I am a giver. And Christmas is my time to shine.

It’s also my time to get financially screwed. But this year is gonna be different. It is.

I don’t buy things on credit. I’m a cash-is-king kinda gal. But during the holidays I usually end up robbing Peter to buy Christmas gifts for Paul, Dick, Larry, the seven dwarves, and – of course – my family.

Last year it took me months to catch up with my finances after my holiday shopping spree. I am determined not to let that happen again. This year, my friends, I’m strategizing.

And apparently, regardless of record Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, so is the rest of America. This isn’t much of a surprise. Jessica Dickler’s CNN Money article, ‘Record Black Friday sales? Don’t get too excited‘  explains that, this year, shoppers strategized more effectively in order to take advantage of the great Black Friday/Cyber Monday discounts so they could sit the rest of the shopping season out.

Supporting CNN Money’s holiday shopping theory, this AdWeek infographic by Carlos Monteiro, ‘Data Points: Stockings, Unstuffed‘ highlights some (again) not-so-surprising survey results about anticipated frugality this holiday season. Like how shoppers have an average of $70 less to spend on gifts this year as compared to last year, with 75% expecting to buy their gifts at discounted prices.

Well, that makes me feel better. At least I’m not the only one who’s still broke.

The problem for me is that I need to be frugal this year – but I hate buying gifts at major retailers. Walmat, Target, Best Buy…they have some great deals (or, rather, HAD some great deals…) but what can you buy at any of those stores that is unique, thoughtful, or meaningful on a personal level?

Nothing.

But, at the local antique shop I can buy my mom those cool, wooden fish that she fell in love with. Or an authentic wooden puppet theatre for my daughter’s repertoire. Or the throw pillows that my sister was eyeing at the off-the-beaten-path store in the downtown shopping district of our hometown.

So, this year, I’m putting my time into finding juuuuust the right gift for each person on my list (which, fortunately, isn’t that many this year…). Witjhout breaking my budget. Without selling my soul to major, national retailers.

I’m gonna need time, patience, and a few bottles of wine…

And, because I believe that philanthropy is important, I found an affordable way to help a child in need (and teach my daughter that giving is almost always better than receiving): we donated small birthday gifts, a birthday cake and a gorgeous, glitter-covered homemade birthday card to a homeless child on her birthday. Total cost: $38.

But the reward for my daughter and I was – not to be cliche – priceless.

Back in October I started dropping the we-should-really-start-thinking-about-your-holiday-marketing-strategy hints to my clients.

They all responded to me…today. All of them.

Today I also had 34 marketing emails land in my inbox between 7:00 and 9:00 am. Not my work email. My personal, don’t-share-this-address-with-anyone email. Guess someone must have shared it…

And suddenly I’ve got a handful of holiday animations to storyboard; twice as many “personalized” corporate greeting cards to write; promotions that need creative concepts, marketing materials, and point of purchase displays; holiday promotional items that should have been ordered a week ago…and a partridge in a pear tree.

And so the holiday marketing madness begins.

If you don’t have a “me” to handle your holiday work, let me offer you this advice: hire me.

Kidding.

Let me offer you this advice:

1. Order your holiday promotional items now so you don’t get stuck ordering “whatever can be imprinted and delivered fast.” According to MP Mueller’s New York Times article, ‘What Do You Holiday Gifts Say About You?‘ you should choose memorable gifts that reflect your company’s brand, personality and values. Bonus points if the gift has staying power.

2. A good promotion doesn’t require a cliche holiday concept (i.e., anything that includes ‘Tis the Season, ‘Twas the Night, or references to Christmas Coming Early). Instead, take Kurt Vonnegut’s advice and tell us everything up front. Now, if you don’t have a great promotion that is strong enough to stand alone, let me offer you this advice: hire me. Or, at the least, avoid holiday cliches like the plague.

3. Make Christmas miracles happen for the people around you. Be nice. Volunteer. Smile. Yes, I realize that this really has nothing to do with your holiday marketing strategy…but as important as marketing is during this merriest of seasons, it’s not what this season is all about.

