ECommerce Apps I Like or Use on Shopify

Plugins are small pieces of software that are compatible with the Shopify software to the extent that it can be plugged in or added on. Plugins introduce some specialized functionality. The following are some examples that add a lot more functionality to an ecommerce store.

• Address Validator by RoboTurk. This checks for mis-spelling and other errors in customer entries of their addresses. This works for only US and Canada addresses (with hopes of including international locations over time). This app can reduce late deliveries (and from the makers' estimation, product returns). The pricing is also good. There is a free 14-day trial and the 1st 100 orders free. When billing begins, each order will cost $0.03. Value added: customer service
• Arka: custom packaging and fulfilment for your own branded packaging. 
• Automatic supplier inventory management: Some of your suppliers may have an app established with Shopify that automatically updates inventory levels. Once you establish whether you suppliers have this agreement with Shopify, it may be possible to automatically track inventory levels on your website. Value added: customer service (convenience)
• EVM Lookbook: This is a free app that puts clickable text tags for each of multiple products that appear in a single image. This is ideal for product reviews from customers who include single photos that include multiple products. Value added: customer service (product sales)
• Fraudlabs: has a free version up to 500 monthly transactions with several price packages. Value added: customer service (security)
• Fraud Filter by Shopify: This is a free app that allows you create filters that can flag, cancel and immediately refund fraudulent transactions. There appears to be some bugs however. For instance, since this app does not prevent the sale upfront, it is unsuitable for digital products that a sale confirmation delivers immediately. Additionally, customer reviews suggest that it still allows identified fraudsters already entered into its filters to complete subsequent transactions. Value added: customer service (security)

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• Gift Reggie: This is a paid app that allows customers or even sales people to create gift registries for a customer. The registry is shared with a public URL. Unlike other registries, visitors to the registry will not be shown the same or similar products from competing stores. The packages start with as few as 5 active public registries for USD 5. You may change your package according to he number of active registries you wish to maintain within a month. Other features like telephone support and functionality are the same for all packages. Value added: Promoting brand awareness
• Has it shipped yet (closed July 2017): This app integrates well with Shopify. It provides you, the store owner, with convenience because it frees up your customer service resources in dealing with one of the single most frequently asked questions, 'has my order been shipped yet?' It creates a webpage on your website where customers can get their order's status with their order number (and, if you prefer more security, their order email address). I particularly like the easy setup. A video is available for each of the 3 steps. Coding is not required for set up either. Value added: customer service (convenience)
• Order Lookup (a replacement for the 'Has it shipped yet' app): Unfortunately, although this app was recommended by the makers of 'Has it shipped yet', it does not offer the service free, even for an initial number of orders. It costs USD 10 monthly regardless of the number of orders placed at your store. However, past 100 sales, each subsequent order has a cost of USD 0.05. Overall however, the price should be manageable for anyone who is running a profitable store.
• Help Center: This allows you to have a phenomenal FAQs page. It allows you to arrange topics into collapsible categories and subcategories. If your store visitors do not want to scroll through the topics, they have only to start typing their question for this app to use search through all of the words within the page to suggest questions with matching word(s). An alternative is FAQ by POWr. Value added: customer service (information)
• McAfee Secure: This gives your customers the confidence that they will be able to use their credit card securely on your website. Value added: customer service (security)
• MailChimp: This is quite a favorite for newsletters. Value added: promotion of (new) products and for tentpoling
• Mega Menu: Many of Shopify's free themes do not allow for navigation bars beyond the basic one-level drop down menues. However, Mega Menu allows you to create any time of drop down menu for each section. Value added: customer service (convenient store navigation)
• Order Logic. This app allows you to establish minimum purchase volumes. It is a paid plugin with monthly charges. Value added: profitability as it relates to raising  the average order value (AOV)
• Parcelify: Shopify's system currently allows you to plan several shipping plans but almost only based on weight. This app allows you to create multiple types of shipping (or freighting) options. Value added: customer service (convenience)
• Privvy. Great app for popups, flyouts, landing pages on just the free version alone. The paid version includes email sequences and other functions. Overall however, the functionality is great, even for the free version. Furthermore, it has a very clean look and feel - much like how Apple was to Windows when Apple was head and shoulders over Windows. Value added: lead value optimization
• Product Reviews: This is self explanatory. Value added: product promotion using social proof
• PushCrew. This app sends automatic push announcement advertisements on the desktop of a subscriber. For instance, it announces the commencement of live webinars. Value added: customer communications / promotion
• Signifyd is a fraud and chargeback prevention app. It appears to differentiate itself by offering a guarantee to cover chargebacks fully, including processing fees if they had previously approved an order with a green ticket and score. The app completely automates the processes of checking the legitimacy of transactions (mentioned here). Note however that Signifyd may not cover incidents of friendly fraud. See list of conditions covered for chargeback reimbursements, reimbursement claim manual and other reimbursement manuals. Value added: customer service (security)
• 
  

