As a small business owner, you know that the holiday season is a crucial time for generating sales.
But with so many competing businesses all vying for consumers' attention—and wallets—how can you make sure that your holiday discounts and promotions stand out from the crowd?
Step 1) You’ll need to know your goal and understand what you want to achieve with this promotion.
Before you launch any sort of marketing campaign, it's important to have a clear goal in mind. What are you trying to achieve with this promotion? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Bring in new customers? Increase your average order size? Once you know your goal, you can create a plan that will help you achieve it.
For example, if you're trying to increase brand awareness, you'll want to focus on reach and frequency. You'll probably want to fund an ad, one that reaches as many people as possible, and that it's seen multiple times.
On the other hand, if you're trying to generate leads, you'll want to focus on targeting and messaging. You'll need to make sure that your content is targeted at the right audience, and that it contains a strong call-to-action. By taking the time to clearly define your goals, you can ensure that your marketing campaign is successful.
Next, you'll need to think about what type of discount or promotion will best fit your products or services. Are you looking to offer a percentage off certain items? Or maybe buy-one-get-one deals? Once you've decided on the type of discount or promotion, you'll need to determine the timeframe for the offer. Will it be valid for a single day? A week? The entire holiday season?
Step 2) You’ll have to understand what financially makes sense for your business.
As a business owner, it's important to understand what financially makes sense for your company. When it comes to promotions, you need to decide how much you can afford to discount your products or services. 20% is a common figure, but it's not always the right number for every business.
If you can't afford to give a deep discount, look for other ways to promote your products or services. You might offer free shipping, buy one get one deals, or bundle packages. By understanding your financial limitations, you can make the best decisions for your business.
Step 3) You must understand how to entice customers with your discount or promotion.
There are a few different ways to entice customers with a discount. For one, you can make the discount applicable to a purchase of a certain amount - this encourages customers to spend more in order to receive the discount. You can also make the discount applicable to specific products or services - this can help to boost sales of slower-moving items.
You can offer a time-limited discount - this creates a sense of urgency and encourages customers to take advantage of the deal before it expires. Ultimately, the best way to entice customers with a discount will vary depending on your business and your customer base.
For instance, you should be asking yourself if your promo is applicable to all customers? Or just first-time buyers? Existing customers? By taking the time to thoughtfully answer these questions, you'll be well on your way to creating holiday discounts and promotions that are tailored to your business—and that will appeal to your target audience.
Step 4) You’re going to want to establish a timeline for your goals.
When do you want to achieve these goals? Only on Black Friday? By December 25th? December 26th? All the way to the end of the year? A clear timeline allows you to plan effectively and it helps you get things done!
Just like the famous quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry says, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Step 5) You’re going to need to make a plan of action to achieve your goals.
Developing a well-thought-out holiday marketing plan is essential for success. And it should include everything from your advertising strategy to how you'll handle customer service during the busy season.
By taking the time to plan ahead, you can ensure that your business ends the year on a high note.
If you need more help planning and achieving your goals this holiday season, check out this article on the top 3 ways to set goals.
Step 6) Choose the right marketing channels
If you understand your target audience and your goals, you can narrow down the field and choose the channels that will be most effective for your promotion. For example, if you're looking to reach a young, tech-savvy audience, digital channels such as social media and email marketing may be your best bet.
If you're looking to generate leads or drive sales, paid advertising may be a more effective option. And if you're simply looking to build brand awareness, PR and content marketing may be more appropriate.
Once you have your marketing channels in place, next you’re going to want to create compelling content for your promotion.
Step 7) Create compelling content
When creating content, it's important to keep in mind what will make people want to stay on your page and take action. To do this, you need to create compelling content that is interesting, informative, and relevant to your audience.
First, consider what kind of information your audience is looking for. If you're selling products, they'll want to know about features, benefits, and pricing. If you're providing services, they'll want to know about your process, qualifications, and results.