Now run along and market…

Today is Black Friday. I plan on leaving my house once to accomplish two things: taking my dog on a ridiculously long hike and buying a loaf of bread that is worthy of my traditional day-after-Thanksgiving sammy.

Or should I call it my traditional Black Friday sammy?

My goal is to avoid any unnecessary retail situations. A 42″ flat screen for $199? I am confident that similar deals will still be in effect come Christmas Eve. You know, when my holiday shopping extravaganza comes to an official close.

But I am in the minority. My Facebook News Feed was filled with 4 am check-ins at Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and other major retailers. Hopefully they are prepared with these ‘5 Digital Tools That Makes Shopping Easier.‘

In Todd Wasserman’s Mashable.com article, he introduces us to five apps that can help Black Friday shoppers save time and money. Allegedly…

Apps like Coupon Sherpa, which I use religiously, offer geo-targeted special offers above and beyond what you’ll see in stores. Amazon’s smartphone app helps compare prices. And I am particularly interested in the new Google Wallet app, though it’s not yet available for the iPhone. Which is actually kind of weird…

You can also download mall-specific apps that help compare prices between different stores in the mall. Some of these can even tell you if the size or color you’re looking for is in stock.

If you’re heading out into the holiday shopping madness today, don’t leave home without these money- and time-saving apps.

P.S. These apps will also help you post-Black Friday. So you can go gently into the holiday shopping season. You can…

In years past, there has always been signs of Christmas cheer before the turkey gets put on the table. But this year, Christmas bells are already ringing loud and clear…and they have been since (gulp!) Halloween.

I can sympathize with the mentality. We’re all gonna be broke later this month when our first winter heating bills hit the mailbox. Retailers are just trying to get our cash while we have it. And you can’t really blame them.

But skipping over the holiday that kicks-off the holiday season is no way to kick-off the holiday season! That, and there are a lot of Thanksgiving marketing opportunities that can help businesses break free from the clutter and position itself to be at the very top of its consumers’ minds come Black Friday.

This Marketing Zone article has a few great ideas – and makes some great points – about Thanksgiving marketing.

Like how THANKSgiving is a great time to THANK your customers and employees for their business, referrals, or a job well done. Rather than sending a generic holiday card that gets lost in a stack, yours will be the first card received, the first card opened and the last card to be forgotten.

If you’ve got decorating fever, try throwing up a few pumpkins and a cornucopia until the day after Thanksgiving. The marketing spin? You’re conserving energy by using decorations that don’t require electricity.

Take that, retailers-come-Santa’s-village!

You can even run Thanksgiving sales promotions. Give away Thanksgiving promotional items. You can basically do everything you would under the guise of Christmas marketing…but reposition it as a Thanksgiving version.

Consumers are not ready to be in the holiday spirit. Check out Nordstom’s in-store signage that went up in early November: “at Nordstrom…we won’t be decking  our halls until Friday, November 27. Why? Well, we just like the idea of celebrating one holiday at a time.”

Consumer response to this was positive beyond belief. And the signage went social, with people posting pictures of the signage on Facebook, Twitter and more!

It may be a little late to rethink your premature holiday marketing strategy, but for next year, differentiate yourself by celebrating Thanksgiving.

Did you know that from the second you log on to Facebook, you’re being tracked? Even after you leave Facebook?

According to Sarah Kessler’s article, ‘Facebook Reveals it User-Tracking Secrets,’ information about what we’re “Googling” and where we’re browsing could be used to figure out our political affiliations, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and health issues.

I always knew that Facebook was watching me, but I didn’t realize that it was tracking my every move. Read Kessler’s article if you’re interested in the details on how Facebook tracks your online journey.

In response to online privacy concerns, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has called for browsers to include a “do not track” functionality to allow users to opt-out of being tracked.

But, according to PCWorld, it won’t work. Tony Bradley’s article says that these ‘do not track’ functionalities (which are available in Mozilla Firefox 4.0, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer 9) rely too heavily on user intervention, the honesty of the websites who are tracking your information, and on whether or not these websites pay attention to HTML header codes that communicate your preference to opt-out.

