Summer Santa Promotions can be Fun & Profitable

A good friend called with an idea for her son's business to do a Summer Santa promotion in cooperation with a new radio station in our area.

I was happy to help--and I don't plan to charge them a nickel! Oh, I'll make some money and build my business, using a technique that sounds a lot like a cushion shot in pool--indirectly.

Here's how it works.

1. BUILD EYE BALL TRAFFIC: I host four commercial blogs and our family communications MUSH fo' U for the Milo S. Howe Familoy Organization. I want to build "eyeball traffic" for these sites so everywhere I go shopping with Gramma Rosie, walking with Tim or "out and about" I find an excuse to gather e-mail addresses. I also find a reason to take a digital picture as a memory association trigger. These all go into my database and each one is a golden prospect--a present and future friend who may hire me to play Santa for a family party or company gathering--or they may become a follower and subscriber to Grampa Training or Teaching Moment Boosters. That depends on their responses to the first wave of e-mail.

2. MARKET WITH A TRIPLICATE OF CHOICE: Between now and Christmas, I begin the e-mail drum beat. The first message gives them a chance to:

a. Come Backstage at the North Pole (BNP) and all it's resources for parents and party hosts to get the most out of a Subordinate Claus. Just launched and building. I'll market it with at least 25-30 posts at the end of August of this year.

b. Take some Grampa in Training (GiT) for Already Grampas, Wannabes and the Grammas who love them. I've been developing this site all Summer and have published 140+ posts of wit and wisdom that will be a good Summer read--or a comfort in the Fall and coming Winter.

c. Pick up some Teaching Moment Boosters (Vitamin TMB) to be prepared to gently share insights in memorable ways (Lots of Object Lessons and little stories on themes)

The return on these marketing campaigns might seem disappointing to some, but if I get more than 1 or 2% it's a BIG Plus. Then I spreadsheet the prospects and build another list with variations on special offers according to preference. Making it possible to take their eyeballs through one of the sites is what it begins to be all about.

3. Pennys per click--and Bucks to Buy: Monetize and keep building. Encourage and train your eyeball traffic to explore everything about the blog they have chosen, especially in clicking the ads

4. Build lthe Reply per Response into a Community of Sharing Dialogue.

5. The Summer Santa Promotion.;