  They have a fixed 1% charge per transaction on all transactions OR a fixed 4% through the 'On demand plan' for only some of all your store's transactions. The latter is usually used for higher ticket items. 

• Tabify. Is a product page tab generator. It allows product-specific customization because the tabs are generated by including header tags within the description. However, if you like, you can create a tab that recurs on all product pages. At USD 3.95 monthly, it is a cheaper but apparently comparable alternative to Easy Tab (at USD 5 monthly). Value added: customer service (product information)
• Tawk.to: Great free app for live chat. It is absolutely top notch. This app provides a lot of customization without charge. In fact, its features are all available free of cost. Such free features include multiple agents, multiple websites (aka 'properties'), shortcut phrases and much more. Get a basic intro (with instructional links). Value added: customer service as it relates to one-on-one customer communication
• UniteXpress: is ideal for dropshippers from AliExpress. This allows you to automatically import products from the AliExpress website directly into your Shopify store ... and ship directly to your customers. This app is free up to the 499th monthly order, after which the monthly cost is USD 24.99. Value added: customer service (convenience) and operational efficiency
• Welcome Screen (by Hero). This app allows you to create full-screen push advertising pop-ups. There is even a free version. (Overall, I find Privvy as an attractive alternative because Privvy does not have the bug issues that does Welcome Screen. Additionally Privvy has considerably more functionality, even on the free version.) Value added: lead value optimization
• WishTack: This is not the best app for gift registries. However, it may work for a less professional presentation and shopping experience. It allows your customers to create a any type of registry (bridal registry, baby shower registry or any generic wishlist). Customers will announce this wishlist on Facebook to friends who could buy items and collaborate to buy single items ... all without notifying your customer. Customers can send a link to friends named anything they wish like 'My bridal registry', etc. They may even include an image of themselves. The key downside is that, after spending money of paid traffic, this app actually recommends the same or similar products from competing stores that include ecommerce giants like Amazon. This is the major deal breaker for me for key projects. See Gift Reggie as a better paid alternative that starts with USD 5 monthly for 5 registries. Value added: customer value regarding financial cost; brand awareness promotion.
• Zopim Live Chat: Great app, even the free version. It essentially replicates the ever near brick-and-mortar shop assistant. It is ideal as a free chat app if you will have only 1 agents. However, I prefer Tawk.to if you want more functionality (like multiple agents, websites aka 'properties' and so on) and a free account for all the features for which Zopim charges when you want more upgrades. Value added: customer service regarding one-one virtual and direct customer communication
• Referral Affiliate Programs: These apps allow you to maintain your site's own referral affiliate program with social media customers, influencers, bloggers, employees and so on. Value added: lead value optimization, evangelism and brand awareness promotions.
• Refersion Affiliate Tracking:
• You can track: sales and royalties using data like SKUs (a retailer's stock keeping unit number), email addresses and so on.
• Affiliate experience: Each affiliate will have their own dashboard that also allows them to track their activity real time.
• Automation: Auto-emails for specific events like their account approval, completed sales and impending payments.
• Payments: Affiliates can use Paypal and custom gift cards.
• Cost: Different plans like 2.2% on affiliate sales or USD 79 monthly minimum (whichever is greater), with a 14-day trial, conversion triggers (like coupons, automatic emails and SKUs) with chat and email support. They are open to discussing custom plans for monthly charges.
• LeadDyno:
• You can track: Unlimited number of affiliates. Up to 10 levels of lead commissions. (A 'level' refers to any unique commission rate with a corresponding affiliate type). 
• Automation: Automatic email for different events like inviting customers to be affiliates when they buy, etc 
• Affiliate experience: their own dashboard to track their earnings. 'Conversion triggers' include coupon codes.
• Payments: Paypal 
• Cost: USD 49 (or USD 29 with Shopify) + 0% on sales monthly to 3k unique visitors with email, phone and chat support 7 days. 14-day free trial.

