If you are a business owner - Especially in the retail sector - You will find these five marketing tips essential to boost holiday sales for your brand. Gracia Smith, guest author, shares her insight...
A guest post by Gracia Smith
Are you a business owner looking to boost your holiday sales this season?
Americans spend millions of dollars during the holiday season on gifts, travel, and hosting expenses. In turn, December is the most crucial month of the year for businesses. But standing out from the crowd can be difficult amid the swarm of email newsletters, Instagram giveaways, and pop up sales every company is promoting this time of year to boost holiday sales.
In this article, you will discover how to boost holiday sales for your brand by following the five essential marketing tips below...
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Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons, by Njo[/caption]
1. Tis the Season To Boost Holiday Sales
Presentation is always key, but becomes even more so during the holiday season, so make sure your business is festive and inviting. But there is more to holiday-ing your business than stringing up some twinkle lights outside your front door (though more twinkle lights never hurt anyone).
Give your website and social media accounts a holiday facelift with seasonal icons and cover photos. Update your website with festive banners.
Actionable Insight: Both brick and mortar stores, and e-retailers can up their customer service with complimentary gift-wrapping.
2. Make The Short List
Holiday marketing is tricky because you aren’t targeting your ideal customer; you are targeting people who want to buy a present for your ideal customer. Making it into a high profile holiday gift guide can drive a huge amount of traffic to your site, and boost holiday sales. Do some research and reach out to bloggers and online magazines that you think might be a good fit for your brand.
Actionable Insight: Offer them a free product to try, or an exclusive discount code for their readers.
Don’t forget to make your own gift guide to boost holiday sales. A festive email newsletter that lists the different ways your products and services can be tailored for a variety of demographics will be well appreciated by stumped holiday shoppers.
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Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons, "Macy's Christmas," by Russavia[/caption]
3. Create a Referral Program
Word of mouth is still the most powerful marketing tool available to you if you're trying to boost holiday sales. Current customers who have had positive experiences with your business are key to expanding your customer base.
Actionable Insight: Create a program where current customers can earn store credit to your business for every friend they refer, and the referee can also receive credit towards their first purchase.
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Image Credit: Andi Graf[/caption]
4. Tell a Story To Boost Holiday Sales
Help guide your customers with personal recommendations that craft a narrative. People don’t want to buy a product, they want to buy an experience.
Make little signs to highlight particular items, describing how it could be used in the recipient’s life - The type of person that would own that product. Use visual language to paint a picture of a lifestyle your customer can identify with or aspire to.
Just think about the way indie bookstores scatter employee book reviews throughout the shelves...
Actionable Insight: Have your employees handwrite personal recommendations about their favorite merchandise. your customers will be impressed by the personal touch.
Successful marketing stirs emotion in customers.
Actionable Insight: Describe the look of wonder on their sister’s face when she tears the paper off of a present Christmas morning, or the way their family will connect over a board game or CD.
To boost holiday sales, think about gift pairings and up-selling when you arrange your displays. Cluster small add-on items around larger present: A leather keychain to go with a purse, a wooden spoon to complement a salad bowl, a cable organizer to pair with a tech gadget.
Actionable Insight: Mock up themed gift baskets made up of a variety of smaller items to inspire shoppers to buy multiple products.
E-stores can curate similar experiences by featuring tailored recommendations for additional items when shoppers click on a product.
5. Find Your Angle
Holiday spending happens in all industries, not just traditional retail.
Figure out how your business can cater to holiday needs, even if your product isn’t something you’d usually find under the Christmas tree. No matter if you are a Colorado ski resort or a Los Angeles van rental company, the holiday season can be a lucrative time of year if you know how to market yourself. Millions of people travel around the end of the year; maybe your business can help out-of-town visitors explore your city. Or perhaps your cleaning service can help families prepare to host a houseful of relatives.
Boost Holiday Sales - The Bottom Line
Figure out your company’s particular niche in the holiday market and show your customers why they need you this holiday season.
About The Author
Gracia Smith is freelance blogger and marketing professional with over 10 years working as a marketing strategist for small business in the Los Angeles area. When she’s not coordinating her next marketing project, she’s usually hitting the hiking trails of Southern California.
10 Replies
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The list of sales techniques are endless! Depending on your goals for your product or service, there is likely a variety of options that will work for you. Generally, the “trial and error” method is how you will find what works best for you. It also never hurts to do the extra research, then chop and choose as you go along.
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Hi there, Research is always wise, as you suggest. It leads to educated decisions. Trial and error is also useful, as long as we begin with educated decisions. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, ~Keri
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To be successful, you can’t rely on your old way of doing things. Buyers don’t need salespeople to educate them on products and services anymore. They want ideas on what they can do to improve their businesses — not just a solution for today’s issues.
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Danny, This article is all about using new methods to that will help holiday marketing campaigns for small to medium sized businesses. Same old is same ole’. We can choose to use new methods and technologies or get left behind. The one key thing sales people can do is: Listen. Active listening is very important, and often those in sales are afraid of too much quiet. Thanks for your comment, ~Keri
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Many business leaders think that customer service and sales are actually different departments and have no relationship – in reality the sales and service should never be seen as separate issues – customer service is about understanding the customer’s needs, and sales is about selling products that meet those needs. When you link the two processes in a closer way, you will find the business benefits from happier customers and increased sales as the sales team can be selling products to suit the customers..
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Troy, While the intention of this article is more to help small to medium sized business owners, rather than a business with a sales team, there is still an opportunity here… Good customer service is the key to EVERYTHING. Without good customer service, the rest does not exist. Customers will flea and not return, creating a negative spiral downward. Thank you for your comment, ~Keri
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Holiday it’s the best time to boost your sales, because people are buying whatever they see 😀 Presents and all other stuff. Thanks for the tips it might help someone 🙂
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Evaldas, There is a tendency of sales being easier during the holiday season, as you mention. Businesses that work from a year-round marketing calendar can boost their sales even more. We must always be planning, marketing, executing. Hope you agree. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, ~Keri
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Great tips to boost holiday sales for business owners…
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Kavita, Thanks for reading our blog! Glad you found this post helpful. We really appreciate you sharing your thoughts… ~Keri
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