We’re now down to the wire for this holiday shopping season. You have just a few remaining days to ring in as many sales and help as many holiday shoppers as possible. How are your sales looking for the season?

If you’d like to kick it up a notch here are a few tips you can implement by the time you open up tomorrow morning.

Offer free shipping
Whether you sell online or not, anything you can do to create greater convenience for your customers, the better. Offering free shipping is a great promotion to not only draw customers to shop with you, but also an opportunity to offer great customer service that will have customers returning to your store after the holiday season is over.

Events
Host a few special shopping events, like a men’s shopping night, a “We Love Procrastinators Day,” or a kids shopping event. If you don’t already offer gift wrapping, offer it for free at your special events. Offer free hot chocolate and cookies to give your events a festive flair.

Sampling
If you sell anything that can be sampled, try sampling a different item each day and promoting that you are offering free samples.

Price themed displays
Create a few tables or display areas in your store to arrange various gifts in a certain price range. Last-minute shoppers love this kind of convenience and helping them stay within their budget may actually spur them to spend more on other impulse items, which usually carry a larger sales margin for you.

Email marketing
Any last-minute promotions such as those listed above are all great reasons to send out an email blast—and don’t be shy about sending them out frequently (even once a day).

The other day I read a report on the CNBC website that retailers are offering more and better holiday promotions this season. How have your holiday promotions been this year? Are they bigger and better than past seasons?

This is what we've seen major retailers doing this year to boost holiday sales…

Loyalty rewards Toys 'R Us is offering a 10 percent reward for those that are members of its loyalty program and make purchases between October 30 and December 24. Also, customers that spend more than $200 during the holiday season will receive $100 off purchases in the coming year.

Price guarantees Walmart (among other retailers) has holiday-season-only price guarantees. Walmart’s program awards customers with gift cards if they find the items they purchase during the holiday season cheaper at competing stores.

Layaway programs were also very popular promotions this year for many major retailers and are a great way to attract early season shoppers.

Free shipping is another popular promotion this year for online and brick-and-mortar retailers. In fact, 9 in 10 retailers surveyed by Shop.org say they are offering free shipping. Plus, the large majority began their free shipping promotion earlier this year than in past years.

I hope your holiday promotions keep you competitive this year!

Lately I’ve been blogging about various ways to promote your business during the holidays. Another great option to experiment with is targeted online advertising using search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Facebook. The benefit to this type of advertising is that you can easily target ads so that they are more apt to reach your target audience.

Google
Add coupons to your Google Places page and make sure any Google ads you place link to your Places page as well. Google has created a new advertising platform specifically for small, local businesses called AdWords Express that’s specifically for local businesses looking for local customers.

Yahoo and Bing
With Microsoft’s purchase of Yahoo, they have now combined their online advertising platform for small businesses. Make sure you have also claimed and populated your local business pages on both Bing and Yahoo individually.

Facebook
From your business page on Facebook you can create an advertising campaign that allows you to very specifically target other Facebook users with your ads. Because of the ability to target your ads based on specific demographic criteria, Facebook ads can be very effective and net some great exposure and new foot traffic for your business.

According to a new study that was just issued by American Express, independent American Express merchants who participated in Small Business Saturday saw an average boost in sales of 28% on Small Business Saturday.

Here are three ways that you can participate in Small Business Saturday (taking place on November 26th this year):

Contact your customers via email, telephone, social media and mail to invite them to store—utilize all of your marketing channels to promote this important initiative.

Plan fun and creative events for the day—Make the day special through a calendar of events for the day such as, holiday food sampling, festive music, free glasses of wine, tree trimming classes, or a local artist to the store to hand sign their work.

Hang signage throughout your store and use your windows to announce your participation in Small Business Saturday—remember that your windows serve as free “billboard advertising,” along with clever in-store messaging about the importance of why your customers should shop locally.

