Holidays sneak up on all of us, but losing track of the holiday season can cost you sales as a small business owner. If you find that you’re late in getting your holiday marketing started, no worries! We have a few last-minute holiday marketing ideas that can still generate business before the end of the year.
Work that email list
If you have an established email list that you’ve been communicating to consistently throughout the year, now is a good time to make a BIG holiday push for those last-minute orders. Why an established list? Email marketing takes time to build that trust between you and email recipients. If they’re used to getting your marketing messages, they’re more likely to trust a holiday message (and open it!) than they are a first-time sender. Keep in mind that this time of year, people are bombarded with vendors coming out of the blue. As a trusted company, you already have their ear, so take advantage of it with a tempting sale or last-minute holiday offer they can’t resist!
Try a campaign on social media
December is way too late to try a print campaign to generate sales. Sure, you can send along a season greetings card, but planning and implementing an effective holiday print campaign should have started months ago. However, a digital campaign can be done quickly and effectively! Several social media platforms allow you to run short-term paid campaigns to a very defined audience for the best results. Not sure how to set up a digital campaign on social media? Work with a small business marketing professional to get it done quickly and effectively.
Run a Google Ads campaign
Similar to paid campaigns on social media, Google Ads is a great way to get a campaign up fast if you’re behind on your holiday marketing. Don’t have the time to craft a solid campaign? Go ahead and recycle a past ad campaign! If the results were decent before, just make a few tweaks to make it relevant for your holiday marketing efforts, and you’ll be up and running quickly!
Partner with someone to get more reach faster
When you’re short on time but still need to generate holiday business, find ways to work with others to help bring in that business. Recruit your current customers and offer them an incentive to refer new business before the end of the year. Word-of-mouth or referrals is always one of the strongest lead sources a small business has, so don’t be afraid to ask! Find a way to partner with vendors or other like companies in your industry for a joint marketing venture. You’ll take advantage of their established plan, and they can offer your product or services as a unique add-on to their current holiday offerings. You might also be able to find influencers in your industry that could help create buzz and get those holiday dollars in the door.
Incentives for existing or past customers to buy
Everyone loves a good deal, right? If you have a list of current and past customers, create an incentive to re-engage your services or upgrade their existing service with you for a good deal. The same concept can apply to products, too, of course. This can be an effective and fast way to bring in those last-minute holiday dollars by marketing to a group of people who have bought from you previously, so they’re much more likely to buy again.
If you find yourself way behind in getting your holiday marketing started, trying a few of these tactics just might help increase your bottom line by the end of the year!
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