Another year is nearly in the books and it seems that everyone has a “Best Of 2014” list on their website: the best songs, the best movies, the best Grumpy Cat memes. While we’re usually pretty non-conformist, we’ve decided to jump on the “best of” bandwagon and share the best small business marketing campaigns of 2014.
So love ‘em or hate ‘em, here are the best of ‘em…at least in our book!
Shopping Cart Abandonment by CruiseOne
CruiseOne really wanted its customers to book a cruise in 2014, and according to the Small Business Influencer, which gave their coveted Marketing Campaign Champion award to the company, their strategy paid off.
CruiseOne realized that most people who added a cruise to their shopping cart never came back to complete the purchase – so they started reminding them. Their lucrative “Shopping Cart Abandonment” emails did more than ask potential customers to return to their site; they actually contained sample itineraries based on the information provided during the initial contact.
Thanks to the campaign, the company reported the highest click-through numbers ever and skyrocketing revenue, proving that a simple nudge in the right direction can be all the convincing your customers need.
The Coolest Cooler Kickstarter Campaign
All it takes to launch your small business is a single idea, and the inventor of the Coolest Cooler proved that in a big way. Turning to Kickstarter, a popular crowdfunding site, the business asked for a mere $50,000. The end result? A cool $13.2 million and change provided by an astounding 62,642 backers.
In this case, the marketing practically took care of itself. After all, who doesn’t need a cooler with built in LED lid lights, a waterproof Bluetooth speaker, a USB charger and a blender? Just to be sure people would be interested, the Coolest Cooler people offered some pretty sweet perks for backers, including the opportunity to pre-order their own cooler for $135 less than retail price.
Baublebar’s Buried Baubles
Baublebar’s Instagram campaign not only showed us that the photo-sharing website is still incredibly relative for small business marketing – it also proved that flash sales really work.
It wasn’t enough for the business to peddle their wares either — they wanted to sell them fast. With their Buried Baubles campaign, they created a sense of urgency by posting a photo of a piece that would be available for a very limited time only. People wanting to purchase the jewelry would need to head over to Baublebar’s bio page and click the link to the flash sale, or risk the piece being lost forever.
From email blasts to Kickstarter campaigns and Instagram-fueled flash sales, 2014 was a year of great small business marketing concepts, and given what we know about small business ingenuity, we’re pretty sure 2015 is going to be even better.
If growing your small business is on your 2015 to-do list, Mischa Communications is here to help. Give us a shout and maybe you’ll see your small business featured in our “best of” list next year!