Are you wondering how to increase traffic to your business this holiday season? Below are a few things you might want to consider.
Social Media Contests:
Do you currently have a social media presence? Facebook and Twitter contests are often a popular way to highlight your brand and engage with customers. Use your account to remind customers (and prospects too!) about your products and services, and that they could be great gift ideas. With a few rules, a clever hashtag and incentives such as a prize or discount on your offerings, you can drum up excitement about – and draw people in to – your business.
Extra Appeal for Your Loyal Customers:
Take this time to make your loyal customers feel extra special – it may come back to you by way of additional business and referrals. Without breaking the bank, you can provide special offers, sneak previews, free shipping or secret sales.
Special Events or Open Houses:
This is a great time of year to host an open house or special event at your place of business. Use it to showcase holiday items so customers can get a glimpse of your seasonal goods in advance. Get people in the holiday spirit by offering light refreshments, like a mug of hot cocoa or a glass of cider. As they leave, invite customers to come back by giving a special offer or coupon to make their purchases at a discount.
Holiday Help:
This is a great idea from Ilana Bercovitz at Small Business Trends: use social media to offer helpful tips during a stressful holiday season. Consider your industry, product or service and related advice you could offer to make customers’ lives easier. “Everyone appreciates useful advice and your customers will thank you for pushing content that makes their holidays slightly less stressful,” Bercovitz says.
Email:
Although it’s often considered overused, email remains inexpensive and easy to implement when it comes to maintaining contact with existing customers. But remember, to be effective, email marketing should be used with past customers or potential customers who have expressed an interest in your business and have requested email from you (otherwise known as permission marketing).
Keep these tips in mind if you plan to use email to support your holiday marketing efforts:
- Keep the e-mail short and sweet. Link directly to the content of interest so you make the process as easy as possible for your customers.
- Clearly state the email’s intent in the subject line. For example, "A Special Offer Just for You. Thanks for Your Business in 2015.”
- Be festive in your design. Appeal to the sights of the season with a special design for the holidays.
- Follow online marketing rules. Don't forget that online marketing is regulated, so whatever tactics you employ be sure to follow government guidelines that apply to list management, SPAM and other guidelines.
By using one or more of these tools, it's likely you'll have more customers visiting your store this time of year!
This information originally appeared on the SBA website and was written by Rieva Lesonsky.
