The holiday season is officially here and I have no doubt that if you’re a business owner, you’re right in the middle of figuring out your holiday promotions. Ideally, you should be thinking about your holiday marketing way back in the summer. But, I know that some of us just don’t work like that! It’s not too late to get your holiday marketing in order, but you’ll want to think outside the box to really make things work. Here are some tips to help your business stand out this holiday season.
Think more than just discounts
Get ready for your inbox to be full of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday emails. There’s nothing wrong with using discount codes. But let’s pretend we’re our ideal clients for a moment. The brands making it into their inboxes are already ones they’ve made connections with. This means you shouldn’t be waiting until Thanksgiving week to start showing up! Plan a content strategy where you can make valuable content that’s shareable and allows your audience to interact with you before you drop those discount codes. Think gift guides and value-added newsletters. Show up on social media with behind-the-scenes product looks or how your service really helps your clients. Prime your audience to make a purchase when you show up on Small Business Saturday.
Optimize for mobile
If you’re anything like me, you probably do A LOT of your shopping on your phone. For more and more people, phones are becoming our defacto computers. So make sure your website is set up to work well on mobile. To better optimize your site, go to your site analytics to see how many visitors you have coming from mobile devices. It’s probably WAY more than you realize. What’s their experience like? Think about the customer journey and see how to optimize it. Are pages showing up the way they should? Are buttons easily clickable? Make necessary changes and test on your phone to make sure that your site is set up to convert.
Now’s the time for social media
Social media plays a role in your holiday marketing. There are tons of ways to sell via social media. Hopefully, you’ve been working on your social strategy all year. Now is the time to make that work pay off! If you have an online shop, connect it to Facebook to allow for easy purchases directly from the site. This is also a must if you want to take advantage of utilizing Facebook and Instagram ads. Plan your social media campaigns around your products and build up excitement around your holiday launch. Partner with social media influencers who can help spread the word about your business or organize a giveaway to get new eyes on your business. Even better, if you have regular people that are always interacting with your content, reach out and ask them to be brand ambassadors! When it comes to social media and promoting any product or service, the key is to do it until you think it may be annoying and then do it a little bit more. Remember – most people aren’t seeing your content as much as you are.
Engage with your email list
If you followed along on my Beyond Social Media series, you already know the importance of having an email list. The holiday season is the perfect time to utilize that list. Plan out your holiday email campaigns and schedule everything so you’re not left scrambling during the shopping weekend. Share your favorite gift ideas, remind your readers how valuable your services are, and send follow-up emails during your launch. Give your list special discount codes and ample time to purchase. Don’t forget those “sale ends soon” and “last chance to purchase” emails. Those can help get people off the fence and into your shopping cart.
Make sure you have all your bases covered this holiday season. Download the FREE Holiday Marketing Checklist and set your business up for success.
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