The holidays are joyous time of year as they’re full of excitement, happiness, and spending. For your small business, this is likely a peak time for revenue, and getting in front of customers early and often is critical to seasonal success. Yet with the influx of emails, catalogues, online advertisements, and pop ups, how can your small business compete?
Here are five tried and true methods for gaining and holding your customer’s attention during the busy holiday season.
Share the Spirit of the Season
Businesses that tap into the holiday spirit win big with customers. Everyone is feeling more generous, positive, and willing to open their wallets during the holidays. Make sure your communications are in line with customer expectations.
Develop language for your website and email marketing that speak to the reason for the season. Include a banner on your website that sends well wishes for the holidays or highlight your favorite seasonal recipes and traditions on your blog.
Including personalized and custom offerings can be particularly effective in email campaigns. Customers recognize when a business understands their preferences. Use this opportunity to build gift bundles for your different customer personas. Limited-time and exclusive offers drive click rates, resonate with consumers, and drive purchases.
Keep your tone friendly and personable to avoid coming off like another sales email. Put your customer front and center in every message and you’ll get their attention.
Update Your Online Presence
Just like your closet, it’s time to whip out some new winter items for your business website and social media profiles. Add festive colors to your navigation panel on your website or even create a branded holiday-themed logo. Customers respond to changes and take note of them. These are small actions that catch a viewer’s eye and encourage them to stay on your site or profile. Check out Vistaprint’s website, which takes inspiration from the holidays for a festive seasonal update.
The logo and promo field immediately grab the viewer’s attention, as does the highlighted offering of holiday cards and gift in the header section.
As for social media, if you do add a seasonal logo to your website, make sure it’s present in your social profiles. You can also generate cover photos and background images that speak to the holidays, too. These visual cues capture attention and help sway potential customers in your favor.
Up Your Social Media Game
While we’re on the topic of social media, craft a social strategy that taps into the latest innovation to grab user attention. Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, 360 Facebook photo ads, and Instagram’s shoppable posts are just a few of the recent social media update to hit the scene. People love seeing brands use these features and because they’re new, they’ll draw more attention than other traditional marketing initiatives. Pick one or two social strategies and use them consistently throughout he holiday season. Your brand will stay on their radar, and will likely yield sales from the frequent social reminders.
Another way to utilize social media is to find relevant Facebook groups. Join these communities and showcase your holiday promotions on these pages. With your friendly holiday messaging and unique offerings, your business can expand its reach for no cost. Seasonal promotions are a great way to engage first time buyers, so do some research and see where your target market is hanging out on Facebook.
Develop Seasonal Shareable Content
As with the general positive spirit of the season, consumers are more likely to share content and participate in contests and countdowns. Holiday contests are wildly popular, and provide businesses with new leads as well as direct communication with customers. Clearly explain what the contest entails, how to participate, its end date, and winner announcement procedure. One of the participation requirements can be to share with friends, which means greater exposure for your brand without any cost to the business. This spreads positive social proof from people who value your products and services.
If a contest isn’t quite right for your business, try a social media holiday countdown campaign. Each day, post a branded image or video highlighting how many days remain until Hanukkah, Christmas or the New Year. Make sure these posts are shareable, so your followers can retweet and like them across various social media channels. This is another way to encourage participation from customers. These seasonal specialties pique interest from customers and will help your business stand out from the massive crowd during the holidays.
Amp Up Your Customer Service
Inquiry volume and customer concerns surge during the holidays, so prepare for that influx now. Increase staffing, extend customer service hours, and create a superb customer experience for the season. Customers will notice the stellar service and spread the good word to their networks. While this is not a direct marketing tactic, it is useful in attracting new and repeat customers.
Communicate any seasonal changes in service hours, order deadlines, delivery dates, and specific modes of contact, such as a designated email address or phone number. The holidays can breed stress, so providing timely and friendly service goes a long way in establishing your business as one worthy of a customer’s time.
Mark and Graham does a fantastic job of communicating important dates, such as holiday shipping cutoffs in the upper left-hand corner and delivery dates for monogrammed items in its image carousel.
image courtesy of Mark and Graham
These thoughtful tactics drastically improve the customer experience and put the customer’s needs front and center. What customer wouldn’t notice this kind of courtesy and consideration?
Break through the holiday noise and competition by putting your best foot forward and highlighting your business’s holiday cheer! These five tips can make a major impact on your bottom line and year end revenue. A little strategic planning and foresight go a long way in making your business visible to your target audience during the holidays.