The holiday season is right around the corner, and now is the time to think about getting prepared. Typically, holiday sales can account for up to 30% of a business's annual sales, so making sure you are market ready is a must. For all businesses, such as restaurants, service providers, or retail stores, this is the time of the year most of you feel the traffic increase. 

The holiday season is right around the corner, and now is the time to think about getting prepared. Typically, holiday sales can account for up to 30% of a business's annual sales, so making sure you are market ready is a must. For all businesses, such as restaurants, service providers, or retail stores, this is the time of the year most of you feel the traffic increase. 

Since the holidays make up such a large portion of annual sales, it is vital to utilize every tactic your company may have. One of the best strategies is marketing. Doorbusters, promo codes, promotions, or bargains are a few marketing strategies businesses have tried to increase sales. Since the pandemic, some companies have had to get creative with marketing and find new and innovative ways to be seen and grab customers’ attention.

However, some small businesses may be hesitant to move forward with such marketing tactics as they may think the cost outweighs the benefit or may not even be aware that some of these marketing strategies could be done at no cost to them. Below are some top tips for marketing your business for the holiday season. 

Make Your Marketing Plans Ahead of Time

Now is a great time to plan and evaluate your marketing strategies. A general guideline to begin your holiday marketing plan is to put it in motion at the end of October or the beginning of November. 

Some shoppers believe “the early bird gets the worm,” so this is a great time to get those individuals to your website or physical store early. However, as a business owner, you are more knowledgeable about your specific market and successful timelines, so it is always best to do what makes sense for your business. 

Having a successful marketing plan is essential to turning a significant holiday profit. Ensuring you have plenty of time to plan social media posts, draft and publish blogs, and assemble black Friday promotions will make the hectic season flow smoothly.

Holiday Marketing Tips and Tricks

1. Take Advantage of Local Community Events

Many cities or towns host holiday fairs or events that bring together the community for shopping, food, and festivities. This is a perfect time to get out and promote your business, offer free samples depending on your products, and pass out flyers with holiday promotions or sales. 

You can also partner with or be a sponsor for these events. This is a great way to gain exposure by engaging in your community.

2. Tailor Your Social Media for the Holiday Season

Social media can be a powerful digital marketing tool to promote your business and be extremely affordable too. There is a multitude of social media platforms out there to take advantage of to reach more customers or clients for your business, both new and existing.  All you need to know is how to tailor your ads to your market base. 

For one, you can gear your ads and promotions for holiday content, especially for black Friday and cyber Monday sales. Share upcoming promotions, give sneak peeks to bring customers back to your page again, or launch “how to” videos. All of these can drive up sales and traffic to your website or storefront business. 

Another option to keep in mind is to use holiday-themed backgrounds and colors to catch your audience's attention. This could be a change from your standard advertisement and scheme, so it would be a great way to catch the eyes of holiday shoppers.

3. Decorate for the Holidays

To tie in with your social media holiday theme, decorating your business could also be an easy and inexpensive way to promote and market for the holiday shopping season. It is always fun to get into the holiday spirit and enjoy the fun atmosphere. Reusing decorations from year to year can be a cost savings, so learning how to store them properly would be an idea to look into and consider.

Decorating for Halloween and Thanksgiving can help build up the holiday spirit and mood for Christmas. You want to be aware of how early your business starts the Christmas season. Some customers will not enjoy hearing Christmas songs and Carols in early November.

4. Consider Giving to a Charity

Working with a local or national charity can bring new or additional exposure to your business. The holidays are a time to give back, so this might be an excellent opportunity to donate a portion of the sales or offer a buy one give one promotion. 

This could boost sales as people looking for the option to give back to a worthy cause may be willing to purchase more to help donate to a featured charity.  As they say, the holidays are a time for giving, and this could certainly be an amazing opportunity to do just that!

5. Create and Publish a Holiday blog or Other Related Content

Publishing content, such as a blog, can increase the traffic and potential customers' interest in your business. Marketing such content to capture your customers’ holiday needs can prove to be very effective. You can always look to tailor your products or services to match the holiday needs of your customers. 

Example ideas are provided below:

If you are a retail store that sells clothing, you could publish blogs or “how to” video clips or content on how to dress it up for family gatherings or business parties. Tutorials on how to style or prepare outfit ideas for company parties or family holiday photographs can bring interest and attention to your business. 

For those who sell kitchenware or baking products, you can share holiday recipes for food and cocktails. Showing off beautiful holiday dishes or drinks using your kitchenware gives customers ideas and a vision for how they may like their holiday gatherings to look. They can envision your kitchenware or baking ware on their tables or counters. 

A marketing strategy can effectively boost sales and bring in new customers. It is not something that should be overlooked or underestimated. These are just a few of the holiday marketing campaigns that will not break the bank during the holiday season.