With Black Friday and Cyber Monday already behind us, there’s still time for small businesses to make some extra profit. Yeah, you guessed it, we’re talking about the upcoming Holiday season, yet another promised land for business owners. Unfortunately, all businesses in the country are rushing towards it, so it’ll be easy to get lost in the crowd.
How can a small business like yours stand out? How to prevent your shopping call to drown amidst the marketing noise? Tons of money to advertise would be one way. But there’re other ways to do so, as effective as paying for huge ads that jump off the screen. Which ways, you ask? Read on, we answer.
1 – Email – the old king
How many times are we going to say this? As many as it takes to get every small business owner out there – email marketing is insanely important! If you have a good email list, you’ll reach thousands of people with minimal effort. And given that emails have the highest conversion rate among marketing channels, you should definitely want to develop a strategy here.
Discounts and special offers for the receivers should get you enough sales, provided that you have a compelling subject that makes your audience eager to open your mails. Try different subject lines, images and copy to check for impact. Don’t have an email list? You still have time to build one! Offer a special discount for people that subscribe to your newsletter. You’ll see how those addresses begin to pile up!
2 – Social media exclusivity
The Holydays are also a great time to increase your social media engagement. You can use your special offers for that. How? By making them exclusive to your social channels. In other words, you can make your offer available only to people that follow you on Twitter or Facebook. You can also for people to like, comment or reshare your deal, which maximizes the exposure your small business will get.
Just a reminder – people don’t like to share or like just because. Offering them a discount sometimes won’t be enough. That’s when your creativity should kick in. A good image or a nice idea won’t just make your audience want to share because of the offer, but also because of what you have to say.
3 – A cause for your business
We like to believe that all companies are open to help in a certain cause. Caring about something isn’t just great in and by itself, but it can also be amazing for your marketing efforts. Showing that you care is the way in which you show that your company isn’t about money, it’s about helping others out.
People are especially fond of these messages around the Holidays, so you should take the opportunity and subscribe to a cause. Host a donation site, send charity gift cards or donate a percentage of your earnings to a non-profit organization. This will set you apart from your competitors, make your business more likable and, well, make you feel great in the end!
4 – Seasonal content
Apart from the seasonal content you perhaps are already posting on your blog (because you’re blogging, RIGHT?), there’s another content that will get you very far – the one made and shared by your audience. Developing a fan content campaign is always a fun marketing stunt that won’t cost you anything and that people love to take part.
You can ask people to share a seasonal pic of theirs with some of your products, use a specific hashtag when telling a story or anything you can think of. The idea is to get to show your audience’s Holiday spirit – while also offering something in return. You can turn this campaign into a contest with several prizes and discounts.
5 – A flawless customer service
Finally, there’s an extra something that works all year long but that does wonders in a busy time like the Holidays – customer service. As customers, we all hate to complain to a certain company, especially to those whose customer service sucks. This is especially true when the year is coming to an end, a time where most of us are already thinking about the New Year party than about dealing with a sales rep.
That’s why you should make your customer service as awesome as you can. Being there on your phone, mail, Twitter, Facebook or wherever you can get questions and complaints, it’s a must. Your customers may have troubles with your business, that’s obvious. But if you are helpful and diligent, then they’ll remember how great you were in your darkest moment – and they’ll reward you with their loyalty!
All of these things will surely increase your chances to make more business this year than the year before, simply because you’re maximizing your reach. Of course, there’s one extra thing you’ll need to stand out from the crowd – personality. So, get of the computer and start thinking about your campaign, because creativity is the only thing that will make your business shine!