And there are always services, such as KISSmetrics, that find and exploit the loopholes in a regulation.

At the end of the day, though, does it matter that our online actions are being tracked?

Sure, it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. But, in reality, we are tracked everywhere…specifically, every time we use a debit or credit card. For me, that’s a lot.

If the information about what we’re searching for and what websites we’re using is used to enrich our online experiences, then is it really so bad?

Does anyone really notice that they’re being tracked? Does it interfere with our lives in any way? The more that is understood our online browsing patterns, the better our experiences will be.

Of course, if you’re searching for information that could be used against you in the court of law…well, you just might have a problem.

Another plus for the good guys.

I’m not saying that being tracked is a GOOD thing. I’m just saying it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Thus far, the information hasn’t been used maliciously, so I guess I am at peace with Facebook watching me go from there to my email, to my other email, to my Twitter…and then, of course, to Ideeli.com

A successful holiday sales season can damage your brand for Q1 2011. At least, that’s what AdAge.com columnist Jonathan Salem Baskin says in his article, ‘Holiday Season Price-Cutting and Hard Sell Can Damage a Brand.’

The headline alone left me skeptical. But Baskin’s article makes some good points. Not only can deep discounts disappoint your loyal customers (read: your full-price paying customers) but switching from a brand engagement strategy to a hard sell strategy can sacrifice the brand values you’ve worked so hard to communicate. You know, like how your brand cares more about people than about money?

Most businesses don’t have a choice but to put on the sales push when it comes to the holiday season. It’s their last hoorah.

So, come 2012, what can your business do to salvage its brand? Baskin suggests the following:

1. Address the brand shortcomings that were revealed in your “mad dash” to make holiday sales. Maybe what you thought was your most effective messaging wasn’t really that effective, Maybe some of your brand’s secondary messages were the most powerful at driving sales. Whatever you learn about your brand during the “old year,” use it to redirect your marketing processes in the new year.
2. Adjust your prices. Consumers know what your products and services are really worth now. You either need to add value to justify a return to full price, or keep the prices low and find another way to cut costs.
3. Find a balance between the brand experiences that drove consumer loyalty all year and the experiences – good or bad – that holiday consumers will associate with your brand. Find a way to turn one-time shoppers into enthusiasts…without ignoring your existing enthusiasts. Try to find a market position that will make your next transition from business-as-usual to holiday-hard-sell a little more seamless.

It’s hard to think that a successful holiday sales season will result in a damaged brand. But, so it goes, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

In 2009, major TV networks decreased the price of advertising by about 15 percent, according to Tim Arango’s article, ‘Broadcast TV Faces Struggle to Stay Viable.‘

Now, going into 2012, unemployment rates continue to soar and consumer confidence continues to deteriorate. And TV advertising, with 15-second prime time slots going for $122,000+, continues to struggle. Anthony Crupi’s article, ‘Scatter Bleak As Economic Doubts Mount‘ describes the current situation as looking “disturbingly like the market at the beginning of [Q4 2008].”

While there will always be a market for upfront TV advertising, the market for scatter – the ad slots leftover after what is sold upfront – is projected to be down by 20 percent for Q1 and Q2 2012. Even with scatter being discounted more deeply than ever.

So, basically, businesses don’t have the budgets to run 15-second ads, even with dramatic discounts. Surprise, surprise.

Crupi’s article says – and I agree – that this downturn in scatter is somewhat of a normalization, a response to the abnormally strong upfront ad market.

You’d think that, in this economy, more prices would “normalize” in response to consumer frustration. Or at least in response to a country full of consumers who don’t have enough money to consumer. That policies would change.

You’d think that the cost of college tuition would decrease dramatically, with a degree no longer being enough to get a job post-graduation.

And doesn’t the financial state of our country’s consumers drive the reluctancy of businesses to spend so much money on TV advertising? No matter how great your ads are, if consumers don’t have the money to buy your product, your marketing is moot.

