Doesn’t it seem like holiday marketing creeps forward every single year? We sure think it does.
I mean, who isn’t at least a little bit offended when turkeys start appearing in July and Santa Claus starts making appearances in November?
And yet, it’s a sort of cheer-filled arms race that you can’t afford not to be playing. Most businesses do almost one third of their annual sales during the holiday season alone. Customer attention overload also climaxes in late November and continues on into the new year and if you want to break through and make your sales numbers this year, you need to start generating some brand awareness pretty much right now!
To that effect, we want to make it easy on you!
Here are our holiday marketing tips for closing more sales in the busiest time of year:
1. Gift reminders
Does your product or service make a great gift? Remind people! One in three shoppers wait until the week of Christmas to do their shopping. You’ve probably been there, we all have: you don’t know what to get or you don’t have the time and before you know it, they’ve run out of stock.
Do your customers a huge favor and help them lock their gifts in now, early, (perhaps for a discount) so that they can avoid the last minute buying madness! The best way to do this is to focus on the pain that this typical entails, like so:
2. Holiday decorating tips
If there’s anywhere that consumers can use help this season, it’s in making sure things run smoothly. With all of the family coming over and the need to coordinate plane tickets, spare bedrooms, meals, and more, your marketing can do them a big favor. Find a way to work your products or services into simplifying or streamlining the holiday bustle and they’ll love you for it. We’re talking about things like recipes, gift wrapping ideas, books for the plane ride, games for the family, music to play, house repair, and landscaping.
3. Offer holiday related services
A smart marketer realizes that they can turn just about anything into a compelling event, and the holidays are no exception. With so many people either using their home to gather the whole family or leaving it vacant to go back to someone else’s, there’s a lot that you can remind them not to forget. If you’re a landscaper, make sure that their house is safe and clear from widow-makers while they’re gone. If you’re a dentist, make sure that the kids’ teeth are galvanized against the onslaught of sugary goodies that are coming. If you’re a contractor, make sure that the house is ready to withstand the flood of slushy boots! There’s something for every business in here.
4. Sweeten the deal with holiday offerings
Help people get into the holiday spirit by giving your products or services a holiday twist – gift wrap purchases, hand out candy canes, give away toothbrushes, and color things in Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, or Christmas colors.
5. Holiday count-down marketing
If you’re really looking to stay top of mind, start a countdown. In some cases, this makes a lot of sense for sales that can’t happen early, like food, flowers, decorations, and travel. Use marketing postcards simply to lay the foundation for later sales!
That season is just around the corner!
Just like your shopping, don’t put off your holiday marketing until it’s too late. Pick up the phone and give us a jingle at 1 (877) 222-6010 and let’s get you set up for end of year success!
If you really want a hands free holiday marketing plan, call up the experts at Opportunity Knocks, the sister company to ProspectsPLUS that will set all of your campaigns up for you!