It’s the most wonderful time of the year – holiday shopping season! A time for retail and service businesses alike to cash in on shoppers seeking out that perfect gift. But how can your small business get through to consumers so that they know what you have to offer?
Our gift to you…15 Marketing Tips for the Holiday Shopping Season:
- Post some photos on your Facebook Page. What better way to show off your product than with a few nice photos for your Facebook audience to see, Like, and Share?!
- Use popular hashtags such as #ShopSmall and #BlackFriday to join the holiday shopping conversation on social media.
- Put gift ideas on your website. A special graphic, some text in your news area, a blog post – something to put your offering right in front of your website visitors.
- Send an email newsletter to your subscribers with gift ideas, coupons, special offers, etc.
- Take advantage of local group promotions. Small Business Saturday, in particular, is a growing movement which many organizations and media companies are looking to push. Seek out low-to-no cost group promotions that these folks are offering.
- Open extended hours for the holiday shopping season? Let your customers know! Post your hours on your door, website, social media, email newsletter, etc.
- Try out a Facebook ad. You don’t have to spend a lot, even small ad budgets like $25 and $50 can get you significant exposure. Plus, it is likely to get you some new Facebook fans who will see your messaging long after the holidays have passed.
- Is there a holiday parade in your area? Build a float, put some company signage on it, and enter it in the parade for all of the locals to see!
- Utilize in-store marketing. Your regular customers may just be coming in for a non-gift purchase, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be interested in a gift purchase as well. Create a gift display in a high-traffic location in your store or create signage promoting gift items and hang it on the door or at the register.
- Invite a non-profit to do gift wrapping at your store on the weekends. Hopefully they invite their network to come shop and utilize their gift wrapping services. A win for you and a win for them.
- Make it easy for people to order (and even prepay for) custom items by placing an order form on your website.
- Host a fun holiday event at your store such as a scavenger hunt with prizes, holiday photo booth, visit with Santa, or free cookies & hot chocolate.
- Make a video highlighting your selection of gift items, set it to some festive music, and blast it out via all of your online channels.
- Raffle off something nice. Each gift purchase earns a customer 1 raffle ticket. If they buy 10 gift items, they get 10 raffle tickets. Pull the winner on Christmas and make their day extra special.
- Integrate your marketing efforts for a cohesive holiday marketing campaign. When your marketing channels work together, the results are magnified. So plan well and execute even better.
Here’s to a successful marketing push and strong sales this holiday shopping season!