Are you looking for some additional tips on how to market Small Business Saturday to your customers? Please join us tonight for a free webinar titled, “A Retailers Guide to Small Business Saturday: How to Leverage the Power of this Initiative to Drive More Traffic and Profits for Your Store."

Register now for this free webinar.

I’m passionate about promoting independent retailers, especially during the critical holiday shopping season. Here are a few points of inspiration to help you jump start your holiday marketing plan today.

Develop an online marketing campaign.
Be sure to include email marketing, your website, social media and your store enewsletter to communicate the exciting events and promotions that are going on in your store and community during the holiday season.

Utilize direct mail.
Direct mail is not dead, and postcards are very inexpensive to produce. Mail one to every customer in your database and drop one in every shopping bag. Use the postcard as an opportunity to promote all the holiday events that you have planned.

Host in-store promotions to take place throughout the holiday season.
Consumers will be on the lookout for good deals this season. Drive more traffic to your store with special in-store events (a class on how to trim the tree, event with Santa or special Men's Night Out).

Pick a special day, like Small Business Saturday, to offer a substantial store discount.
Consumers are conditioned to believe that after Thanksgiving retailers offer the good deals. Take advantage of all the buzz around SBS and offer a big discount on your customer's entire purchase (or on one item) on November 26th.

Develop strong visual merchandising displays.
Amazing holiday visual merchandising displays will ensure that your customers spend more time in the store because it's enjoyable. Plus, word travels fast and your customers will share their fun experience with family and friends, driving more traffic.

Create a fun holiday contest on Facebook.
Engage your customers through a fun and exciting promotion on Facebook. Choose a few lucky winners to receive gift certificates to your store.

Support a cause this holiday season and invite your customers to join you.
Non-profits will need all the help they can get. Select a charity and start a donation bin in your store, encouraging customers to buy something there to donate to the charity. Include signage above the donation area about the charity and think about offering a special discount on the charitable purchases.

Below are a few ways you can promote Small Business Saturday and drive customers to your store on November 26th.

Get a jump start on marketing Small Business Saturday through your online marketing campaign far in advance of the event. Start talking about the special events and promotions that you will offer on SBS on your website, blog (if you have one), social media pages, store newsletter and email marketing as soon as possible.

Create a special promotion to market on Small Business Saturday. Consumers will be hungry for good deals, particularly this season. Offer some sort of discount off the purchase of one item, an entire purchase or on a specific popular product line. The more deals you market, the more likely people will be to come in and check it out.

Drive even more traffic to your store through your social media push. Market SBS and your store promotions and events through Facebook, Twitter or even a YouTube video.

Issue a press release to the local media that you are a local merchant participating in Small Business Saturday. News reporters will be searching for local retailers to include in news articles around Small Business Saturday.

Send a printed or handwritten invititation to your VIP customers with a special offer redeemable on SBS. Your top customers often represent 30% or more of your holiday sales. Extend a special invitation and a special offer incentivizing them to visit the store on SBS.

Plan fun events throughout the day on SBS, then create a promotional postcard and/or email that you send to all of your customers in your database outlining the schedule of events (trunk show, local artisan signing books, wine and cheese, etc.).

Post store signage. Utilize your store windows as a billboard to market this important event.

Run a print ad in your local newspaper with a special coupon offer. Broaden your marketing reach by running a print ad on Black Friday when consumers are turning to the newspaper to plan a shopping strategy for the weekend.

Also, remember to visit the SBS Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ShopSmall for more ideas!

I’ve been reading up on how retailers can better market to their male customer, and here are some observations about men’s consumer behavior and how you can better hone your message to reach out to them.

Men are likely to seek out advice about what products to buy (and where) online from people they don’t know. Customer reviews increase the credibility of your products and/or store for your male customers.

Men look for products that will help them become the man they want to be. Men are generally seeking power, prestige and distinction within their chosen community, profession or interest. So, when communicating with men, either on the sales floor or in your marketing, make sure you are highlighting how your products will help them become the man they want to be.

