Although our focus is usually on bookkeeping, payroll, and tax topics, I came across a helpful article from SBA.gov with some interesting tips for marketing during the coming holiday season. These budget-friendly ideas from SBA’s guest blogger Rieva Lesonsky may help you help get you started.
Social Media Contests: Does your small business already have a social media presence? If so, contests on Facebook and Twitter are often a popular way to highlight your brand and engage with customers. You will reminding them that your product or service is available to them (and could be a great gift idea too!). With a few rules, a clever hashtag and incentive 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: Make your small business stand out by hosting an open house or special event at your store or restaurant. Use it to showcase holiday season gifts, menus and merchandise 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 that to make their purchases at a discount.
Holiday Help: This is a great idea from Illana 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 2013.”
- 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.
For more great holiday marketing insight, check out this recent post from guest blogger Rieva Lesonsky, “Start Now to Plan Your Holiday Retail Marketing Campaign,” and our 2012 web chat with Caron Beesley.