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• International Shipping:
• Yakit: This is a free app for international (not domestic) shipping. The company is based in California, US and India. The service is drop shipper friendly.
• Instant shipping and duties rates: Yes. They are guaranteed by Yakit.
• Tracking: yes
• Shipping time & cost: delivery within 7 to 9 days worldwide at USD 10 / lb or more for faster shipment.
• Weight Minimums: There are no minimum shipment weights or volumes. However, smaller weights and volumes may be costlier.
• Origin country: US, China, HK, Singapore, UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. They may be able to work from other countries if you ask them via chat.
• Insurance: Yes, up to USD 2,000 without cost
• Customer stays on your website: yes

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To find plugins / 'apps'

1. Log in to the backend of Shopify
2. In the left column menu, select the 'Apps' icon (shaped like puzzle piece).
3. In the top right corner of the screen, click 'Visit Shopify App Store'
4. Define search criteria like category, price and so on using the dropdown menu on the top of page

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RELATED CONTENT

• MailChimp basics for beginners
• Tentpole marketing
• Strategies for promoting brand awareness
• Gift registries
• Evangelism marketing
• Landing pages 101 for top lead generation and click throughs 
• Credit card fraud protection 101 and phone script for verifying authorized credit card use

Change or upload Facebook page cover banner

A Facebook banner image is called a 'cover'. Since it dominates the top portion of a Facebook fan page, arguably dwarfing the logo, its high visibility makes it very important in reflecting changes in your business. Here is how you can quickly and easily change it for tentpole marketing or just routine improvements to your Facebook page.

• Log in to your Facebook page
• Hover over the camera-looking icon in the top left corner of the Facebook cover / banner image. As pictured below, the text 'change cover' will appear. 

• Click 'change cover' 
• Select from among the image options that appear

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CONTENT RELATED TO UPDATING FACEBOOK COVER / FACEBOOK BANNER IMAGE

• Facebook page setup
• Change the banner to reflect current promotional strategies and or Facebook advertising campaigns
• Create special effects and resize images using InkScape
• Free online GIF maker from still images
• Free online GIF maker from video 
• Videvo offers free videos
• Pexels offers free videos under CC0, ie no attribution required
• Pixabay offers free videos under CC0, ie no attribution required
• Notes on how to use Adobe Illustrator

Tentpoling: Create a Calendar for Each Target Customer Profile TCP Element

An earlier discussion on tent pole marketing communication mentioned the importance of timing around events. However, this post illustrates how a calendar may be created based on key aspects of the target client profile (TCP). In this example, a Florida-based company offers services to a very specific target market: post graduate students. Consequently, this calendar has begun with the academic element by using the calendar of a leading Florida-based graduate school. It is ideal to use not only dates that directly relate to your product and service but also may somehow affect how your customers interact with your business.

Create and combine dates that relate to EACH significant element of the target customer profile / target company profile / TCP's life like pscyhographic details, field, location and so on.

Graduate School calendar (of a Florida-based university) 2018 / 2019

28 Sep. Last day to submit transmittal letter and doctoral dissertation for initial review

26 Oct. Last day to submit successfully defended master’s thesis for review by Graduate School Editorial Office

26 Oct. Last day for thesis students to submit publishing agreement in the information management system

21 Nov Thanksgiving - no classes

5 Dec Classes end

7 Jan

5 Dec Deadline for thesis and dissertation students to receive confirmation of Final Clearance status with the Graduate School Editorial Office to remain eligible for a degree award this term

