No matter your business, you depend upon customers or clients for your bread and butter. We all do. It is therefore imperative that once in a while you express your appreciation for them, and what better time than Christmas? It doesn’t have to break the bank, either.

               I found a number of great ideas in my research—let me save you a little time.

• Choose someone as customer of the day. Start by announcing the idea ahead of time, splashing it across social media, and setting up a guest book or box for entries. Then choose someone from your email list or from the box and post the person’s picture online. Take a snap of you and the lucky winner and put it on a poster in your store. A 10% discount on merchandise isn’t going to put you in the poor house, but it says a lot about you. Add others to the poster after the holidays and let it continue to work for you.

•  Give special perks to loyal customers. Pay attention to what they most frequently purchase, and tailor specials around their interests.

•  Keep track of the lost sheep. Sending a We miss you! card with a discount may lure them back into the fold.

•  Establish an ongoing source of reward with birthday shopping specials. Once you put it into place, it becomes a no-brainer type of reward for loyal shoppers.

•  Reinvent the lowly thank you note. Snail mail isn’t dead yet, and everyone loves a note of sincere appreciation.

•  Let rainchecks fall like candy. If a shopper can’t find that special item, take notes and do some research. Find it and order it, and then email the customer that you now have it in stock at a discount.

•  Hold a silly photo contest. Ask folks to snap a silly picture inside your store and post it on your Facebook page. One will be a lucky winner of a seasonal item that’s ever so popular!

Take an afternoon or weekend to mull over what matters to your peeps. You want to really connect with them in an activity or promotional that makes them feel valued. The idea isn’t what’s easy or inexpensive for you, or what do you have oodles of on hand and can’t market—while some ideas are too extravagant or too time-consuming, come up with something that oozes appreciation and sounds like fun. Don’t forget the swag that lives on after your customers leave the store. If creativity isn’t your strong suit, or if you are wearing too many hats to take this on, bring in someone do host it for you. 

There are a lot of other ideas, these serve to whet your whistle. The point is simple: With Amazon breathing down everyone’s neck, you must fight in ways Jeff Bezos doesn’t! To Amazon, a shopper is a faceless source of income. Not so in your small business!  Capitalize on the personal nature of your interactions with customers or clients and edge out the online competition. A small investment will create a beaten path to your door, and that’s the point, isn’t it?