The holidays are a busy time for most everyone including business owners. There are purchases to make, gifts to wrap, and goodies to bake, as well as many other time consuming tasks.
But it can also be a great time for business owners to increase their profits if they take the right measures. There are ways to promote your business for the holidays and make the most of the season.
1. Have Holiday Sales
Flash Sales
A special holiday flash sale is one way you can promote your business for the holidays. Don’t advertise ahead. Instead post a quick announcement on Facebook, Twitter, and your website the day of the sale and send a quick email to your customers.
If you promote different products on different days it can increase traffic in your business. Once you have them in the store they may purchase other items as well which increases revenue for the holidays.
Fill Your Stocking Sale
Advertise that you are having a fill your stocking sale. Put your customer’s names and contact information on a slip of paper and include how much they spent during the sale.
Draw a name from the stocking at the end of the sale and that person wins what they spent, before taxes, in additional products. This allows them to fill their stocking even more without you giving away actual cash.
12 days of Christmas Sale
On each of the 12 days your business is open leading up to Christmas hold sales featuring different discounts or products.
Holiday BOGO’s
If you have a holiday buy one get one half off sale people will be tempted to buy more from you than if you have a 25% off sale.
2. Create a Holiday Atmosphere
Decorate your store for the holiday season. You can keep it simple and still put up some lights and a tree. If your products are small enough attach them to the tree as if they are ornaments.
Serve treats for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. Put on some Christmas music to get people in the mood to shop. When people enjoy their shopping experience they will stay longer, spend more, and tell others how fun it was, all of which increase your sales.
3. Blog About Your Store
Do you have a blog about your store? If not, perhaps you should start one. Write a post about your upcoming holiday sales and promotions. Include pictures of your store and staff wrapping purchases and doing other holiday activities.
4. Send Emails
Keep your customers informed of special holiday sales and promotions by sending emails to them. Include store pictures, new and sale products, and any other holiday related news.
5. Gift Cards & Bonuses
Have gift cards or gift certificates available for your customers to buy as gifts for the holidays. You could promote your business further by offering a bonus. For example, offer a $5 gift card with the purchase of one for $30 or a $10 gift card if you buy one for $50.
6. Offer Extended Hours
Sometimes it is difficult for your customers to get everything done in a day. Offer extended hours for one or two days per week to give them ample opportunity to shop during the holiday season.
7. Give Goodies
You could promote your business for the holidays by offering extra goodies as an incentive to shop. Give out free samples of a new product or coupons for future purchases.
9. Offer Free Gift Wrapping
When customers buy items from your business offer to wrap their purchases free if they are gifts. Keep holiday gift wrap, bows, ribbon, and small cards on hand. Giving these special touches will keep your customers coming back for more.
10. Make Grab Bags and Gift Baskets
Because everyone gets busy, promote your business for the holidays buy creating pre-wrapped grab bags for office parties. In addition, you could make some gift baskets ahead for your customers to purchase when they need to buy a gift in a hurry.
The holidays are busy for most of us but you can use that to your advantage as a business owner. Promote your business for the holidays using these tips and increase the profits for your business for the year.
