By Tony Solomon
The holidays are upon us and it is the time of the year when you need to make your best efforts to market your products to your old and future customers. The fact is that this is one of the best times of the year to grow your business.
The main reason behind this is because it is the season that provides you with numerous opportunities to make an impact on your customer base. It is truly the perfect time to connect with people and deepen your relationships.
In this article, we are going to discuss some of the best holiday marketing tips and ideas.
Explain How Your Product can Help: This is a great time for you to let people know how your product or service can help them out during the holiday season.
It is perfect for service-based businesses that are able to get things done for clients who are too busy at this time of year. For example, if you are a service that offers e.g. pet-sitting, let your clients and prospects know that you can take care of their pets while they are away during the holidays.
If you are a virtual assistant, you can help solopreneurs with their tasks so that they can have more time to spend with their loved ones. The same goes for cleaning or decorating services.
Give Back to the Community: It is a great idea to take part in charity and volunteer organizations and events during this period.
Furthermore, you should make sure that you share the experience that you had with everyone. People need to know that you really care about your surroundings and people. You can decide to hold an event and ask for donations to charities. It could be The Salvation Army, Toys for Tots, food collections, etc. Then let all your contacts know that they can participate as well.
Feature a Product of the Month: It is a good marketing trick to promote a certain product or service every day during the holidays.
It would be a great idea to focus your attention on either high margin products, or products that your customers have yet to learn about. This is a great strategy for food businesses, for example. This could be e.g. a cake of the month for restaurants or a coffee of the month for coffee shops.
It is also a tactic that consultants and trainers use when they offer featured webinars and newsletters.
Leverage the Power of Online Channels: You need to make use of your social media presence to engage with your followers during the holidays. One of the best ways to do this is to host a kind of a holiday contest.
For example, you can ask people to share photos of how they decorated their homes for the season, and reward the owner of the photograph that receives the most likes. It’s all about being creative and getting your followers to discuss and share. You also must not forget about your headquarters – your website.
Website design and development is an essential part of your marketing campaign, as you need to adjust your site to the time of the year and the latest trends. Make sure that it is obvious that your website is up to date with the holiday events, and use it to spread the news about what you can offer during this period.
Host an Open House: If you are running a business such as retail or a restaurant, you can host an open house event in the midst of November.
This is a great time to present your holiday season merch, gifts, and menus. Offer people a glass of wine or cider to really get them into the whole holiday spirit. This way, your customers will have a good look at your holiday menus or products in advance. Top that with a coupon or a special offer that they can make use of until the end of the holidays.
Partner With Another Business: There are probably other businesses in your vicinity that are looking for ways to boost their income during the holiday season.
If you have a way to partner up with such a business, you can cross-promote each other and reap the benefits.
Let’s say that you own a store selling cosmetic products. Partnering up with a hair salon might be a great way to offer a time-limited discount on products and services for people that visit both your establishments.
Make an Impact: The holiday season is the perfect time to get creative and market your products or services to old customers and prospects in order to grow your business. This is the season when you can make an impact on the community and your customers will surely appreciate it.
Try out one of these 6 tips and tricks and see how they work out for you.