There I was, schlepping my 3.5 year old through the AC-less mall, dripping sweat and writing this newsletter in my head.

Last week, I took my daughter on a Mommy/Daughter Day to pick out a first day of preschool outfit and spend some one-on-one time with her.

I learned a few important things:

• Shoe shopping with a toddler is not fun.
• Bell bottoms are apparently back?! Literally every pair of pants they had for toddlers had bell bottoms.
• My daughter is as indecisive as I am. Every time I'd ask if she wanted the one decent outfit we found in that store or if she wanted to try another store, the answer was always try another store.

And that's how I found myself walking up and down the length of our mall twice, no AC in sight and holding my 3.5 year old in my arms because I'd forgotten the stroller at home.

(To be fair, she walked a lot of it too, but I didn't want to completely wear out the poor kid.)

And as we walked, four marketing lessons popped out without me even looking for them:

1. Upsell ethically.

One of the four times we walked past Auntie Anne's, we stopped and got cinnamon sugar pretzel nuggets (yes, they're as amazing as they sound).

As I was checking out, the woman asked "Small or large?" and then immediately without taking a breath added, "It's a 50 cent difference."

I'd been planning on getting the small. We only needed a quick snack. But 50 cents for double the deliciousness? Sold.

And here's the thing: I wasn't annoyed by it.

Adding upsells to your cart is when you suggest other related products or services your customer might want. And a lot of the time, it gets to be really obnoxious.

​I shared in a recent newsletter that I got an upsell recently with a subsequent four downsells and crossells. If I hadn't already put in my credit card info, I would have bailed on the original purchase because it was just so obnoxious.

But I think those experiences have made us fear upsells at all, when in reality, when done tastefully (no pun intended), they can actually be extremely beneficial for you and your customer.

It's no different than the Macy's counter asking if you want it gift wrapped or Wendy's asking if you want a fries or drink with your purchase.

Now if the Auntie Anne's lady had asked me if I also wanted a drink and some fries and 14 more pretzels, I would have gotten annoyed fast.

One subtle upsell can create more value for your customer and higher average carts for you. Win win.

2. Not everyone wants even free stuff.

Right after we finished our pretzel nuggets, I realized I'd made not one, but two parenting blunders: Not only had I forgotten the stroller at home, but I'd also left the bag with our portable potty seat in the car, assuming we wouldn't need it because we'd just used the bathroom at the previous store.

(I know, it's like it was my first day out with a toddler.)

Anyway, off we go to find the mall's bathroom (which was an experience in and of itself) and on our way, we walked through the food court past a man handing out samples from the Chinese restaurant.

"Want to try a sample?" he asked, holding out some delicious-smelling chicken in my direction.

And while it smelled wonderful, I was a mama on a mission. "No, thank you," I responded as I passed.

An easy way to grow your email list is to create something of value for free to get people onto the list. And here's the thing: Not everyone is going to want it, even if it's free.

Conversion rates on a landing page for a freebie are typically higher than something for a paid offering (I've seen some research say 10%, which I think is crazy low...depending on if it's cold or warm traffic, I'd want to see at least 30-40%+).

But still...it's not 100%. And that's okay. Not everybody wants something for free...because they know it's not really free. Even their inbox space has a value to it.

So offer something for free, make sure it's of crazy value that will leave people begging for more of what you offer (essentially, eliciting the reaction of "if this is what they're offering for free, what will their paid stuff be like?"), and if they don't bite, don't worry.

As I read recently in a Russel Brunson book, if they aren't going to give you their email address, they weren't going to give you their money.

3. Go where the people are.

As we concluded our bathroom visit (in which my toddler decided she didn't actually want to use the bathroom 🤦‍♀️), we walked past the sample guy again, and I couldn't help but mentally laud him for his courage to put himself out there.

All of the other food vendors were waiting behind their counters for customers to come to THEM.

Instead, this guy was going out to where the people were — walking the food court looking for food — and actively reaching out past the noise of bright signs and loud music to get their attention about his restaurant.

Oftentimes, we take the "Build it and they will come" mentality to our marketing, but in today's oversaturated market, we have to be willing to be brave and stand out by going to where our people are (online, on the radio, in their mailbox, in stores where they are, etc.) and telling them about what we do.

4. Retarget, but acknowledge.

Our fourth and final marketing lesson also comes from our good friend The Sample Guy.

As we passed him on our way back to traverse the mall in search of the perfect first day of school outfit, he again offered me a sample...

...with no acknowledgement that he'd just seen me five minutes before.

Now, to be fair, he probably sees thousands of people a day. But I also happened to have a (completely unbiased here) adorably cute 3 year old with me that tends to make us more memorable.

As I walked away, despite having been talked to twice, I felt less seen and known than I had prior to the interactions.

Because at the end of the day, there's nothing more telling about how you care more about your customer's wallets when you don't recognize them as people first.

So if you're going to retarget or show the same ad to the same people multiple times, acknowledge it! Don't pretend like you've never "seen" them before digitally; give them a slightly new experience that leads them further into relationship, not further from your organization.

In the end, we purchased a dress we'd found at store #3 out of 5, my daughter proclaimed that she loved our day together, and you got four marketing lessons out of the deal. I'd call that a pretty successful Mommy/Daughter Day.

For His greater glory,

Emily

​