Birthday Marketing Opportunity Botched

Most businesses don't take the time and trouble to mail clients on their birthday.

In fact ... the letter above (from a Twin Cities car dealer) was the ONLY birthday greeting I got from any company I do business with.

So it's even more of a shame that they botched their opportunity to be unique, generate goodwill ... and sell me something.

Really, they wouldn't have had to try too hard to get my money. I got lots of phone calls and Facebook greetings on my birthday ... but only 1 card in the mail.

That means any colored envelope in my mailbox would have stood out like a sore nose.

Instead, this business (which shall remain nameless) missed their marketing opportunity two ways:

1) They mailed their birthday wishes in the most business-like envelope imaginable -- white #10, with an address window and metered postage.

This envelope screams, "Bill!" or "Impersonal message!" ... anything but "Happy Birthday."

2) They didn't offer a discount or otherwise try to sell me anything.

Now don't get me wrong. I mail all kinds of letters to my clients that don't try to sell anything. They're generally thank-you notes or other cards.

But if you're going to pass up the opportunity to hand-write a personal greeting or at least sign the card, you might as well try to sell something. But they didn't even do that.

So this card fails twice. Bad, bad business.

Tip: No matter what holiday you write to your customers or clients about, you might as well do it right.

Here are three ideas:

1) Show up in a festive-looking envelope that telegraphs a message of fun or personal contact.

2) If you want to offer greetings only, fine. Say, "Happy Birthday! Enjoy your day." But at least sign the darn thing, include your picture, or do something else to prove there's a human behind your message.

3) If you want to sell something, make a relevant offer with a deadline. Examples: a Happy Birthday Discount equal to your age (up to 99% off) ... a Spooky Halloween Discount of 31% off that ends Oct. 31 ... you get the idea.

Resource: Want to put an end to "feast-or-famine" syndrome in your business? My Client Cloning Kit can do that for you. Grab your copy here.