Take Advantage of the Holiday Season with Your Marketing

The best way to relieve the stress that always accompanies the holiday season is to have your plan in place early—the sooner, the better.

Start circling days on the calendar. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are the big shopping days. While your business may not depend greatly on Halloween sales, remember that customers are already thinking about Christmas shopping, and it's another opportunity for promotions.

Tie your marketing to the calendar.

You might consider looking at a list of other holidays and see if there are any tie-ins you might want to implement, too. For example, the week before Thanksgiving is National Education Week, so you may offer specials for teachers that week.

November 20th is National Peanut Butter Fudge Day — you could give a piece of fudge away with each purchase. Whether you will be choosing to hold a one-day event or several events is up to you, just make the decision now while you have plenty of time to get the word out.

Plan now so you’re not crazy later.

When planning your marketing calendar, don't forget about the dates you will need to advertise your promotions—in-store signs or website banners, email and text notifications, and social media posts. You will want to decorate your website, emails, Facebook, etc., for the holidays, so make sure that's on your to-do list; update your staff's photos with holiday photos while you're at it! Be sure to search your business online, as well, to make sure your hours, phone numbers and addresses are correct.
 
Take action now.
 
Make sure your social media is setting you in position for the holidays. You could post about holiday shopping tips, recipes and more to get consumers in the mood, and also to have them sharing your posts and using them as resources for shopping.
 
Capture leads at events - online and offline.
 
Are you planning to hold special events… maybe a pre-Black Friday for your preferred customers, or an after-hours sale for neighboring businesses? Be sure to send out event invites early and follow up with reminders. If you will be attending holiday shows or holding an open house, don't forget to ask attendees to join your email list.
 
Remember your ace in the hole - automation.
 
Automate as much as you can. This isn't only a busy time for you, but for your customers as well. Much of your contact with your customers will be online, and you’ll want the process to go as smoothly as possible for them. If you aren’t using Infusionsoft yet, watch a demo here. (If you are already have Infusionsoft, you’re invited to our next User Group meeting.) Taking advantage of email campaigns—promotions, abandoned cart recovery, appointments, follow-ups—will keep you and your customers connected. When you're adding things to your calendar, set up reminders for yourself if you need to do so. After all, it may be hard to find a Santa suit at the last minute.

It may seem a bit too early to have visions of sugarplums dancing through your head yet, but a bit of early planning will be the key to a great Q4!