Our country is in trouble. That is an understatement. Illegal immigrants are able to get free health care and collect free money from our government, while taxpayers – many who are struggling to keep up with rising gas, energy and healthcare costs – foot the bill. People who work hard to improve their homes are penalized with capital gains taxes, while other people who don’t work at all have their rents paid by the US of A.

And the scariest part is that all we keep hearing from our nation’s leaders is this: We gotta do something. But what?

It is starting to feel like we’ve gone past the point of no return. That our country can’t be fixed. That we need to scrap what’s left and start from scratch.

Of course, that isn’t possible.

I’m not a politician. And I don’t have the answers. I do know that there is no perfect solution, that any proposed solution is going to have strong opposition.

But until something is done, this cycle of financially disabled consumers is going to continue feed the disparity of markets like TV advertising…and more.

I have no idea what to buy my 2-1/2 year old daughter for Christmas. When I ask her what she wants from Santa Claus, she says “blue toys.”

I know what my daughter would enjoy playing with. But there is something magical about the specific toy you want being under the tree on Christmas morning.

We don’t watch a lot of TV in my household – we keep very busy painting, reading and, as of late, acting out the story of the Three Little Pigs over and over and over and over…

I do throw Nick Jr. on, though, to keep her out of the kitchen while dinner is cooking, as well as to get her settled down if she’s still running around like a mad woman after 8 pm. She loves Dora, the Wonder Pets, Blue’s Clues…any of the shows, really. And I don’t feel bad about her watching some TV – she does learn a lot from Nick Jr.’s rich preschool curriculum, and has started to play memory, matching and rhyming games that mimic the games on Nick Jr. when the TV is off.

I never noticed the absence of commercials on Nick Jr. until we put on Spongebob Squarepants this past Friday night (Spongebob runs on regular Nickelodeon).

“My wanna play with Play•Doh, mommy. Right now. My hafta play with Play•Doh!!” she wailed upon seeing a commercial for the ubiquitous children’s plaything.

“My want that, mommy.” “My hafta have that, mommy.”

Every. Single. Commercial. My daughter had to have whatever it was.

And this is why I stick to Nick Jr. Unlike PBS’s Sprout channel, Nick Jr. doesn’t run overt ads (and they also don’t include Caillou in its programming line-up…a HUGE plus!).

But…maybe – just maybe – exposing my daughter to some advertising isn’t the worst idea, especially with Christmas on the horizon. I might get a better feel for what she wants from Santa…besides “blue toys.”

And so we come to what this BrandChannel.com article refers to as a “contentious arena of advertising-or-not in kids’ television.” Sheila Shayon writes about Disney’s upcoming emergence into the preschool mediapshere. The new Disney Junior channel, slated to be introduced in early 2012, will also refrain from overt advertising. But unlike Nick Jr., which is a learning-based channel, Disney Junior will be focused more on story-telling.

If both Disney and Nickelodeon are of the mindset that ads are no good for preschoolers, then that says a lot.

But that doesn’t help “Santa” very much. Guess I’ll have to try and take her shopping. Maybe the point-of-purchase displays in Target will give her a few ideas.

Or maybe – just maybe – I should begin a Christmas tradition of philanthropy and get involved in volunteer work that is appropriate for both my daughter and I. If she doesn’t really want anything, and if she already has everything she needs, maybe it’s better to teach her to be caring and compassionate. That, in itself, is a gift.

Or maybe – just maybe – a blend of both giving and receiving would be best.

Man, Santa really needs a magic workshop and a boatload of elves this year…

I am on Facebook. I am on Twitter. I am on Linked In, Blogspot, Google Plus…and now…I am on UNTHINK.

Or, rather, I am an UNTHINKER, as the newest social networking site has so donned me.

I came across this BrandChannel.com article by Sheila Shayon, ‘UNTHINK, the Facebook Alternative‘ and, after reading about UNTHINK, simply had to get an invite code from this new, rebel social networking platform.

Turns out, it was pretty easy.

