Believe it or not, 2012 is rapidly winding down, and the holidays will be here before we know it. The festive season is the perfect time to run special promotions and to start preparing for the new year, and if you’re hoping to make the most of it, you’ll want to have a plan in place before things really get hectic.
Almost half of American consumers begin their holiday shopping in November, so it’s certainly not too early to start thinking about what promotions you want to run, and how you want to try to attract more customers to your business at this time of heightened buying. Social media can be a key player here – talking up your holiday promotions on Facebook or Twitter can be really helpful and can help your customers find what they want at the best prices.
It’s also important to remember that the weekend beginning with Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) is the busiest shopping weekend of the entire year, so if you’re only going to run one special campaign or promotion, that would be the perfect time to do it. You need to make sure, however, that people know about what you’re going to be doing – sending out an email about your promotion or doing some extra advertising in advance can raise awareness amongst your audience.
If you’re struggling for good holiday promotion ideas, think about some of the deals that you most like to see when you’re doing your own holiday shopping. Many places create special gift packages that can be purchased for loved ones at a discounted price, or offer free shipping if you buy before a certain date. If your business involves physical products, you may even throw in free giftwrapping for customers who spend over a certain amount.
More and more customers are shopping online and visiting mobile retail sites, and this will only increase year after year, so you’ll want to keep that in mind when constructing your marketing plan for the holiday season this year. The extra customers you attract over the holiday season will give you a real boost for the beginning of 2013, and if you play your cards right, you can start the new year with a much bigger audience than you had in 2012, which is always good.
Have you formed your marketing plan for the holiday season yet? What sorts of promotions are you planning to run?