8 Dec Final examinations

7 Jan Classes start

18 Jan Fee payment deadline

25 Jan Deadline for Records department to review and approve option applications for courses

1 Feb Deadline to withdraw all courses with 25% refund

13 Feb Last day to submit Transmittal Letter and doctoral dissertation pdf documents

15 Mar Last day to submit successfully defended master level thesis for review

15 Mar Deadline for thesis and dissertation students to submit publishing agreement

10 Apr Deadline for final exam milestone for thesis in information system

10 Apr Deadline for thesis and dissertation students to submit signature pages and final pdf document for review

12 Apr last day to withdraw all courses without failing grades

24 Apr last date to receive confirmation of final clearance status to remain eligible for a degree award this term

27 Apr final examinations

6 May final grades due

31 May deadline for Records department to review and approve application for courses

14 Jun last day to withdraw all courses without failing grades

4 Jul independence day - no classes

12 Jul fee payment deadline

12 Jul Deadline for thesis students to submit publishing agreement

12 Jul Last day to submit successfully defended master level thesis for review

31 Jul Deadline for final exam milestone for dissertation in information system

31 Jul Deadline for dissertation students to submit publishing agreement

31 Jul Deadline for dissertation students to final PDF

7 Aug last date to receive confirmation of final clearance status to remain eligible for a degree award this term

9 Aug final examinations

31 Aug degree certification

CONTENT RELATED TO TENTPOLE MARKETING COMMUNICATION: CREATE A CALENDAR FOR EACH TARGET CUSTOMER PROFILE ELEMENT

• Tentpole Marketing Communication 101

Tentpoling for Marketing Communication Strategy

Communication with your target market (or promotion) is a key aspect of the marketing mix. However, timing that communication appropriately around a significant event is often the essence of strategic communication marketing. Apply the following steps to meet your marketing objectives.

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1. Select events that are relevant to your target market. Also consider the mission statement for your business' current period. For instance, a new business may be concerned with brand awareness, new customer acquisition, customer loyalty and so on.  Keeing the mission in mind may help to select only  the most worthwhile tentpoles and insert meaninful touchpoints into the execution plan. Common examples of events include the following.

• new product launches - aimed at long term sales of a non-seasonal product 
• seasonal cultural events, like Christmas - aimed at promoting seasonal increase in sales  
• consumer events, like birthdates, subscription expiration - aimed at brand recall, loyalty, etc
• major third party events, like World Cup sporting competitions.
• the occurence of positive or negative risks, like natural disasters affecting your industry, your or a competitor's product recalls - aimed at brand recall, acquiring competition's customers, etc
• major current affairs (like new civil rights legislation, natural environmental debates, release of popular movies)
• trending social media topics (hastagged topics),
• You can even use events that are not directly related to your product as an excuse, simply to keep your brand in the minds of your customers. Essentially, you aim to piggy back off of events that create their own buzz among your customers. In this last case, you may need to consult a calendar of events like national holidays, celebrations (often based on historical events and milestones). Consider your industry and a calendar that might apply to your business' core values and focus. For instance, a culinary arts business may consult a calendar with different food days. See below how to maintain and list and highlight events and their dates.

2. Know the dates of the event and align marketing communication with your market's response timing. This is important because you are unlikely to sell Christmas decorations if you begin to advertise on Christmas day or even Christmas eve. After all, people will have usually completed decorations by then because they buy in anticipation of the event. In the image below, the green line shows the start of early prebuzz marketing communication campaign. See how to use Google Trends to estimate your target market's pre-buzz readiness. Prebuzz may take many forms that include Youtube infommercials.

See below how content, manufacturing and advertising can be scheduled around each event.

Tentpoling: marketing communication is about timing

The following table illustrates how I fill my marketing calender with events. The order in which I list tentpoles is based on the earliest date on which I must take action (usually for manufacturing the product or for inviting pre-orders as a means for planning manufacturing volumes). In other words, I do NOT use the event. In the example below, Christmas is the event. However, it appears in the August list.

