Introduce a New Product

• People look at Easter as a fresh start and a time to welcome spring. Children await the arrival of the Easter Bunny, and adults look forward to six months without snow. Manufacturers should capitalize on this feeling of a new beginning by introducing a new product and working with retailers on a large-scale product release. Retailers can herald the introduction of the new product using various local media outlets such newspapers and radio. The manufacturer should be focusing on a national advertising campaign that uses the hype surrounding the coming of spring to generate excitement about its new product. Tie your new product release to your website and send the word out through free internet message boards and forums.
  
  Retailers working with manufacturers who do not have any new product releases for spring can use Easter as a time to introduce a new part of their stores. Create pricing specials and promotions that can start with an Easter marketing campaign, and then take the feeling of a fresh start and make it work for you in your marketing.
  
  

Easter Egg Hunts

• One of the most overused but still highly effective Easter marketing programs is some sort of an Easter egg hunt. There are many ways for retailers to promote an Easter egg hunt. Send out postcards to every customer on your mailing list and tell them that if they bring the card in they will get to choose one of the plastic eggs from your store display. Inside those plastic eggs put pricing specials and promotions for products in your store, and in a few put special grand prizes. The key is to get people into your store and excited about spending money there.
  Another option is to hold an Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday in your store with plastic eggs you hide all over the store. In each egg could be candy for the child and a promotional coupon for the parents. Be sure to have plenty of spring-related items for sale that day, and make the event a one-time-only pricing special for some of the more popular spring items such as bathing suits and children's sneakers.