviews in every email – Readers will trust the opinions of others like them before they give credence to a “corporate” marketing message.
• Use strong design – Look at what works for others, both inside and outside your industry.
• Always include an opt-out link.
• Use creative calls to action such as “Get Lit” to buy a new lamp, instead of the standard “Buy Now” button.
• Tie your email design to the design of your website, so when readers click through they feel confident that they are in the right place.
• Use an email provider that has a “Spam Checker” tool that will scan your email before you send it out and tell you if your copy or design makes you more likely to end up in spam filters.
• Tie your email marketing to your social media networks with buttons and invitations to be your fan or follower, so they can interact with you online.

This week we converged upon Las Vegas for the Specialty Retail Entrepreneur Expo & Conference (SPREE). If you’ve been to the show before, you already know it’s a great place to find new products, meet fellow specialty retailers and learn how to grow your business with our seminars. (This year’s show is the largest one yet, and it's FREE for attendees, so if you are in the Las Vegas area, come on over to the Sands Expo Center at the Venetian and join us.)

For one of our seminars, I'm going to be speaking about how to get the most out of your email marketing. I’ll be presenting the benefits of email marketing and how to make it most effective, plus I’ll have tons of examples of winning email campaigns. And since summer is fast approaching, I'm going to be encouraging attendees to start planning summer email campaigns.

One tip… highlight products you carry that are great for summer activities, like floppy hats (great for working in the garden or lounging at the beach.) Leverage your social network by inviting shoppers to submit photos on Facebook of them sporting the floppy hat while enjoying their favorite summer activity. Go even further by having fans vote on their favorite photo and award the winner with a gift card. Zutano, a children's clothing company, is a fantastic example. Every month they do a different photo contest (they require your email address before you can submit an entry on Facebook) and reward the best photo with a gift card or basket.

I'll be sharing more tips from my seminar in the next couple of days, and if you happen to be out at the show this year, please come by our booth and say hello!

Do you wonder how other retailers are actually making money from their Facebook pages? I’ve been reading and here are some tips I’ve found that are helping retailers boost sales from their Facebook fans.

Install an e-commerce application on your Facebook page
Studies have shown that you will score more sales from your Facebook page if customers don’t have to leave the site in order to buy from you. So add an e-commerce application to your Facebook page. For small and mid-sized retailers, the current favorite application is called Payvment. According to their website, the application is Facebook’s number one e-commerce provider. It allows you to manage your storefront, inventory and sales, and allows for transactions in over 20 different currencies.

Host a pop-up shop
Use your Facebook storefront to host pop-up, exclusive shopping events. I recently read about a jeweler that featured one specific designer’s new collection for a limited engagement on their Facebook page. You could also host special themed pop-up shops for holidays. Think of your Facebook page as a venue for exclusive sales and promotions.

Offer exclusive 'fan-only' products or specials
Use your Facebook store to offer special previews or closeouts exclusively to your Facebook fans. Not only is this a great way to reward your fans, but its a great benefit to use in other marketing and to build your 'like' numbers.

When I received this e-newsletter from Metro Home Style of Syracuse, NY, I was very impressed. Owner Linda O'Boyle is a persistent, effective marketer and this is just another example of her marketing muscle. Here’s what she did right with her email newsletter that you may want to incorporate into your own.

Lots to do – I love that there are so many fun calls-to-action for the reader in her email newsletter. It leads off with the store's new loyalty program, gives a step-by-step of how to bring the beauty of spring indoors and it invites the recipient to Customer Appreciation Day.

Tone – Many e-newsletters I receive are full of "we did this," "we have this," or "you should buy this." The tone of Linda’s e-newsletter is instead “what we are doing for you.” She writes about the store’s loyalty program and how easy it is to be a part of; she invites the reader to the Customer Appreciation party; and she invites the reader to visit the store’s Facebook page and the benefits of “Liking” Metro Home Style. Taking a tone of “how we’re serving you, our customers” will increase your readership and the effectiveness of your email.

Provide advice – A great way to soft-sell your products in your e-newsletter is to include tips on using them as a fun article. Metro Home Style’s e-newsletter includes a short, step-by-step article on how to clip and preserve flowering forsythia branches. If you don’t have the tall glass vase mentioned in the article, you can come to the store to buy one.

Recently I wrote a post about how Google has changed the search algorithm, and mentioned including reviews as a good way to increase your search rankings. If you want to improve your website and increase sales, I suggest you start adding customer reviews.

Here are a few tips:

Use what is already available and FREE.
If you have a Facebook fan page, you can add the “Reviews” application and begin collecting opinions of your store and products from your fans. Also, consider signing up with websites that specialize in collecting and providing localized reviews, such as Yelp (where you can create a page for your store) and Google Local Business Center (where you can update and collect reviews using your free listing). Using Yelp you can not only collect reviews, but also post special offers, photos and even send messages to customers.

Integrate reviews in your website.
Having reviews included on the product pages of your website, whether you offer online buying or not, will increase customer visits and buyers online and in-store. Consider starting out by using a low cost solution that is easy to implement on your website from providers such as RateVoice or RatePoint. Both of these providers have review systems that are embedded in your website and allow visitors to rate products and post comments. RateVoice goes a step further and allows reviewers the option to post their comments to social media sites like Facebook. These solutions also allow you to communicate with customers so you can either thank them or resolve a customer complaint, and they cost less than 30 dollars per month (with the option to scale up with more features).

Get creative about collecting reviews and opinions.
Ask for reviews by sending an email to all of your customers and requesting they post a review. As a thank you, you can offer a gift card or coupon for their next purchase. Orvis, a retailer of clothing and fly-fishing gear, sent out an email asking customers to review its products and encouraged participation by conducting a weekly drawing for a $100 gift card. According to John Lazarchic, vice president of e-commerce at Petco, offering a drawing for a gift card “boosted review submissions by 800 percent.” When appealing to customers to write a review, remember to play upon their desire to help others.