Now that December is here, it’s important to go over your business holiday checklist to make sure everything is ready for the busy months and next year. Here are some things we advise taking care of this month.
Send cards
Say hello to your customers and stay top-of-mind. Sending a holiday card out is a nice way to let your clients know you’re thinking about them this season, and that you appreciate them. You can have a graphic designer put together a branded card, or use a personal touch such as a photo of your team. Alternatively, you can send holiday emails to your clients, or get creative and send a gif of your founder dressed as Santa.
Create buzz
Breaking through the holiday noise is difficult, but if you can create enough buzz around your brand you can get people excited about it during this exciting season. Some ideas for building excitement include;
- Publicize holiday events
- Offer special promotions
- Roll out holiday shipping specials
- Create a special holiday landing page featuring your most popular items
Schedule social media
Since the holidays can get busy, prepare and pre-schedule your social media posts for the season to make sure there’s no lull in your profiles. This includes any promotions, planned events, and special offers. If you know that your popular items are going to be on clearance on a certain day, schedule posts to go out that day, and don’t forget to let people know where they can purchase.
Learn from the past
If you’ve been operating for a while now, you may have metrics and analytics from previous holidays. Take those numbers and pay attention to any trends you may see. Which channel brought in most of your sales last year? Put more effort into marketing through that channel this year. Take a look at your email marketing, social media, content marketing, and any other way you drove sales in the past.
Map out your marketing
The holidays are an important time for business. Not only is it a great opportunity to hit end-of-year targets, you also get to plan out your next quarter. For some industries, such as primarily B2B ones, December can be a quiet month used to map out your marketing for 2017. Meet with your teams and set clear goals and benchmarks for the next year.
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About the Author: Jocelyn Pick
