If you sell a product or service which is a natural purchase through the holiday season, you are already ramped up with promotions. Your email and social media posts have been written and formatted, and perhaps you have already sent out the first batch, with another batch set to go.
However, many small companies do not anticipate a holiday push. In fact, for many products and services, the holidays are a down time. People spend more time with family, spend a great deal of time holiday shopping, and spend less time on matters they can put off until the new year.
That does not mean you should give up marketing your small business for the final three months of the calendar year.
Let’s consider ways to increase your visibility and revenues as 2022 winds down
Rather than write off the final quarter of the calendar year, make an effort to embrace the season. Even though your widget (or whatever it is your company offers) is not a regular holiday purchase, you can become creative and suggest reasons to make a purchase now.
Reduce your price, and let your former and prospective customers know that you have done so as a way to celebrate the season. Because of the holidays, money can be tight for some, but if they will eventually need your product, they are likely to want to take advantage of the sales price.
Offer a gift. It can be a coupon for a future purchase, or something completely off brand. Find an item that has mass appeal (let’s say a drink coaster, just for an example), buy a wholesale lot, and offer them as an extra for making a purchase. You could offer it for watching your sales video or downloading your user guide. It’s the holidays! Take part by offering something free.
Suggest to future customers that they might consider requesting your product or service as a holiday gift for themselves. Sure, it may not be the standard holiday gift fare, but people who see your posts or emails have given thought to your offerings. If they know they are difficult to buy for, nudge them into suggesting to their spouse or children that your product would make a unique holiday gift.
Stay active on social media. Your present and future clients are not forgetting about you; they are just busy with other activities. Keep your product or service top of mind by posting to social media. Wish your past clients a happy holiday season (write something meaningful and heartfelt, not cookie-cutter).
Create a year-end video. If you have taken any photos or videos through the year, tell your company’s story in a year-end package. “This is what 2022 meant to us” is an invitation to customers or clients to find out how your company is doing, how much you appreciate the business you have received, and what your company has planned for the next year. Which brings us to….
If the holiday season is a slow one for your firm, you can spend the time between now and the end of the year preparing your marketing materials for 2023.
Now is the time to look back at 2022 and see how your company performed, with an eye toward the improvements you want to make in 2023. You want to have your plans for the next year in place well before the final page of the calendar is turned on 2022. You want to hit the “send’’ button on your new year marketing emails and social media posts as soon as your former and future clients recover from their holiday season.
As any year winds down, it is difficult to maintain motivation and focus. Unless your business is holiday-related, these next three months require a push.
The way to make the most of the final three months is to 1) buy into the holiday theme as much as you can to truly make this a wonderful time of the year and 2) make concrete plans to be fully charged and ready to stomp on 2023.
©Copyright 2022 by CSD Marketing and Consulting, LLC.