Whatever the case may be, make sure you're providing the information that people are actually searching for. In addition to being informative, your content should also be engaging. Use strong headlines, photographs, and videos to capture attention and keep people scrolling. Finally, make sure your content is relevant to your audience.
Don't try to sell them something they're not interested in, or provide information that isn't pertinent to their needs. If you can do all of these things, you'll be well on your way to creating compelling content that will keep people engaged and encourage them to take action.
This can often be the step where your timeline might need to be more flexible. Make sure you have some wiggle room for your content creation.
Step 8) Test, measure, adjust
The key to any successful campaign is ongoing testing, measurement, and adjustment. By tracking the results of your campaign as it progresses, you can quickly identify areas that need improvement and make changes accordingly.
This process should be an ongoing one, as even small tweaks can have a big impact on the overall success of your campaign.
Of course, it's also important to ensure that you're making changes based on data, not gut instinct. By taking a scientific approach to campaign optimization, you can maximize your chances of achieving your desired results.
For example, if you thought you’d have more success on social media but realize your social posts are not getting very much traction, you may consider pivoting or creating different social media content.
By following these steps, you can create an effective campaign that will help promote your holiday promotions and bring in more sales to end the year on a high.
And Remember, It’s Okay To Take Some Time Off During The Holidays…
As an entrepreneur, it can be tough to manage days or holidays off.
You're constantly thinking about your business. Even when you're not working, you're still planning and brainstorming.
However, it's important to take some time for yourself and actually relax on your days off.
Here are 5 tips for preparing for days off and taking full advantage of them as an entrepreneur:
1. plan ahead
When you run your own business, planning ahead by creating a to-do list or creating a list of actionable tasks to complete is a must—especially when you’re traveling!
Ideally, if you complete them ahead of time, you will be able to take some time off away from the computer for a couple of days. So making sure to get these items done early can be the recipe for success.
Even things like compiling the details of the funnel you're running or the promotion in a Google Doc saved on your phone so you can easily access it on-the-go can save you a headache!
2. ensure your business can run smoothly without you
Tony Robbins is one of the many business owners that says, "You don’t own a business if you can’t do it on autopilot."
It makes sense, right? If you have to be involved in order for your business to work, then you don’t run a business. You’re just self-employed.
Now for some, being self-employed is a dream come true. But if it’s your goal to be a business owner who has financial and time freedom, you have to figure out how to run your business without you being there.
And putting your business on autopilot is a sure-fire way to make sure business continues to run smoothly without you.
Think about the things right now you have to constantly do over and over again, start automating these things to take the load off your shoulders.
3. use technology to your advantage
By using the power of technology, you can work on your business without having to work in it.
And a simple way to do this is by setting up an autoresponder system for your emails and scheduling your blog posts. Using these features helps make the process of running your business on autopilot smooth and easy.
You can also set up an out of office email to let people know you’re going to be away for a few days. And don’t be afraid to turn off your phone notifications too!
4. try your best to do nothing
Studies show that one of the greatest ways to boost your creativity is to spend time doing nothing. That’s right, being bored boosts creativity and helps you brainstorm new ideas for your business.
But obviously, don’t do nothing about your new ideas. Jot them down. Why? Because all entrepreneurs know that once a great idea is lost, it’s gone forever.
A few ways to set yourself up to do nothing is to make announcements on social media, to your email list, and on your website telling people you’re taking some time off. This sets expectations about your availability so you can enjoy your well-deserved time off!
5. learn to say no
One of the simplest ways to set yourself up for success is to say no.
There’s always so much work to do. It’s easy to work 24/7 and still not get everything done. So instead of overextending yourself, say no and take some time off for yourself or to spend time with your family.
Your life will be more enjoyable that way! (And giving your brain a break is always a good thing!)
Successful holiday planning is about more than just making a list and checking it twice. It's about setting yourself up for success by being organized and prepared. With these tips, you'll be able to enjoy your holidays stress-free!