The Holiday Marketing Guide for Small Businesses
We have officially entered the holiday season! October through January is filled with holidays from Halloween to New Years. As a small business, you can take advantage of this joyful time 1. Holiday cards
Send out personalized holiday cards to your most loyal customers. While your customers expect to receive a Christmas card from their grandparents, they aren’t expecting one from your small business. This will be sure to leave a positive impression and shows that you truly appreciate your loyal customers. If you don’t have the resources to send out personalised cards, you can also hand out cards to customers in-store or include them in online orders.
2. Kid-friendly fun
A great way to capture customers is through their kids. Hold a kids’ contest like a make-your-own-ornament contest or holiday coloring contest. You can give away one big prize or give everyone small prizes, like halloween candy or swag. Besides a contest, you can make your business kid-friendly 3. Entertainment
Not just the kids need to be entertained while they are out shopping. Think about hiring musicians or a DJ to play in your store or outside your restaurant to attract customers and get them in a joyful mood.
4. Giveaways
Who doesn’t love free stuff? Show your customers how much you appreciate them 5. Perks
Use perks to stay competitive during the holiday season. Draw in customers with perks such as free shipping, gift-wrapping options, double loyalty points or guaranteed-before-Christmas delivery dates.
Holiday sales
6. Black Friday
Black Friday is one of the biggest sales of the year, so you should take advantage of this day too. You can start hyping up your Black Friday deals early and get people excited about shopping in store or online. The important thing here is to make it a limited supply. You want people to plan in your store for after their Thanksgiving dinner. As Mashable states, “Using whatever data-driven analytics you’ve got access to, figure out the products that are most in-demand for your target market, and then give your customers what they want: A deal they can’t find elsewhere.”
7. Small Business Saturday
A sales day dedicated to small businesses cannot go unnoticed. Small Business Saturday, started 8. Cyber Monday
And the sales don’t stop after the weekend! Cyber Monday has become one of the most profitable days for businesses selling online. In order to provide your customers with the best possible experience on this day, ensure that your website — both desktop and mobile — is optimized in the weeks leading up to these holiday sales. Be sure that your site or app can handle the extra traffic if you are offering a “once a year” discount.
Pro tip: To get most of of all these holiday sales, tie them together with tactics like handing out Cyber Monday coupon codes on the receipts of Black Friday purchases. This way, customers are enticed to come back to do the rest of their holiday shopping.
Special publicity
9. Partnerships
Partner with other local businesses 10. Local publicity
A great way to get some local publicity is 11. Decoration
There’s something magical about a store window filled with a beautiful holiday display. It’s also a great way to promote your business to casual passers12. Charity
People in the holiday spirit like to give back to a good cause. As a small business, you should consider giving back to your community during the holiday season. You can add a charitable element in various ways. Maybe you donate a small portion of your proceeds to a local animal shelter, you might set up a donation box in your establishment, or you could organize a toy drive in partnership with surrounding businesses. You’ll get customers in the door, while also promotion a charity and your own business.
Now it’s time to map out your small business’ holiday marketing strategy. You can start This story originally appeared on Bizness Apps