With the holiday season upon us I thought I’d share a bit of inspiration for your holiday displays with an example our trends editor, Becky Tyre, shared with me. The shots below are from A. Dodson’s, a store in Suffolk, VA. I love the stop-you-in-your-tracks creativity this store displays by wrapping the tree branches in yarn for a soft, snowy look and hanging ornaments from them. I also applaud the use of silver, white and blue, all trendy colors this holiday season.

Kick up your creativity a notch and create a display that passers-by will just have to stop and check out.

I'll be speaking this winter at the Las Vegas Gift Show on in-store Visual Merchandising and I’d love to have you join me. I’ll be presenting 50 plus ideas to give you fresh, new inspiration for your in-store visual merchandising. The time and date of the seminar have yet to be set, but the show is January 30 to February 3, 2012. In the meantime, please visit the show’s website for details, dates and travel information. I look forward to seeing you there!

For more merchandising trends and holiday tips make sure to check back here and follow us on Facebook.

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!

Recently a retailer sent an email to me about wanting to initiate a "shop local" campaign. Even though I've blogged about this in the past, I thought I would bring it up again since it’s a fantastic tool. Launching a shop local campaign, whether on your own or by banding together with fellow retailers, is a great way to boost community awareness of your presence, increase community goodwill and boost your bottom line.

Here are the simple steps you can take to kick off your shop local campaign:

Decide who will participate
Ideally it would be great to have a large group of retailers getting together to launch a shop local campaign. You can go it alone, but the resources and time that others can pitch in will likely make your campaign more successful. Consider talking with the neighboring retailers and don’t forget to approach your local Chamber of Commerce or local business groups for help and support.

Create a theme
Shop local themes are as varied as the imaginations that create them. It’s most important to create a cohesive theme that all of your materials will revolve around. Some great ones I’ve seen are pointing out where local dollars ends up, such as three cents of every dollar goes to supporting the fire department. Another one profiles the people that own local businesses, highlighting that they are our neighbors.

Create promotional materials
If you have a budget to work with, consider creating your own promotional materials such as posters, window decals, bag stuffers and bumper stickers. There are also organizations that produce these types of materials like the American Independent Business Alliance.

Launch
Remember to promote your campaign with press releases, press alerts and invitations to the press for tours and launch receptions.

Measure success
The whole point here is to build your businesses, right? So, how will you know if it works? Create metrics that all participants will measure the success of the campaign by and be sure to have a post-mortem meeting to share with each other the success of the campaign, and how it could be improved in the future.

Here are a couple great resources for Shop Local ideas, inspiration, and materials: Amiba.net or The350Project.net

Keep your store’s look fresh with the use of lighting, dramatic colors and frequent updates to draw customers in. Consider the atmosphere you want to create and use these tips to achieve impactful results:

Use lighting effectively – Utilize lighting to support the ambiance you are creating for your space just as the retailer below has using an ornate chandelier for an upscale feel. While track and recessed lighting is effective, consider also using some creative lighting like chandeliers and lamps. Also, experiment with various levels of light from bright to dim and see how it changes the feel of your store.

Use dramatic colors for eye-catching appeal – Both photos in this post are great examples of how to use dramatic colors to create an unforgettable impression on customers and passers-by. Colors can evoke emotions so choose colors that will emote the feeling of your store. Choose contrasting colors for the greatest impact.

Keep things fresh – Frequent updates to your displays, design and windows will keep your space interesting and fresh. Consider changing your color and lighting scheme with each season or in preparation for major shopping seasons such as the holidays. Customers take notice to displays that are regularly changing.

Recently a friend told me about a vintage fashion website called Mod Cloth that has built its business around letting its customers decide on the items it will carry. Website founders call it “a fashion business in a democratic style.” How American! With its “Be the Buyer” program, you can scroll through and vote on fashions to “Pick It” or “Skip It.” And based on the members’ votes, the company decides to carry an item or not.

This idea could translate very well to just about any retailer rather easily. For example, say that you visit an annual trade show each year to pick products for the next year. While at the show you could snap some pictures of products you’re considering carrying, upload them to your Facebook page, create a simple poll (or just request comments) and ask your fans what products they would prefer seeing in your store. It’s a great way to engage your fans and followers and make sure you’re selling the products your customers want to buy.