August (Date calc)

1- Event & search keyword(s), date	2-Ad Type, media, timing	3-Product availability	4a-Product Type, production method, lead time	4b-Product Differentiation Special edition symbols, etc	5-Manufacture date(s)
Christmas 25 Dec	Ø B2C: pre-manufacture pre-order invitation via FB product page, Instagram, YT, 7-20 Aug, 1-4 Oct   pre-buzz (v sharp peak) via Facebook, FB product page, 13Dec to 24-Dec   post-buzz (excess stock), 26-Dec to 5-Jan       Ø WS: pre-manufacture pre-order invitation via messaged link to order form, 7-20 Aug	Ø B2C: Facebook, Instagram, 5-Oct to 26-Dec                   Ø WS: Shippers, 28-Sep to 20-Dec	Rum cake, fruit soaked, 7 weeks	Red, white, green	10-Aug to 2-Nov

1- Event

& search keyword(s), date

2-Ad

Type, media, timing

 

3-Product availability

4a-Product

Type, production method, lead time

4b-Product Differentiation

Special edition symbols, etc

5-Manufacture date(s)

Christmas 25 Dec

Ø B2C:

pre-manufacture pre-order invitation via FB product page, Instagram, YT, 7-20 Aug, 1-4 Oct

 

pre-buzz (v sharp peak) via Facebook, FB product page, 13Dec to 24-Dec

 

post-buzz (excess stock), 26-Dec to 5-Jan  

 

 

Ø WS:

pre-manufacture pre-order invitation via messaged link to order form, 7-20 Aug

 

Ø B2C:

Facebook, Instagram, 5-Oct to 26-Dec

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ø WS:

Shippers, 28-Sep to 20-Dec

 

Rum cake, fruit soaked, 7 weeks

Red, white, green

10-Aug to 2-Nov

Here are the meanings of the columns.

Column 1. The event refers to the date or range of dates during which consumers recognize the event. The keyword used by the target market.

Column 2. Advertising date is based on when consumers are likely to begin thinking about and buying in anticipation for the event. This may also involve inviting customers to pre-order for the sake of establishing appropriate manufacture volumes for special editions and perhaps creating a sense of scarcity. 

   a. B2C / Direct consumers: This date is based on when interest peaked. Interest levels are based on historical Google Trends data for the keyword(s) associated with the event. Examples include: Google Trends for your target market's region over the past 5 years.

   b. Wholesale (WS). This date is earlier than the date for consumers. It gives WS customers enough advance time to order and receive shipments in time for when interest in the product peaks.

Column 3. The date from which the product is available for shipment 

   a. B2C: usually the day after advertisement

   b. WS: S/A 

Column 4. Production

   a. Product type and production lead time

   b. Themes & symbols

Column 5. The ‘manufacture date’ field is calculated as Availability date to WS customers MINUS production lead time.

 

3. Respond to your market's environment and trends. Although events that are relevant to your market are unplanned, they may be useful for marketing if they have some strong correlation with your market's response to them. This is where post-buzz tentpoling can apply. Examples include news events and social trends (like the public response from anything like oil prices to movies featuring some aspect of your product or social media events). Like other newbie marketers, you probably agonized over how you could possibly emotionally engage your market into buying your product. The solution is to ride the wave of your market's emotional response to events in the news, movies and so on, ie as the emotional response can relate to your product in the middle of the sales funnel. Learn more about the sales funnel. Emotional marketing this way is the driver behind the phenomenon in which a previously obscure style of dress suddenly flies off shelves after a major event like a celebrity wedding, an awards ceremony and even viral wardrobe malfunctions. 

4. Create buzz content, actvities and products that meet your market's touchpoints requirements. Use personal branding, lifestyle branding, relevant keywords for search engine optimization (SEO) in titles and so on, etc. See how to use Google Trends to generate timely content. When creating content around a major third event (like world cup sporting events), check with your legal team before using creating content that associates their brand with yours. If are reliant on major news events, your risk management team needs have a plan for horizon scanning for quickly generating post-buzz content for such circumstances. When possible, have a risk communication plan with script templates.

