The holiday season is something like Santa’s gift to retailers. Americans are willing to spend upwards of $1,000 on average, and that amount increases per year.
However, if you think that you will see a significant increase in sales even if you don’t do anything, you’ll be wrong. You need the right marketing strategy to make sure a part of their spending budget goes to you. You’ll need a stronger pull, especially since businesses will be bringing their A-game, as well.
On that note, how can small businesses up their holiday marketing game during this season? Read on for some tried-and-tested ideas you may be able to implement this coming holiday.
1. Host a Holiday Kick-Off Event
Let everyone know you’re welcoming the holidays with a kick-off event. Hold a tree lighting ceremony, throw a party, provide holiday drinks, or do something that would get buyers to flock to your store.
For websites, you may participate instead in such events as a pop-up store. Let your customers know by sending newsletters and announcing it on your channels.
You may also look out for local events like parades and take part as a business sponsor. The coordinators of such events will do the holiday marketing themselves, though it wouldn’t hurt to do your part by posting it on social media and forum threads.
Bigger events draw in bigger crowds, which can help you expand your reach with less effort on your part. These also provide great opportunities to showcase your holiday-themed and seasonal products.
2. Adopt the Holiday Spirit
Want your customers to be in a festive, generous mood? Then dress up your shop or your website in festive décor.
Put up Christmas lights, put up a Christmas tree, and play Christmas songs. Companies also change their logos to something more festive. A garland here, some snow falling and colorful lights there will make any logo more in tune with the holiday spirit.
If you have mobile apps, push out a holiday update that will transform the UI into something more cheery. Often, apps will also change their icons to reflect the changes.
In other words, every corner of their store or website screams the holidays.
3. Provide Gift Guides
Providing gift guides is a great way to both provide value and introduce your products. This is a good idea to put up on your blog or your social media account.
Be it in the form of a listicle or a video, give examples of a good gift idea under a certain category. It could be about gifts under $25, gifts for working mothers, or something like gifts for a bookworm. Provide links to each product to make it easy for the audience to find them.
If you don’t sell online, categorize your products in your store in the same way, then put up a sign. You can also reach out to bloggers and ask them to include your product in their gift guides.
Don’t forget to send out email newsletters to help your customers get ideas. Direct them to the product page or your physical store.
4. Send out Thank You Cards Before Everyone Else
The holidays are the perfect time to show gratitude to the support of your customers, but this is something that every small business and large corporation knows. Consumers are likely to be expecting a hoard of thank you cards to come their way once December rolls around.
Make your physical or virtual card stand out by sending it earlier than others. Take this opportunity to give a coupon or discounts for your loyal customers.
5. Switch up Your Promotions Throughout the Holidays
Want your customers to keep coming back for more? Run different promotions throughout the holiday season.
For clothing stores, for example, they can have their shoes discounted on one week, then their women’s clothes on the following week, and then the children’s clothes the following week leading up to Christmas.
Afterward, they can run clearance sales so people who still have some late shopping to do can come back to their store.
If you want your existing customers to feel special, host an exclusive sale for members only. The next day, open the doors to other customers. This works great for online stores.
6. Appeal to Your Customers’ Emotions
Do you still remember that Coca-Cola ad that runs during the holidays? Of course you do, which makes it a good example of this tip.
When you appeal to your customers’ emotions, you make your ads more memorable to consumers. You might even be able to make it go viral on social media, which will increase your brand exposure.
You can appeal to nostalgia, tug at their heartstrings, or make them go “aww” with your content. What you’ll invoke are genuine feelings that may translate into positivity toward your brand. They’re also more likely to engage with your brand than when you scream “DISCOUNT” at their faces.
7. Provide Add-On Incentives for Purchasing
The holiday season is when people don’t need a lot of urging to spend. But you can still help them with a little nudge.
Consider giving out additional discounts, coupons, or a chance to win something for a minimum spend. A car, a vacation for 4, or a cruise are popular giveaways that people are willing to spend a little bit more for.
You can also have a special gift they can work towards. Allow them to collect a certain amount of stickers for a minimum spend. When they collect enough stickers, they can then claim the reward.
Free shipping vouchers work wonders, too. At check-out, remind them that they can qualify for free shipping if they spend a certain amount.
Prepare Your Holiday Marketing Strategy Early
The holiday season comes every year; it’s not like it isn’t a predictable event, so there’s no reason why you would not have a solid holiday marketing strategy in place before it even comes around.
Still, it’s never too late to draft up a strategy. If you need any help with that, contact us now so we can help you get started.