Of course you could also get as fancy as Mod Cloth has and add polling, reviewing and commenting features to your website.

This week Google launched its new mobile wallet and daily deals strategy, Google Wallet, in New York and San Francisco. The application allows users to buy daily deals online from the deal network and store them in their Google Wallet. When they visit the retailer to redeem the deal, the “coupon” is in their “wallet” on their Android phone and the deal is applied to their purchase using Google’s single tap technology and a contactless PIN pad.

Google cites the fact that 80 percent of commerce is local as the reason for making the investment in their Groupon-killer app. Interestingly, Google will not be charging transaction fees to retailers for accepting the Google Wallet payments. They say they will instead be making money on the deals network.

What can you do? As a retailer, you already know that you want to be able to accept payments in as many ways as possible so that you never have to turn away a customer. Here are some first steps:

Get a contactless PIN pad
As mobile commerce continues to grow, you can begin to get ready for contactless payments, meaning payments where customers run their credit card or mobile phone across a contactless PIN pad. Contact your payment processor for more information. (According to the Google Wallet website you can get a free contactless PIN pad from First Data, Google’s payment processing partner.)

Learn more
You can learn more about the Google Wallet app by visiting the special website they have created for merchants. Also, you can search your ZIP code on the website to view fellow merchants that are already able to accept Google Wallet payments.

Sign up for updates
On the Google Wallet website, sign up to receive updates so that you’re among the first to know when Google’s deals network and other features are available in your area.

Recently I participated in a webinar on innovative marketing strategies and Facebook contests were discussed as a good way to increase interactivity on your social media pages. Contests can ramp up interest in your business and increase the number of folks that “Like” your page.

Here are a few creative contests that other businesses have found to be successful.

Share the love – Ask fans to complete the sentence “I love (your product, store, etc.) because…” Offer a prize to the best entry and acknowledge the winner on your Facebook page.

Picture caption contest – Post a fun or humorous photo on your page and ask fans to create a caption for the photo. Try to use a photo that subtly includes your store or product. Crown the winner and then you can use the photo with the caption in online and off-line marketing.

Refer your friends – One retailer had a great deal of success with a contest that awarded the fan who got the most friends to like the retailer’s page. The retailer offered a high-value prize so the contest got heated between two fans as they raced to get the most friends to like the retailer’s page. The business owner said it was a great way to increase their fan base.

First to check in – Use the new geo-positioning services, like Facebook Places, to hold contests for the first person to check in at your business. For example, hold the contest around a new product or new arrival to create excitement. Award the first customer to check in with a big discount or free gift.

Find the gnome – I recently read about the Downtown Ithaca Alliance in Ithaca, NY, that has a regular contest and hides a gnome somewhere in town. The first person to post the location of the gnome wins coffee and bagels for their entire office.

Visit the Facebook website to find apps that can help facilitate your contest. Click on Business and search “contests” for a helpful listing.

I was having lunch at a local deli recently and snapped a couple pictures of a great spring promotion. All on one great little card stuck in an attractive spring flower pail, the shop is promoting menu specials, their Facebook page, and their new smartphone ordering app. Great idea!

You already know that videos can help you gain valuable market exposure, however you might be questioning exactly what type of content to include. Here are three tips for getting the most out of a video on your website.

Use your video to highlight your store’s uniqueness.
There are so many things that make your store and products distinctive. Use your video to showcase your products, your outstanding customer service, or your fabulous store ambiance. One of the best ways to communicate the messaging about why your store is unique is to interview your customers because testimonials are most powerful when someone else (other than a store owner or employee) is endorsing your brand. This is one of the reasons why social media is so effective—friends are recommending to friends great places to shop. In this sample video from a stationery store based in New England, a client testimonial at the beginning of their video adds more credibility to why you should go visit.

Teach your customers.
Using video you can instruct customers on how to assemble or use specific products you sell. Or you can provide more general how-tos, such as how to make a dining room table centerpiece from items that can be purchased at your store. Here’s a sample video on how to decorate a Christmas tree. You can easily create similar videos as you create your store displays.

Share stories.
One of the reasons why reality TV is so popular is because we love to get a behind the scenes glimpse of how things are done, why people are so successful, and what it takes to run a store. Give people an inside look at why you decided to open your store, how you market it, or what it takes it be a store owner.