4 Tips To Have Your Best Holiday Season Yet

Alright, don’t panic, but holiday shopping season is definitely upon us. Actually, it’s been here. For like, at least a week or two now. But still, don’t panic! Whether you’ve had your holiday marketing strategy pinned down for months now or you’re just now coming up for air to even think about it, I’m here to give you four easy ways to make the most of your holiday marketing to ensure you have your best holiday season yet:

REWARD YOUR LOYAL PEEPS
A repeat customer is your best customer. They’re the ones actively telling their friends and family about your products or services, they’re the ones shouting your business from the rooftops whenever the chance arises, they’re the ones tugging at your heart strings when they place another order, and then another, and another. Now is your chance to shout their names from the proverbial rooftops.

I challenge you to find a way to say “thank you” to a handful of your most loyal customers this holiday season. This may look different for a number of you, but try to find a way to offer this group of people (and I know you know who they are. chances are you know them by name off the top of your hand. and if not? just go into your shop files & run the reports to figure it out. easy, peasy, no excuses!) something a little extra and a little unexpected. Maybe you can send this group of customers a personal email thanking them for their support, or go a step further and throw in an exclusive to them hefty discount code. Explain the parameters – this hefty discount is solely for them because they’re so awesomesauce and you genuinely appreciate them, and so forth. Let it be known why you are rewarding them and only them. Do you ship out products and orders? Try sending them a completely free little gift. If it’s something from your own shop, that’s lovely, but it also doesn’t have to be. They’ll love a hand written card and a $5.00 or $10.00 Starbucks gift card. However you choose to reward your most loyal fans is up to you, but do try to do so this holiday season. 

Take care of those that take care of you. I promise you’ll feel like a million bucks for doing so. And who knows, you may reap a million bucks in return. 

TEASE, TEASE, TEASE
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again (and again and again and, you get it, again): people need to be reminded. People are busy. You’re busy. I’m busy. They’re busy. There are a lot of amazing companies out there all telling us great things on the daily. We have to be reminded of said great things. It doesn’t help to promote your one great thing once and expect your customers and fans to recall said great thing when they’re planning their holiday shopping. How many times have you purchased or fallen in love with a product or service that you read or heard about just once, and several weeks ago at that? Chances are very few times.

You have to talk about your discounts or new products or exclusive sale or whatever your thing is often. Often, people! If you have a week long sale happening, you need to tell your followers, customers, fans, and everyone else about it every single day it’s happening. And then one or two days before it happens, too. It’s not enough to just mention it once on Instagram, Facebook, or even in your newsletters. First of all, most of your followers will totally miss the first one or two posts. A portion of your email subscribers wont even open your email (I know, it’s sad. Moving along!). You have to talk about your upcoming sale, or new product, or holiday bonus OFTEN.

Some people do better with acronyms, so here’s one for you: BADASS. Not only are you a badass, yes, but you need to BADASS your holiday marketing:

B – before your sale or promotion or bundle or whatever it is you’re wanting to promote
A – and (hey, i have to connect these letters somehow, okay!)
D – during your sale or promotion or bundle or whatever it is you’re wanting to promote
A – again and again and again
S – stay consistent in your efforts, voice, and offerings
S – schedule all of your posts and emails in advance. it’s the holiday’s, y’all. you’ve got some spiked apple cider to drink, after all. oh, and packages to ship!

And don’t for one second think you’re going to be “annoying” your followers or customers. You’re not. There are a lot of other things in the world actually annoying them. Like their misbehaving puppy, or their in-laws, or that election thing. You aren’t annoying them.

BUNDLE UP
Oh bundle, oh bundle, how I love thee. This is one of my favorite ways to provide value for customers of a retail or service based business during the holidays. 

If you have a couple of products that work well together, think about offering them together as a bundle at a slightly discounted price. Not only do your customers see this as getting more bang for their buck (true), but they also just really appreciate the gesture and the simplicity of it all. Not everyone knows your products or services like you do. It’s obvious to you because, duh, they’re yours. But Jenny doesn’t know that that one tea towel of yours goes really well with that card or that somethin’ or other, and neither does Mary. Jim-Bob doesn’t either. Make it easy and simple and take the guess work (cause let’s be real, what to get so and so is always the hardest part) out of the gift giving for your customers. They’ll love it and appreciate it more than you know. Bundles can be your businesses BFF this season.

GO STRAIGHT TO THE BOX
The inbox, that is.

Guys, if you aren’t beboppin’ in and out of your customers inboxes, then boy oh boy do we have a lot of catching up to do! To get right to the nitty gritty here, the last months worth of emails (that’s only one a week, y’all. so 4 total in a one month span) that I created and sent out for a client generated over 5 figures in sales from a relatively inexpensive product line.

So, their inbox. That’s where it’s at.

People are busy. They really, truly, honestly don’t have time to see all of your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest content every single day. And no, most of them aren’t thinking about you while they’re brushing their teeth in the morning (yet) or browsing your website just because they have nothing else to do. They do have other things to do. Especially during the holiday season. When you send out an email once a week to your newsletter subscribers that is chock full of valuable content, you’re almost guaranteeing a place in their brain for you that day that otherwise could have easily been filled up by another company or business or product or what-have-you. Sending out a weekly newsletter is the easiest way to get in front of and stay in front of your customers.

The perfect newsletter can be a tricky one to master, but it’s one of my favorite services I provide for my clients. Out of the last 10 newsletters sent for a client, not a single one of those didn’t generate sales for my client. They made money from every single newsletter. Can you say that about your Instagram or Facebook post? I doubt it. I strongly encourage you to invest time in creating valuable email campaigns this holiday season. If you are not already doing this, I can ensure you the payoff will knock your (holiday) socks off.