Green may very well be the new black when it comes to eco-savvy marketing but I’m not going there. I’m talking literally about the color green. Green bagels, green popcorn, green mouse pads, green tee-shirts… let me start at the beginning.
Customer Love
Years ago I worked for a software company that had several hundred customers across the US but only two sales reps to tend to their ongoing needs. The result was a customer base that felt unloved most of the time, the exception being when we wanted them to buy more software. Enter the “Boo Campaign.” The Boo Campaign, so dubbed because it happened at Halloween, was an attempt to make an emotional deposit in our customer base on a shoestring budget. Sending plants or peanuts in December may be protocol, but your gifts tend to get lost in a sea of salty snacks and sappy sentiments from other vendors.
Stand Out On A Shoestring
But a Halloween mailer… now that would stand out! We categorized our customers into three tiers: a, b and c. Then we selected a light-hearted Halloween-themed gift pack from an online store at three different price points. We shipped the gifts to customers in a buying cycle, but every customer received something. To keep costs low we opted for a standard greeting for all gifts that read, “Happy Halloween from your friends at …” but many vendors allow you to customize each and every greeting for an extra fee. The results, albeit anecdotal, were amazing. So many customers reached out to say thanks that we ended up doing an off-season mailer every three to four months with equal success.
Go Green For St. Patrick’s Day
You don’t need to be Irish or know the history of St. Patrick’s Day to have some fun with this beloved holiday! Sending a green treat or token to your customers shows them you care and you can do it on a shoestring – here are some gift ideas you can send on almost any budget:
- Box of clover-shaped cookies – you can even customize them with your business logo
- Dozen bagels, dyed green, with cream cheese for breakfast
- Popcorn delivered in a festive tin adorned with leprechauns
- Small bouquet of green-tipped carnations with a bow
- Toss some gold coin chocolates in basket with some green tissue to create your own low-cost pot of gold
You can add a note wishing your customers the luck of the Irish or simply say thanks for their patronage. Either way, you’ll stand out for being thoughtful and you’ll have a “reason to call” the following week. But I wouldn’t be surprised if your customers beat you to the punch and ring you first.