TIPS FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

Tips for Your Small Business this Holiday Season

The holidays are the perfect time to give your small business a much-needed boost, with an assortment of opportunities to attract new customers and bring back those from the past as well. E-commerce gift-buying is expected to reach a trillion dollar peak in 2022 according to data compiled by Adobe, so it’s important to capitalize on this growth.

Brands Won invites you to read on to learn how to upgrade your marketing strategy, build brand equity, and attract those last-minute shoppers leading up to the holidays.

Talk to Your Customers

As a small business owner, you have no shortage of ways to connect with your customers, ranging from email to social media or website comments. Look to interact with your customers this holiday season by engaging in conversations with them online and through social media.

Consider posting prompts on social media asking about holiday traditions or what your followers would like to do on their next vacation. And don’t forget about Jewish and Muslim followers as well or you will isolate a good chunk of your potential buyers. If you’re looking to give back this year, a great prompt is asking your followers which cause they’d like to see your business support.  Establish trust with potential customers by being clear about what you are offering to provide or donate.

Then, take the time to respond to your followers. If you have thousands or millions of people following you, you won’t be able to talk to everyone, but you can respond to a fair number of comments. By taking the time to acknowledge your followers, research from Ambassador shows that you’re showing you care and helping the 71% of Canadian consumers make a recommendation after seeing a brand’s social media. If you end up making donations based on your followers’ responses, be sure to make a follow-up post.

While you’re thinking about communication with your customer base, make plans to send them holiday greetings via email or paper cards.  It’s a good way to  offer a coupon for some of your merchandise, too.

Upgrade Your Look

Look to market your products by upgrading your bags and shipping materials. More and more business owners are discovering they can use their bags to make a statement or decorative piece, and you can ensure their homes become billboards for your company by providing high-quality packaging materials they’ll love.

Upgrade your shipping boxes. A great example of this is FabFitFun. As the brand has progressed, they’ve developed more artistic boxes. These boxes are frequently captured in Instagram posts and pictures as customers use them as backgrounds or focal points in photos.

Your logo should be eye-catching, memorable, and tie into your business. Do you feel like yours needs a facelift? Work with a graphic designer to revamp this key part of your marketing. If you and your graphic designer are exchanging image ideas, JPG files can be cumbersome to email. By using a JPG to PDF converter, you can convert these files to PDFs which will make them easier to send while still preserving image quality.

Get Last-Minute Shoppers

You can attract last-minute shoppers by giving them the opportunity to get discounts or deals on fast shipping. These shoppers will often be looking to get all of their gift buying done in one go, and you can take advantage of this by making it easy for them. A great way of doing this is creating a gift guide, highlighting gift options for each person in their life, such as their parents or significant other.

It’s also important to post your updated holiday hours if you have a physical store, as you don’t want to miss out on sales because shoppers showed up when you were closed. You can do this easily on social media, which is the perfect place to stay engaged with your customers. Another benefit of having a physical store is the opportunity to capitalize on the advantages your location brings. Connect with other businesses that are close by, and consider a joint event, such as a walkable evening shopping event. You can promote such an event by touting the physical and mental health benefits of walking, and areas with a high Walk Score are perfect for people to get out and about.

Attract the last-minute shoppers by dressing up your storefront with wreaths, lights, and other decorations. This lets them know you’ve got them covered for their holiday shopping needs.

Hire Freelancers to Help

If this all sounds great but you’re wondering how you’ll find the time to put these in practice, hire freelancers to help you out. There are freelancers that can do pretty much anything you need, including help with your marketing efforts. They could execute any of the above ideas, or help you expand your strategy. For example, a TikTok agency could help you break into a surging social media platform to help promote your business.

Check out job boards to find an agency or other professionals like web designers, packaging designers, and more. If you need help with the holiday rush, consider hiring some temporary employees to do packing and shipping.

Key Takeaways

Getting your business ready for the holiday season can be an exciting time as you prepare for more and more new customers to start rolling in, especially if you use proven methods to get people to shop with you. By preparing both your physical and online stores, you’ll be sure to attract potential customers. Have a very happy holiday season and go smash your sales goals!

Brands Won helps ambitious businesses generate more profit by building brand awareness, driving web traffic and connecting with more customers. Reach out today for more info! 647-642-8643