The holidays are the perfect time to upgrade your marketing campaigns and make a serious effort to reach new customers. If you’re a small business owner, there are plenty of tried-and-true strategies for ensuring your business stands out from the crowd during this festive season. Today, Smart Guys SEO shares nine time-tested marketing ideas to help you spread the word about your business!
1. Incorporate content marketing into your strategy
Content marketing is all about creating valuable, relevant, and consistent content that appeals to your target audience. You can produce blog posts, create social media posts, or even put together a holiday-themed ebook or guide. Whatever you choose to do, make sure your content is engaging and informative. Resources like Cornerstone Content can teach you the ropes of content marketing!
2. Market on a tight budget
If you aren’t sure how to advertise your business on a tight budget, you have plenty of options! Just a few of these include starting a blog, making the most of search engine optimization, leveraging social media channels, using email marketing, running Facebook ads, creating promotional PDFs, asking customers to review your business, printing up business cards, sponsoring a local event, writing an article about your field of expertise, and giving out samples. The sky’s the limit!
3. Decorate your place of business
Not everyone is a fan of holiday decorations, but if you’ve got the space and the budget, it can be a great way to spread some holiday cheer (and attract new customers). Businesses in walkable areas can also take advantage of signage opportunities. Make sure your advertisements and decorations are tasteful and true to your brand image. You don’t want to end up on the wrong side of the “Christmas Grinch” list!
4. Provide rewards and perks to loyal customers
The holidays are an ideal time to show your loyalty program members how much you appreciate them. Offer them exclusive discounts, early access to holiday sales, or even free shipping on orders over a specific amount. You might even give them a gift certificate for your store! Whatever you do, make sure it’s something that will add value for them and keep them coming back for more.
5. Use holiday packaging for a nice touch
Adding festive touches to your packaging can quickly spread some holiday cheer (and brand awareness). You can use holiday-themed wrapping paper, ribbons, or even stamps—whatever fits your brand identity. Just make sure your packaging still meets all applicable postal regulations!
6. Cross-promote with other businesses
When it comes to the holidays, it’s all about giving back to the community. One way to do that is by cross-promoting with other local businesses. This will help to get the word out about all your businesses while helping to create a sense of community among local business owners. There are several different ways to go about cross-promoting:
- Collaborate on a holiday event or sale.
- Promote each other’s businesses on your websites and social media pages
- Set up a referral program where customers of one business receive discounts at the other business.
No matter your approach, cross-promoting with other local businesses can significantly boost your sales and create a stronger community in your town or city.
7. Make holiday videos
If you have the skills or resources to produce videos, consider making holiday videos to promote your products or services and bring cheer to your target audience. Videos can be funny, heartwarming, or inspirational, and they can be as short as 30 seconds or as long as five minutes. You can upload them to YouTube, Facebook, or other social media sites, or you can embed them on your small business’s website.
When creating your holiday video, be sure to keep your target audience in mind. Make the content relevant to them, and keep the video’s tone cheerful and positive. You might also want to use a professional video production company to help you produce a high-quality video that will really stand out. Don’t know where to start? Here are a few tips for creating a successful holiday video:
- Start with a script. The best holiday videos are well-scripted and thoughtfully produced. Spend some time brainstorming what you want to say and how you want to say it.
- Keep it short and sweet. Most people won’t watch a five-minute video if they can find the same information in a shorter one. Keep your video concise and on-point.
- Use visuals sparingly. A well-produced holiday video doesn’t need flashy visuals or special effects. Let your message be the video’s focus, not the bells and whistles.
- Be creative! A good holiday video doesn’t have to follow the traditional Christmas storyline. Think outside the box and come up with something unique and memorable.
8. Produce gift guides targeted at specific categories of people
Gift guides are an excellent way to show customers what products or services you have to offer that would make great gifts for their loved ones. You can segment your customers by interest, relationship, age, or any other criteria that make sense for your business. For example, if you sell jewelry, you could make a gift guide for “Gifts for Her” or “Gifts for Him.”
9. Partner with other organizations to serve the community
Finally, consider partnering with other businesses and charitable organizations to help community members during the holidays. You might collect donations from your customers and employees to give to a local charity. Or you may partner with a charity to collect donations, volunteer your time and services, or host a charity event or fundraiser. Working together, you can help make the holidays brighter for those in need.
Wrapping Up
There’s no shortage of things you can do to market your small business during the holidays. The trick is finding the right mix of strategies that will work best for you and your company. By incorporating content marketing, producing gift guides, taking advantage of low-cost marketing strategies, decorating your place of business, providing rewards and perks to loyal customers, parenting with other businesses, and trying the other strategies above, you’ll be well on your way to attracting new customers and growing your business this holiday season. Just remember to spread cheer along the way!
Smart Guys SEO is here to help your business achieve the results in your website’s ranking you’ve been looking for. Reach out today to get started!