Of course, no one I know is on UNTHINK yet (go get a code and come to the dark side with me, please!) so the actual amount of networking I can accomplish there is nill. But…from what I’ve seen…I think UNTHINK has potential.

Of course, I thought the same thing about Google Plus. (That being said, if you’re on Google Plus find me and let’s get into each other’s circles…I think I have, like, 5 connections so far…pathetic!)

The relationship between UNTHINK and Facebook is reminiscent of the relationship between Facebook and Myspace. Once upon a time, only the coolest of the cool kids were on Myspace. And then it got too mainstream and people flocked to Facebook, which has since maintained its position at the top of the social mediapshere.

Has the time finally come for Facebook to be usurped from its throne?

Perhaps.

The comments on Sheila’s BrandChannel.com article don’t bode well for the future of UNTHINK. But the site’s philosophy is so promising: an honest model of social networking where people own their data and it’s not sold to advertisers.

Instead, users are asked to choose which brands “sponsor” their pages. These brands pick up the costs associated with the users page, making UNTHINK truly free (they argue that Facebook asks users to sacrifice their privacy for freeness…).

What else should you know about UNTHINK? Here’s a few features that you won’t find on Facebook:

• It makes it really easy to keep your “worlds” separate: Even George Costanza knew that you shouldn’t let your “worlds” collide. In social media it can be tough to keep your professional world separate from your social world, or your social world separated from your family world. UNTHINK has an easy-to-use interface that makes “world separation” simple.
• The only social networking site we’ll need? UNTHINK seemingly combines the functionality of Facebook, Twitter, a blog, and group buying sites into one interface. Thank you for that.
• You can eliminate brand endorsements by paying $2/year. Otherwise, you choose which brands can endorse your page, as well as the type and frequency of endorsed messages that you’ll see.

I’ll keep you posted as I learn more about this new social media platform. But my feeling on this is positive – we just may have ourselves a social media competition here.

I was at an online and social media marketing conference last week, during which I attended a seminar on the use of analytical tools and QR codes.

I think it goes without saying that Google Analytics is the most popular analytical tool. Not only is this is a free tool, but it’s also pretty powerful. The only disadvantage over a paid analytical tool is that it can’t tell you specifically who visited your site – it only gives you an IP address, which is, essentially, meaningless. But, seeing as how today’s consumer doesn’t want to be persuaded, knowing who is coming to your site doesn’t help much anymore, anyways, since following-up with them on an individual basis is the epitome of a “hard sell.”

But, as these conferences go, the speaker in the seminar I attended was trying to plug his analytical software. And his argument against Google Analytics was that they use and share traffic information from our websites, not with other websites, but within the Google network.

Specifically, he was talking about “remarketing.”

If you haven’t heard about remarketing, you can learn the basics about it on this AdWords help page. The gist of it is this: You’re running pay-per-click ads (i.e. Google AdWords). Someone clicks onto your site through a paid ad. They leave your site without converting. And then, as they continue to browse the Internet, they see strategically placed banner ads for your site – more specifically for the product or service they were looking at on your site.

Now, remarketing doesn’t happen without your permission. You need to add a remarketing code onto the landing pages from your AdWords campaigns. Of course, the speaker in the seminar made it out like this just happens without your knowledge. That is not the case.

Remarketing can be a good way to keep your brand and its products and services on the top of your target audience’s minds…without being annoying. Maybe the first time a person clicked to your site they were just gathering information, building up to making a purchase decision. But, a few days later, after they’ve gathered enough information, seeing an ad for your product or service could trigger them to click and convert. According to Google, remarketing can significantly increase conversions on your paid search campaigns.

Remarketing does have a clever little aftertaste. Borderline sneaky, but not really.

If you’re running AdWords campaigns, it may be worth looking into remarketing. It doesn’t add any cost to your PPC campaigns, and it just might be the extra push you need to get those campaigns performing the way you want.

I don’t think it’s necessarily bad that Google uses your website’s analytics to improve their offerings. Think of it as a way to give back to a company that has given us so many powerful, free tools to improve our own online marketing efforts.