A presentation at Tips for Businesses Around Key Holidays by Emma Young
It’s never too early in the year to prepare for holiday periods; there’s always a holiday nearby that your business can use to increase sales. In this article, we have a few tips for companies to improve their sales in the run-up to key holidays and during holiday periods.
Preparation is vital; having a plan in place for any holiday will make things go more smoothly. Every business should take the opportunity to review last year’s activity before planning what to do this year. Evaluate key days where sales increased and any dips around holiday periods. You should also identify any key products and offers for the holiday season and ensure all of your employees are fully aware of them so they can use them in their marketing and sales strategies. Brands should also plan their messaging; consistent messages and recognisable imagery across different devices and platforms are more effective than a mix of messages. Stick to one or two key messages or tag lines over a holiday period; encouraging a customer to buy takes more than one view of your advert; consistent messages help improve your holiday marketing effectiveness.
One additional service you can offer around key holidays is gift wrapping. Customers will be willing to pay more for their gifts to arrive professionally wrapped. You could also offer to send gifts directly to recipients. Adding this service to your website may also appeal to a different audience. You can tailor your message to try and encourage gift purchases. Gift wrapping is also an excellent way for businesses to make a bit more money around Christmas or other holidays. It often doesn’t cost much money to add this service, and customers are more than willing to pay for good gift-wrapping or gift boxes.
Many businesses choose to put a selection of their products together and create their own gift boxes or hampers over Christmas or other holidays. If your product selection lends itself to this gift style, it can be a great addition to your product offering. Gift boxes also provide the perfect opportunity to introduce customers to your whole product range. A gift box that includes a smaller version of each item can help build long-term customers. They can discover what product they like best and then buy it moving forward. Christmas eve boxes are another popular item for children and adults. If one of your products or several lends themselves to Christmas eve boxes, you could create your own and add it to your website. Alternatively, you could partner with other businesses to collaborate on a Christmas eve box. This relationship could help you grow your business and audience by taking advantage of your partner company’s audience and customers.
Many companies choose to include sales and discounts around key holidays. They encourage customers to purchase from your brand and can increase income. Planning the periods for specific discounts in advance can improve the performance of your campaign. Tease your loyal customers that a deal is coming and get them to keep an eye out on social media. Some businesses may also need to be flexible regarding their discounts; they may find they have too much of one type of product left on Boxing Day. Acting quickly and creating a campaign and discount code for this product can help prevent waste and increase sales of a surplus product.
Emails can be a critical tool for your business around key holidays. Email is a very effective way to inform your customers about your campaigns and the type of deals on offer. Many companies encourage potential customers to sign up to their mailing list to receive a discount on their first order. Taking the time to build a mailing list before the holiday period can be very valuable. When managing an extensive mailing list, it can be a good idea to create segments of customers to improve the effectiveness of your campaign. Customers are more likely to respond and buy if the email is tailored to their interests or previous purchases. For example, advertising men’s clothing to a female audience won’t be as effective and could result in customers unsubscribing.
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