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Why should you expand your marketing efforts during the holiday season? Because doing so will benefit your bottom line. Naturally, you should not ignore marketing during the remaining 300+ days of the year, but you should redouble your marketing efforts as the holiday season approaches.
Many businesses earn as much as 50% of their annual revenues in the fourth quarter of the year; that figure increases to 60-80% for some specialty businesses. Thus, focusing on aggressively growing your revenue during the relatively short holiday season can have a dramatic impact on the overall annual revenue.
Here are three marketing suggestions you can use to generate more revenue this holiday season. These techniques can be used for both retail and service businesses. Retail businesses usually focus on marketing their products as gifts, while service businesses can use gift certificates for the same purpose.
Or create a section for items that would make great holiday gifts. Be creative -- almost any product or service can be packaged as a gift. Place prominent links to this section from your home page and other major category pages. Give the link to the holiday Section to your newsletter subscribers and other potential customers who are looking for holiday gifts. This will ensure that your customers will not have to search for holiday products on your web site - they will be taken to the gift section immediately! Remember, make it easy for the customer to find the product!
Do you know anyone who needs to buy just one gift for the holidays? Neither do I. Encourage customers to purchase more then one item on your web site. Discounts or shipping specials that kick in when multiple items are ordered are an excellent inducement to buy in bulk. Examples include: 20% off an order of over $100 (where $100 is more than the cost of a typical single item), free shipping when you buy two items, buy one get one free, etc. Make it worthwhile to your customers to treat your business as a one-stop gift shop!
This is particularly important for service businesses, since there is no tangible product to discount. While this is somewhat unorthodox, a gift certificate is a great way to gain a new customer who would never find out about your business otherwise. Naturally, you should offer superior service when the certificate is redeemed to ensure that your new customer uses your services more than once. Encourage your current customers to buy gift certificates for friends and colleagues who could use your services. Offer a special on buying more than one Gift Certificate -- it's a win-win situation for both you and the customer.
Remember to give your customers a reason to come back to you once the holiday season is over. Provide great products or services, focus on excellent customer service and invite your customers to sign up for your mailing list to receive information from you in the future. Happy Holiday Marketing!
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