If you’re as big a fan of the show Shark Tank as we all are here at Benchmark HQ, you probably recall the guys from Tipsy Elves. $1.35 million in sales got the Sharks attention and they left with a deal from Robert Herjavec. Since the show has aired, they’ve boasted $8 million in sales on a Shark Tank update.

No, we didn’t decide to interview Tipsy Elves for a Christmas in July piece. We’d melt wearing an ugly Christmas sweater here in sunny Southern California in July. They also have an awesome patriotic clothing line that’s perfect for the 4th of July.

With that in mind, we knew they’d be the perfect company to offer some 4th of July marketing tips from one enterprise level company to yours. We’ll get to that. First, I had to fanboy a bit and got some other great tidbits out of Evan Mendelsohn one of the founders of Tipsy Elves.

On how their marketing has changed since Shark Tank:

“We focus more on capitalizing on PR opportunities. Pre Shark Tank, SEO was one of our largest drivers to the site. If you Google “ugly Christmas sweater” we ranked in the top two position. Now it’s more about maximizing the benefit we get from any sort of PR, press opportunity, TV appearance and that sort of thing.”

On the best advice they’ve received from their Shark:

“Robert always has the mentality that you have to be all in on your business. The difference between being all in and being half in will make all the difference in how quickly you can grow your company and ultimately how successful you will be.”

On why 4th of July is a prime opportunity to sales and promotions:

“There seems to be a huge surge of patriotism. People have always been proud to be an American, but it seems more so now than ever. Speaking to people during the key American holidays with unique and fun products has been a big success for us. People always want to wear something fun and stand out during the holidays.”

Without further adieu, here’s the four patriotic marketing tips from our friends at Tipsy Elves:

1. Remember what Independence Day is all about

   
   
   We often find our e-commerce counterparts forget about the meaning behind various holidays in lieu of whatever special they are promoting. Independence Day or “Fourth of July” celebrates our independence from Great Britain and marks the nationhood or “birth” of our country. Knowing this can lead to some fun email subject lines that will resonate better to the recipient. Rather than a boring subject line that reads “Independence Day Sale,” try “Celebrate Our Country’s Birthday With Our Biggest Sale Yet.” Something more fun will likely lead to higher click through rates and better conversions.

2. Know your customer and speak to him/her

   
   
   You can’t be everything to everyone. A key to our success at Tipsy Elves has been to know our customer and speak to them, and continue to make new and unique products that speak to them. We’ve of course been tempted to expand our product lines in a thousand different directions, but our best product lines and strategies have been the ones that speak to our core demographic. Dig into analytics, attend tradeshows, and really understand your customer so that you can adopt a voice and product or sales strategy that speaks to these customers.

3. You don’t know what you don’t know

   
   
   While this philosophy applies to many things in life, we’ve found it especially true with marketing channels. There are so many marketing channels out there and new ways to bring customers to your website. Try them all. We didn’t even have an email list last year and now email marketing is one of our key channels. Some will fail, and some will succeed. But you have to try them all to know which are best for your business.

4. Sometimes it’s when you aren’t trying to sell, that you sell. Keep it fun.

   
   
   Sometimes the harder you try to sell, the worse you sell. And the opposite holds true. Some of our best emails from a conversion standpoint have been the ones that tell a story or keep things fun and lightweight. Rather than list product links in your email, tell a fun story about your products. This is especially helpful during a fun holiday like the 4th of July. People want to be entertained more than they want to shop. If you can be both their source of entertainment and shopping, you’ve got a good thing going on.