Stressing out because all you see now is holiday-themed posts all over the place and you still haven't planned your holiday promos? Here in Canada we just had Thanksgiving so it's almost like holiday planning comes natural right after a family and Turkey-filled weekend!
Do not worry, I have a list of offers and ideas to fuel your festive inspiration to jumpstart your creativity for the upcoming holiday season. If you are a solopreneur and don’t have much of a marketing budget thinking outside the box is a must for your strategy, as there’s so much competition out there right now with everyone online and if you are also a busy mom like myself. Check out Moms That Hustle Blog, love this lady! She has a great list of tips for social media content, see her post on how to improve your content creation process. I personally love how she highlights to be confident in what you know versus everyone else out there. Make it your own!
You may want to consider doing a little research if you haven’t already. What will strike a chord and stand out with your audience this year? Think about what have you never done before?
Check to see what’s trending this year, with the pandemic being the focus for so long you may want to think about something completely fresh and uplifting or something you've never done before to spark some attention. It’s important when trying to target your marketing to the right people, so look at trends that align with your line of business or services you offer, see what people are talking about, and it's always good to look at what's new and upcoming compared to last year. You'll always see some of the same things during the holiday season but the trick is to dig deeper and find out what will shake up and hook your ideal client! I love my Buzz Sumo for trending content, however, there's a small monthly cost (there is a FREE trial) and I know I always like taking advantage of free tools when I can! I found Drump Up which is fairly new and offers a free plan so check this one out. If you love your keyword research this is a really informative guide to small business keyword research from Duct Tape Marketing!
Just like dressing up a physical storefront, you have to also think about your online aesthetics and align your brand accordingly. Updating your banner headers on social media to represent the holiday season, or an updated holiday-inspired photo with an eye-catching title that you have something exciting coming up is a good start!
Covid is still around but getting easier, thankfully, now people are getting vaccinated but you still have to consider the sensitivity of this. Whether it’s a product or service-based company you run, think about an offer that could benefit your customers coming to you before anyone else and start promoting it now!
Here are 15 ideas that may spark a little inspiration for your small business…
Send out holiday e-cards to all your past and present clients include an incentive to use in the new year
Offer a free mini-training with a certain service or product
Offer a big ticket freebie with a service purchased now to use later
Bundle services together and sell as one item
Offer an incentive with a particular service (Amazon Gift Card, Local Coffee shop, or boutique store discount)
Offer a ‘Buy One Get one at discount’ with a festive theme
Create holiday gift boxes with certain services or products and include a couple personal treats you love
Collaborate with a local vendor and charity to drive more traffic to your social platforms
Do a festive flash sale campaign for a certain day only over the holidays (eg. Black Friday)
Limited Time Offer on all services offered for 2022
Sign up to your email list and get a free mini-guide or PDF download
Run a December 'Give Back' Campaign with certain tips and incentives using a special hashtag
Offer a discount for only day on a certain service or product
Run a 12 Days of Christmas count down contest or giveaway
Run a December only referral program for your services to use in the new year
Add a couple of hours to your calendar, put your phone out of reach (it really helps you stay focused), and start planning. You'll be thankful as you start seeing all the holiday-themed posts on all your social networks this week! Just a reminder, don't go overboard and choose too many, create a vision board and plan it out on paper. Then gather your content, and start promoting.
Hope this has helped spark some creativity for you and get you thinking. One last word of advice, keep it simple, it can already be overwhelming enough at this time of year. Let me know if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you! You can also add my blog link here to your bookmarks tab or your Feedly App, love this for reading blogs as it keeps it all organized by category and checks off what you've read, which is perfect.
Thank you for reading! Bye for now,
Nicky