15 Top Tips to get your Business Ready
- Begin planning your holiday campaign in advance so you are ready to launch before the ‘silly season’ is underway. A good way to do this is by developing a Promotional Calendar. Use this as the basis of all promotional activities you conduct throughout the holiday season including holiday hours, late nights, specials and discounts.
- Repetition sells. Send multiple emails, direct mailers or holiday cards announcing your sales. (But don’t go ‘silly’ and send daily announcements – find the right balance so you don’t annoy your customers)
- Create your email calendar. Email is one of the most powerful tools in your online marketing kit, serving as a great way to deliver promotions directly to your customers. Your email calendar should include email content, list segmentation, copywriting, design and testing. To make the most of this opportunity, align your email sends with the timing of your biggest promotions that will be identified in your Promotional Calendar.
- Create time-limited offers to encourage customers to buy now.
- Highlight what makes your company unique in all your marketing materials/promotional activities. If you’re a small business who can’t compete on price, emphasise quality, experience and service.
- Use posters and flyers to reinforce your marketing campaign, especially in targeted high-traffic and shopping areas. Include a flyer into every customer’s bag detailing upcoming events, holiday hours and other promotions to get them back or for them to pass onto friends and family.
- Try direct-mail postcards with coupon codes to get customers to your website or store.
- Introduce add-on incentives, such as an entry to a competition with every purchase.
- Encourage multiple sales by offering customer loyalty cards or referral cards for discounts; or perhaps a set percentage off for every customer who refers a friend.
- Host events to bring customers in – such as a tree-lighting ceremony or visits with Santa.
- Maximise your social media platforms to let customers know about your upcoming deals. Update your cover image, profile pic and create special images for your posts. Considering advertising on social media for low-cost, targeted marketing.
- Website – ensure that your site is updated with all the holiday information and promotions/offers.
- You can make shopping easy for your customers by creating and sending a unique gift catalogue with suggestions for everyone on their list. Ensure you send this out early, we recommend mid November before your customers start getting flooded with a multitude of promotional flyers.
- Giveaways: branded magnets, pens, pads etc
- Have some way of tracking your holiday marketing so you can monitor the return on investment and plan for an even more profitable campaign next year.