Holiday Marketing on a Budget

It’s crunch time for holiday sales and promotions whether you’re in retail, hospitality, or you’re a local service provider. With most businesses also marketing themselves for the holidays, you can expect the competition for your customer’s attention to be fierce. Companies without a plan for the holidays will fall behind. Shoppers need to know you’re available and ready to help them make this holiday a memorable one. That’s where your holiday marketing strategy comes in!

If you find yourself marketing on a shoestring this holiday season, we’re here to help you with some holiday marketing tips that don’t break the bank! Whether you are offering products, services, or experiences, a marketing plan that works for your budget will work for you. Though some businesses have the funding to purchase radio or television ads, others need to pursue smaller-scale options. Creativity, planning, and some clever preparation leading up to the holidays can help you to draw a crowd and boost your sales.

We’ve put together a list of ways that will allow you to boost marketing efforts through the holiday season on a budget.

Show your customers appreciation and gratitude! Tis the Season of Giving and Thanks!

• Send out Holiday Customer Appreciation emails or cards to let your clients and customers know how much they mean to you.
• Stay top-of-their-mind: A sincere holiday message can keep you top of mind when they need your services after the new year.

Engage with your customers.

• Engagement is key, everyone loves to be asked about their experiences. For Example: “What are you most excited about this holiday season?” This year especially, many will respond “Spending holidays with family, friends and loved ones.” That’s a sentiment we can all relate to, and it conjures warm feelings that bring us all a little bit closer together.
• Appeal to their emotions: Share inspirational messages on social media, or provide a behind-the-scenes look at images of how your company celebrates the holidays to bring them a little closer to your “family”.

Holiday Specials & Promotions

• For many service industries, the holidays are a slower time. At this time of year, people are especially budget-conscious so it’s a good time to offer discounts. Promote discounts as Holiday Specials. Think of some ways that your service can creatively tie into holiday preparations.
• Service Industries such as housecleaning services, electricians, plumbers, and HVAC businesses might promote “Prepare your home for guests” specials, or “Deals for the New Year”.
• Build brand awareness with a How-to Holiday-Blog or a How-to-Video with tips or tricks from an expert in your industry. Be sure to promote this on your website!
• Create Special Offers for Post-Holiday Shopping: Build a list of emails for this sale from your holiday shoppers. Email them for the post-holiday sales and specials after the holiday. To avoid potential pre-holiday shoppers waiting for the post-holiday sale you can also create a sign-up form at your register, on your website, or create the sign-up option in a contest entry form.
• Customers love holiday shopping in an atmosphere evocative of the joys, memories, and experiences of the holidays.  Even if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar location, you can decorate your website and your social media channels beginning right now. Decorating or branding for the holidays with visual imagery and sounds will help invite your customers into the mindset of the holidays allowing them to recall the feeling of the joys of giving, gathering, and purchasing for others.

Amplify!

Whatever offers, specials, sincere thanks you express, and whatever you promote, use Google My Business (now Google Business Profile) to amplify!

• Post events and offers directly to your Google Business Profile listing using the Posts feature. Posts encourage more action from potential customers who find your business on Google search. Can’t find the posts on your desktop GBP? Look under “Updates.”
• Google Event and Offer posts are particularly useful for your holiday promotions, as they let you set time frames, provide redemption codes, and include terms and conditions. Use these posts to promote special pricing (especially useful for services that help people to prepare for the holidays).

Use images and designs that are eye-catching and evocative of the holiday.

• Here are some great resources for designing your Holiday Campaign!
  Our Favorite Sites for Free Images:
  • • Rawpixel
    • Unsplash
    • Pixabay
    • Pexels
• Canva is a great site for designing cards, emails, social media posts, and more!

And remember to Measure Results!

• Set SMART—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound— goals for your campaigns. SMART goals can clarify why you’re engaging in content marketing for holidays in the first place. Smart goals also provide specific information about your return on investment so you know if it’s worth your time to repeat the effort next year.
  Here is an example: Not a SMART goal: Wish everyone a happy new year!
  A SMART goal: Increase our blog traffic by 500 visits in January

Whatever you do for your Holiday Marketing, we wish you very Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year!

 

Click here to download our free guide “Holiday Marketing on a Budget”.

And if you need assistance getting your campaigns up and running just give us a call.