Men exist in the present and when shopping they are purposeful and want their desired product now. When marketing to men, remember to communicate how your business or product will help them achieve their purpose now.

Men tend to be linear, focused and sequential. Men appreciate organization and clarity when it comes to shopping. When it comes to attracting men to your store, create a store layout that appeals to a man’s desire for organization and sequential structure. Stores that require lots of browsing will likely drive many men nuts; they want to easily see the products they are seeking displayed in an organized, easy-to-find fashion.

Men value self-reliance and individuality. When communicating to men, make sure you highlight how your store or products will help men achieve greater independence, win over the competition and/or become number one.

If your store offers holiday gift wrapping, here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing while planning for this year’s holiday wrapping season.

• Recycled paper – Give new life to old paper by using non-traditional papers to wrap customers' purchases, such as vintage wallpaper.
• Bows – Consider keeping your paper choice simple and use lots of bows (or just fancy bows).
• Learn a new technique – On the Internet you can find photos and detailed instructions to learn various gift wrapping techniques, such as the Furoshiki Japanese Cloth Wrapping Technique.
• Use a new material – Consider choosing material that coincides with your primary product line. For example, if you are a linen retailer, use cloth. If you sell books, use foreign newspaper or old maps. And use different materials to tie up presents instead of ribbon, such as yarn or baker’s twine.
• Create your own wrapping paper – Be totally unique by decorating your own plain wrapping paper with stamps (be sure to include a stamp of your business logo).
• Pick a theme – Consider choosing a theme such as holiday candy and use bright colors and candy stripes for ribbon and paper; or a Christmas tree theme with wood grain paper and tree trimmings as decorations.

What are some fun ideas you’ve used or seen used?

Recently I was named as an advisor and spokesperson for American Express OPEN’s Small Business Saturday (SBS). I’m hoping you’ve heard of SBS, a program introduced by American Express last year to promote local retailers and encourage shoppers to spend their holiday dollars in their local communities at small businesses on Saturday, November 26th, the day after Black Friday.

As we all know, local retailers are the backbone of the communities in which they do business and American Express just released a survey that further proves it. The American Express OPEN Independent Retail Index reported that 46 percent of retail sales come from small business retailers. On average 1800 jobs are created in a local community thanks to small business retail. And communities with thriving small business retail have home values that outperform citywide markets by 50 percent.

What can you do? For starters, learn more and begin promoting Small Business Saturday in your community.

Start by liking the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ShopSmall (or using the Like button to the right). American Express has also just launched a toolkit of promotional materials, also available on the Facebook page, that you have access to, to promote Small Business Saturday in your community.

You should also register your store on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ShopSmall. American Express has partnered with Facebook to create a national database of retailers who are participating in SBS. When you register your store not only will you be encouraging all of the people in your community to stop by, but you'll also be marketing your store on a national level. Last year, the SBS Facebook had more than 1.5 million likes so when you post and comment on the page you'll be putting your store in front of 1.5 million Americans immediately. And that’s just for starters…

Stay tuned because I will be writing more on how we can make this holiday, and specifically Saturday, November 26th, your biggest sales day ever!

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Apple fan and I love my Mac, iPhone and especially my iPad. I recently saw a great article about how small retailers are using iPads to better serve their customers. Perhaps some of these strategies may be worth a try for your business.

(I’d also love to hear other ways you are using iPads or tablet PCs to reach out to customers at your business.)

Collect customer sign-ups
Numerous businesses now use iPads to collect customer data, whether it’s a yoga studio that has new customers join and sign waivers on an iPad, or a cupcake shop in New York that allows customers to sign up as fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter to receive free frosting.

Offer customer entertainment
A New York nail salon is using iPads as an upscale amenity to entertain customers while they are getting their nails done. Customers can browse the web, read email or play games while they wait.

Assist with order taking
Restaurants and other retailers that take orders as a part of their service are using iPads to allow customers to place orders in the store. Although iPads are unlikely to replace a friendly server to answer questions, it can help expedite orders and improve customer service.