Some Great Sales and Marketing Suggestions For Your Gourmet Gift Basket Business

Overview:

Many of the "Tried and True Sales tactics" that marketers have been using for years are begining to lose their appeal with the intended market.  According to a recent survey of almost 1,000 marketing professionals by MarketingSherpa, of the 15 most common B2B sales and marketing tactics used today, none are producing significant results for the majority.  Due to a number of reasons, ranging from an avalanche of marketing material being bombarded out constantly to the ongoing slowdown in the economy, many B2B customers seem to be simply ignoring the majority of the marketing messages that they receive.  As a result, gourmet gift basket and gift shop business owners nationwide are struggling with this challenge.

So what are the "experts" recommending now?  Well, No "single approach" is working for the majority of small business owners.  However, the good news for gourmet gift basket and gift shop owners is that three tactics do seem to be yielding positive results:

• public relations
• word-of-mouth activities and
• email and postal mail to in-house lists.

Public Relations Suggestions for Gourmet and Gift Basket Businesses:

Public relations can be conducted using a variety of marketing tactics.  For example, cause-related marketing, or marketing related to non-profit and for profit organizations coming together to form a "marketing partnership", is a highly effective way to build awareness of your gourmet food or gift basket business.  Whether you're offering your gift baskets or gourmet foods to consumers or to corporations, connecting your company and your noble efforts to a worthy cause is an exceptionally effective way to communicate your company's core values (while doing the right thing!)


Word-of-Mouth Sales & Promotion Activities for Gourmet and Gift Basket Businesses:

A survey published by BIGresearch found that more than 80 percent of small-business owners ranked word of mouth as either "very important" or "important" in determining some or all of their buying decisions.  Almost 90 percent of these small business owners indicated that they "regularly" or "occasionally" sought advice from other trusted people before buying. Word-of-mouth business-building activities (such as handling occasional customer complaints in a prompt and courteous manner that satisfies the client) is a great way to build the reputation of your gourmet food or gift basket business.  However, it is also critically important that you ensure that your Associates are properly trained so that you can avoid almost all customer service problems before they even begin.  Unfortunately, with human nature being what is sometimes is, your customers will be more than willing to share their bad experiences with your gourmet gift basket company than any positive experiences that they may have.  As such, you must try very hard to eliminate any reason for them to speak ill of you and your gourmet gift basket business.  Regretfully, it is unlikely that you will be able to eliminate all of these detractors, but trying to certainly won't hurt you and your business!


Mail: Email and Snail-Mail

With the ongoing bombardment that so many of us now suffer on a daily basis and with the recent introduction of tough anti-spam laws in both Canada and America, most unsolicited emails are simply filtered or deleted before they are read.  As such, it's bad news for list rental firms.  You simply cannot go and buy or rent lists of potential customers and send them your marketing material and expect to enjoy a great deal of success in getting orders.  Without question, you are much better to add an e-newsletter sign-up form to the homepage of your gourmet gift basket website. If you have a store-front, you should encourage your clientele to sign-up for your free newsletter.  Obviously, there needs to be an incentive for your clients to receive the newsletter, such as a "Frequent Buyer" discount or an "Important Date Reminder Service".
 
If you want to use an e-mail campaign but don't have your own in-house list yet, one great idea is to advertise your gourmet shop or gift basket business in blogs and / or e-newsletters that go to organizations that reach your target audience.  However, be sure to include your Website and email address so that when respondents click through to your Website, they can register to receive information directly from you.

Phyllis and Greg Sprout began their company, epicureanfoods.com, in July 1993.  They specialize in supplying hard-to-find gourmet foods and gift basket supplies to gourmet shops, gift shops and gift basket companies across North America. 

They have helped the founders of literally thousands of gift, gourmet food and gift basket companies start and grow their businesses.  Many of these companies remain excellent customers of epicureanfoods.com today.  They can be reached at phyllisandgreg@epicureanfoods.com.