Holiday Marketing Inspiration for Small Business Owners

The holiday season is shopping season. During this time of year, consumers are spending money on both gifts for others and treats for themselves. As a small business owner, you want to take advantage of this opportunity to boost your sales. Marketing is the answer, allowing you to attract new customers and build rapport with existing customers. You want to promote your business without breaking the bank. Discover some actionable and cost-efficient holiday marketing tips below.

Hold a sale

Everyone is looking for ways to save money when they’re doing their holiday shopping. Help consumers out by holding a sale. You can offer percentage discounts or specials like “buy one, get one half off.” To prepare for a sale, first, come up with a discount that won’t cut into your profits substantially. Then, make sure you have sufficient inventory and create a display to show it off. Finally, promote your sale using tools like social media and newsletters.

Create stocking stuffer bundles

The more goods you sell, the more you earn. To get people to buy more products, consider creating “stocking stuffer” bundles. For example, you might create baskets that include body wash, exfoliant, and lotion. This way, you get people to buy three products instead of just one. When compiling goods for bundles, consider consumers’ needs. You want the items you sell together to be a logical fit. For example, if you sell coffee and tea, you might create a combination package where people can buy coffee beans or tea plus a mug.

Extend your hours

The holiday season can get busy. People are often trying to cram in their gift-buying alongside other tasks, like planning holiday parties and wrapping up end-of-year work projects. Accommodate shoppers’ needs by extending your holiday hours. For example, if you’re usually closed on Sundays, you might stay open on Sundays during December. When extending hours, prepare accordingly. You may need to hire additional staff, for instance.

Partner with other businesses

Plenty of other businesses are going to be promoting their goods and services during the holidays. Consider teaming up to promote each other’s offerings. Send Pulse explains the benefits of cross-promotion, including generating new leads, boosting brand awareness, and growing your audience. When picking businesses to partner with, think logically. For example, if you sell food items, you might team up with a company that sells drinks. It also makes sense to partner with companies that share your target audience.

Get active on social media

Social media is a great way to reach consumers. Use holiday-related hashtags to create targeted social media campaigns. You can also share holiday-related deals and content on your social feeds. For maximum impact, add promotional PDFs to your social media profiles. You can showcase products, for example, or promote your business. If you have marketing materials in other formats, like PowerPoint or Word, convert them to PDF with a free PDF converter. All you have to do is drag and drop the file into the tool to convert it.

Craft a seasonal newsletter

A newsletter is a great way to boost loyalty among customers and stay on their minds. You can use newsletters to promote the above measures, like holiday sales and extended opening hours. It’s easy to create your own newsletter using tools like MailerLite, Campaign Monitor, and MailChimp. Give the newsletter a seasonal look and feel using holiday-related images and content. You can also use your newsletter to cross-promote with other businesses, as described above. 

Share useful holiday-related content

Whether you’re sharing information on social media or sending out a newsletter, make sure your content is relevant to the holidays. Also, aim to create content that’s useful and valuable to consumers. For example, around the holiday season, you might share decorating and cooking tips. Plan That offers a roundup of holiday content ideas that can inspire you. Examples include showcasing seasonal products, revealing holiday flashbacks, and sharing holiday hacks.

Create a gift guide

A gift guide is another example of useful holiday content worth sharing. Pick out products that would be appropriate for the various people in an individual’s life, such as a parent, child, coworker, sibling, or friend. Then, put together your gift guide highlighting these targeted goods. You can also promote other businesses’ products through a gift guide and ask them to promote yours.

Get holiday packaging

Holiday packaging can be a nice perk for consumers who are looking to buy gifts and need to wrap them. If your packaging is pretty, you’re saving them the trouble of having to wrap it separately. Invest in some festive wrapping supplies. You can even create your own holiday-themed wrapping paper using a service like Printify. If you want to go the extra mile, set up a wrapping station in your store and offer complimentary wrapping services.

Set up a holiday contest

Contests are a great way to engage customers and keep them interested in your business. Try different contests throughout the holiday season. For example, you might offer a different promotion every day of December leading up to Christmas. Alternatively, you can host a hashtag contest on social media or try a photo contest. The aim is to encourage customers to take action, which is more engaging than simply throwing marketing materials at them.

Set up a charitable initiative

The holiday season isn’t just about presents, of course. It’s also a time of giving. Keep the spirit of the season alive by setting up a charitable initiative. You might find a local charity to partner with and donate a portion of your holiday proceeds to them, for example. Partnering with a charity offers many advantages for your business, such as building brand awareness and connecting with your target audience.

Host a virtual holiday event

The holiday season is a great time to connect with your clients and show your appreciation for their business. However, hosting a traditional holiday party can be costly and time-consuming. A more efficient option is to host a virtual holiday event. By using video conferencing software, you can easily connect with clients from all over the world. Plus, virtual events are more eco-friendly, since there is no need to travel or consume resources like paper invitations. And best of all, virtual events can be easily customized to fit your budget and schedule. So, if you’re looking for a cost-effective way to connect with your clients this holiday season, consider hosting a virtual event.

The holiday season is a great opportunity to connect with customers. From holding sales to engaging on social media, the above guide offers plenty of affordable marketing ideas for small business owners.

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