Consider the case of Kylie Cosmetics' Lip Kit product launch. It sold out within 1 minute despite no paid traffic and under 10 full time and only slightly more temporary staff members. The event used several years of Kylie's selfies for pre launch buzz. While her fame gave her an unprecendented following of hundreds of millions of fans, the brand's following paled in comparison. It was therefore sensible to closely link her personal brand to her cosmetics brand. Her Instagram started in 2011 as being very typical of any teenager. However, at some point, there was a noteworthy shift including many high quality images. Why would a teenager who is not a model need to take so many glamorous, obviously curated photos? The daily photoshoots showcased her personal brand personality exactly how it would appeal to her target. Specifically, the brand personality was one that her target would want to 'befriend'. However, it rivalled the cosmetics brand in terms of engagement for her posts. Her personal brand was therefore indispensible to any product launch. It is noteworthy that her frequent posts built feelings of trust and familiarity - a brand manager's dream. Her daily posts of the minutae of life provided the numerous touchpoints that basic products alone struggle to achieve. Another key learning point is the fact that the process of repeated touchpoints to build familiarity and trust take time and should be planned well in advance. For instance, The Kylie Lip Kit name had been trademarked in 2015, ie 2 years in advance of the launch. The pre-launch touchpoints never discussed lips. Rather, they focused on makeup tutorials for everything other than for the lips. This therefore manufactured the need for a solution for lips. She was not asking anything of her audience. Rather, for 2 years of stellar patience, these posts only provided perceived value. What she was getting in return however was that her target market was not only the trust and familiarity but also a reciprocity debt (a subtle principle of influence / persuasion). To launch product extensions, she made her personal brand appropriately relatable with strategic collaborations with family, friends and even her baby. Scarcity marketing is often beneficial to tentpole marketing. It was intentionally used for Kylie products despite the fact that, if they wanted, Coty, the part owners of the Kylie Cosmetics brand would have had sufficient marketing knowledge to schedule production volumes to better meet demand. Besides, even Kylie's likely less experienced team would have known that her milllions of loyal fans could easily have sold out her 15,000 lip kits. Even if they had not, experience over the years of having sold hundreds of thousands of lipkits would have given them sufficient experience to prevent the brand's continued trend of product stock outs. The initial product launch stock out was ideal for creating a brand story for the media that would positively shape brand perceptions as being highly desirable and something to be bought as soon as possible. Beware however, this is generally more suitable for trendy products (NOT necessarily your mainstay products).    

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JAN
NEW YEAR'S DAY 01-JAN
    SPECIAL OFFICE HOURS

US NAT'L WHIPPED CHEESE DAY 05-Jan
SCOTTISH BURNS' NIGHT 25-Jan
GERMAN APPLE DAY 11-Jan


FEB
WORLD SAMOSA DAY 29-Feb
CHINESE NEW YEAR 08-Jan
US NAT'L PIZZA DAY 09-Feb
CHRISTIAN PANCAKE DAY 09-Feb
VALENTINE'S DAY 14-Feb
US BANANA BREAD DAY 23-Feb
US NAT'L MARGARITA DAY 22-Feb

MAR
NCAA MEN'S BASKET BALL TOURNAMENT
US SPRING BREAK
US NATIONAL  EAT ICE CREAM FOR DINNER 22-Mar

APRIL
NCAA MEN'S BASKET BALL TOURNAMENT
GOLD MASTER'S TOURNAMENT
WEDDING SEASON
MOVING SEASON
BUILDING SEASON
US NATIONAL PET DAY
INTERNATIONAL MOTHER EARTH DAY 22-Apr
 GERMAN BEER DAY 23-Apr
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MAY
MOTHER'S DAY - 13-MAY
WORLD LAUGHTER DAY - 1ST SUNDAY
 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION
HUMMUS DAY 13-May
AUSTRALIA NAT'L BURGER DAY 28-May

JUNE
NATIONAL ACNE AWARENESS MONTH
 FATHER'S DAY
ARBOR DAY (COSTA RICA) 15-Jun

 FATHER'S DAY
CANADA NAT'L (POTATO) CHIP DAY 27-Jun
CANADA FOOD DAY SAT OF CIVIC HOL WK'END
WIMBLEDON
TROPICAL SPRING / WET SEASON BEGINS
WORLD MILK DAY 01-Jun
INT'L SUSHI DAY 18-Jun
AUSTRALIA VANILLA COKE DAY 02-Jun

JUL
INDEPENDENCE DAY (US) -4-JUL
    SPECIAL OFFICE HOURS

MLB ALL-STAR GAME
US NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH
US NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY 3RD SUN
JACKFRUIT DAY 04-Jul
WORLD CHOCOLATE DAY 07-Jul

