The holidays are fast approaching, which means the end-of-year sales rush is about to begin. In the past, companies have targeted December 1 st as the start of their holiday marketing campaign. Recently, that date has slowly crept into the beginning of November thanks to the growing popularity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
No matter your industry or product, there is no time like the present to start planning your vacation marketing. How is your business going to stand out and end the year on a high note? Here are 8 holiday marketing tips to help your small business grow.
Holiday Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
Old fashioned marketing
We live in a golden age of marketing. As a business owner, you’ve never had more ways to market your business. That doesn’t mean you have to overlook old-fashioned marketing. If you have a store, be sure to create an attractive storefront. Buy a sandwich board and use it to promote specials and specials. Look around and see what other companies are doing; how can you do better?
Email Marketing Works
Customers who have signed up for your mailing list are your most dedicated and trusted customers. Your email marketing efforts should be specially designed for them. Offer coupons to reward their loyalty and retention. Monitor the conversion rate of the emails you send, carefully noting what worked and what didn’t. Use this data to inform your email marketing campaigns in the future. Not using email marketing? Start by using one of the many available and handy apps like MailChimp or Constant Contact .
Create a community
Many neighborhoods benefit from the presence of a BIA (Business Improvement Area) to help promote the neighborhood and its members. If you live in a neighborhood that doesn’t have BIA, you can still reap some of the benefits if you’re willing to take the lead. Then you can easily know how to create backlinks. Consider collaborating with local businesses to create a neighborhood vacation event with food and music. This will generate abundant local press coverage and attract customers.
Is your business on social media? Otherwise, it should be. However, don’t fall into the trap of just using social media to sell hard. Instead, shape the conversations around your business, engage with customers, and try to build community. For the holidays in particular, consider creative promotions such as “12 Days of Deals” or ask subscribers for surveys of products they would like to see on sale. If your business has a blog, use social media to promote your blog entries.
Consider the extras
While there have never been more ways to promote your business, there has never been more competition for eyeballs. It can be hard to think of ways to stand out from the crowd, but an easy way to do that is to offer little extras that other companies don’t. An example of this is a holiday gift wrapping service. It’s December and your customers are probably busy, saving them time by packing their purchases can make the difference in making the sale, without costing you a fortune. If you want to know how to set up google analytics then yo u can read our blog.
Free delivery
Services like Amazon Prime have shown the value of fast, free delivery. Customers appreciate it and it will make them buy more products from you. Integrate it into your marketing by using it as a time-limited tactic. After all, it might be unaffordable to give it away throughout the holiday season. Even offering free final expense leads shipping for a day can give your sales a huge boost.
Extended hours
The holidays are a stressful time for many businesses, but they are also stressful for customers who are struggling in crowds. Give your customers the option of avoiding the hustle and bustle by extending your hours of operation. Quiet shoppers are happy shoppers, and they’ll love to drop by after work to collect those important gifts.
Boxing Day Sales
The holiday season does not end on December 25 th . Encourage customers to visit your store with Boxing Day sales and VIP specials for repeat customers. Give those returning customers the first dibs on sale items without having to wait and you’ll build a dedicated customer base.
Here to help
Did you enjoy our holiday marketing tips? No matter what stage of business or what problem you are facing, Small Business BC offers a range of seminars and one- on-one consultancy sessions to suit any business.