How to Market your Business at Christmas

Unfortunately most businesses, let alone small businesses, don’t have the luxury of a John Lewis-sized advertising budget when it comes to marketing around the Christmas period – or any other time of the year for that matter… But this doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. Small businesses almost have an easier job when it comes to reaching out to old and new customers alike as they have the advantage of being small enough to know, and hopefully, understand their customer base.

Christmas is not just a time for cold, hard, selling. In fact, for many of the service-based SMEs, business winds down as budgets have been spent therefore it is in fact the perfect time to show your customers how much you value their business. However, many businesses fail to fully capitalise on the goodwill factor that they can engender during this time of the year.

When it comes to creative Christmas marketing ideas, many businesses think only in terms of making money through sale events such as ‘Black Friday’. As a result, they discount their products to boost short-term sales, at the cost of ignoring long-term loyalty hence few brands truly capture the magic of what Christmas is all about as they are too sales focused. Rather than constantly marketing_assistantpushing price messages think about helping the customer in other ways or give something back, do something suitable to your business that, if done the right way, will give you the advantage of building long-lasting loyalty.

Try coming up with an overall Christmas idea that you can carry across all the different types of activity that you do, here are some channel ideas to help you execute your festive marketing campaign:

Email Marketing

Send out an email to your customer base (as long as you have built a database that is), build a seasonal message around a compelling promotion or special offer to reward existing customers with a discount or a free gift with purchase.

Content Marketing

Everything that you produce for your customers to read should be engaging and not just a mere sales pitch. Interesting content can then be shared via email, blogs, social media channels, articles and press releases. Therefore last minute festive tips, funny seasonal-themed videos of your team singing Christmas carols, instructional guides on how to use your products, end-of-year newsletters, and even information on last-minute ordering can be beneficial content to your online audience – and of course a way to promote what you’re selling!

Social Media

Assuming you have some presence on social media (which is essential for any business – as long as the channel is suitable) there are many simple tactics that can be implemented:

      • Photos
        Post photos to your business social media accounts, this may just be a bit of fun but it spreads good cheer as well as sends a message to your customers that you’re proactive and relevant. These images can be of festive products or ordinary product shots set in a Christmasy setting, seasonal-themed stock photos or images of your staff dressed up – you never know it may even go viral!
      • Relevant Updates
        Provide regular useful updates on sales, promotions, shipping cut-off dates, return policies, office opening hours and other pertinent information but most importantly remember to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
      • Competitions
        A Christmas competition can gain ‘likes’ & ‘follows’ as well as capture customer data and generate sales. This can be anything from a photo competition asking your social media community to post photos of themselves in their Christmas jumpers to a trivia festive quiz. Remember the more generous your prizes are, the more participants you will have!

Host a Christmas shopping event

If you have a shop consider having a Christmas shopping event. Offer customers mulled wine, mince pies and free gift-wrapping for any purchases. A raffle or a special promotion for attending can make it an event that your regular customers won’t want to miss. You can even cross promote by showcasing the products or services of another business such as offering food from a local bakery or treatments from a local salon. Think about creating a fun experience, dress up like Father Christmas, take a free photo for your customers and their children – anything that makes people feel festive, happy and appreciated always helps in building longer term loyalty.

Support a Charity

After all, this is the season for giving (and it always helps public relations to actively support a good cause), whether you donate a portion of your sales, your team offers to volunteer their time or you send charity Christmas cards it is all about your business giving something back

And finally, have fun coming up with creative ideas and, most importantly, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Successful 2016!

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