AUGUST
FRIENDSHIP DAY 1ST SUNDAY
 SUMMER OLYMPICS 05-Aug
MOTHER'S DAY (COSTA RICA) 15-Aug
 US TENNIS OPEN 29-Aug
WOMEN'S EQUALITY DAY (US) 26-Aug
 NATIONAL DOG DAY   26-Aug
 NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL 28-Aug
INT'L BEER DAY 1ST FRI

SEPT
NATIONAL ALOPECIA AWARENESS all of Sep
 LONDON FASHION WEEK
US LABOR DAY 05-Sep
INT'L BACON DAY 05-Sep
EMMY AWARDS 08-Sep
NFL SEASON KICKOFF 08-Sep
INT'L COFFEE DAY 29-Sep

OCT
WORLD HABITAT DAY 1ST MONDAY
 WORLD VEGETARIAN DAY 01-Oct
WORLD FARM ANIMALS DAY 02-Oct
WORLD CHICKEN DAY 2ND THURS
WORLD EGG DAY 2ND FRI
WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 10-Oct
 WORLD HANDWASHING DAY  15-Oct
 WORLD FOOD DAY 16-Oct
WORLD TRIPE DAY 24-Oct
S AFRICA NAT'L BRAAI DAY 24-Oct
MLB WORLD SERIES
HALLOWEEN
COLUMBUS DAY
WORLD CHEESEBURGER DAY 27-Oct
AFRICA FOOD & NUTRITION SECURITY 31-Oct

NOV
NATIONAL SKIN CARE MONTH 01-Nov, all of Nov

WORLD VEGAN DAY 01-Nov, all of Nov
GUY FAWKES' 05-Nov
US ELECTIONS 08-Nov
THAI NATIONAL CURRY DAY 1ST FRI
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR TOLERANCE 16-Nov
 WORLD PHILOSOPHY DAY   3rd THURSDAY
 GERMANY NAT'L SOUP DAY 19-Nov
WORLD HELLO DAY 21-Nov
 THANKSGIVING 25-Nov
DEUTSCHEN BUTTERBROTS (DUTCH BABIES) DAY 25-Nov
BLACK FRIDAY 26-Nov
CYBER MONDAY 28-Nov
DIWALI 30-Nov

DEC
INTERNATIONAL TEA DAY 15-Dec
 BRAZIL NAT'L MUFFIN DAY 18-Dec

CHRISTMAS 25-Dec

    SPECIAL OFFICE HOURS
 NEW YEAR'S EVE   31-Dec

PERSONAL TENTPOLES (FOR EMAIL MARKETING)

• BIRTHDATES
• EXPIRATION DATES
• PAYDAY
• WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES

NATIONAL TENTPOLES (FOR EMAIL MARKETING)

• FIND THE COMMEMORATIVE DAYS FOR YOUR MARKET

UNPLANNED EVENT TENTPOLES (FOR POST BUZZ TENT POLE MARKETING)

• MOVIES APPEALING TO YOUR MARKET
• RISING OR FALLING OIL PRICES
• SOCIAL EVENTS (CELEBRITY FASHION TRENDS, CELEBRITY NEWS & SO ON)
• NEWS OF SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGHS
• VERDICTS OF CERTAIN HIGH PROFILE COURT CASES
• OUTCOMES AND POPULAR REACTION TO MAJOR EVENTS 

CONTENT RELATED TO TENTPOLE MARKETING

• List of Commemorative Days
• List of Awareness Days
• Google Product Listing Ads / PLAs
• Craigslist advertising
• Create a Tentpole Marketing Calender Using Each Element of Your Target Customer Profile (Graduate school example)
• See how to use social media for tentpole events.
• Instagram 101. Attaching questions to Instagram stories is excellent for encouraging engagement around tentpoles.
• Fully integrate your tentpole promotion into the marketing mix. For instance, update all other marketing communication accordingly. This includes banners and slide shows on your website and social media (Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and so on). Also advise all front end personnel accordingly and forms of communication like telephone greetings, mentioning the offer, email signatures and even your live chat shortcut welcome text can be.
• Other discussions on abovementioned case studies
• Kylie Cosmetics tentpole and scarcity marketing case study (above), social media marketing, etc.
• Internal links: Kylie Cosmetics case study re product launch tentpoles; tentpole calender;

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