Preparing Your Business for the Holiday Season
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We are already into October and believe it or not now is the perfect time to start making those holiday season preparations for your business. Here are some quick tips to optimise your conversions in the coming months.
Blog Posts
Blog posts can take anywhere between 4 to 8 weeks to rank in the search engines, so if yours are holiday season based and you want to take advantage of SEO I would get them out as soon as possible. If instead you are going to rely more on promoting them yourself across social media and your newsletters there is not such a hurry. However, it’s better to prepare them early and then keep promoting them, rather than rushing them all out in December, if you want to take advantage of shoppers at both ends of the spectrum, i.e. those who shop early and the last minuters!
Posting Dates
When you get into late October or November time, depending on whether you ship internationally, let your customers know when the last posting dates of the season are. You can also share this across social media as it can trigger people to start thinking about gift buying!
Take Advantage of Gift Cards
Whether you sell physical products, digital items or services you can keep promoting right up to the day itself if you offer gift cards. These are easy to create and can be purchased and downloaded by the customer to give to their loved ones – with the added advantage that the recipient can actually choose what they want.
Plan Your Offers Now
If you are going to offer Black Friday deals or do a flash sale pre or post Black Friday, plan out your course of action now. That way you can prepare your marketing materials in advance and even schedule social media updates ahead of time so you make the most of the sale period.
If you are running a limited time sale don’t be afraid to push it across all the social media platforms, in your blog and in your newsletter. Also you don’t always have to think in terms of reducing items, maybe you could do a free shipping offer, 3 for 2 sale or even buy one get one free. Those types of sales are a little different and can be very appealing when people have a lot of friends and family to buy for. Just be sure you are very clear on your terms.
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Spruce up Your Online Presence
You can help to get your buyers in the mood by adding some holiday cheer in terms of images on your social media platforms and even on your website as the holiday season gets closer. This doesn’t mean a complete overhaul of your design but maybe add a seasonal image here and there to get people reaching for the eggnog and their credit cards (a fatal combination) 😉
Don’t Forget Post Holidays
If you are aiming your marketing towards Christmas there can be a great many people with money to spend looking for a bargain in the time between Christmas and New Year, so you may want to plan a campaign for this time too. People who have received money for Christmas are often itching to spend it and some people even want to stock up on gifts for the year ahead. So to make the best of the whole period don’t rest on your laurels even when Christmas arrives!
Plan Ahead
The holiday season will be busy not just in your business but in your home life too, so try to plan ahead where you can. It is an important time of the year where many businesses are concerned but if sales are not all that you hoped use the post Christmas period to get down to planning what you want to achieve in the year ahead.
It’s also important to get some rest too. Turn off the laptop once in a while, watch that relaxing movie and get out for some autumnal walks – ahhh, perfect.
Above all, enjoy yourself. You are building a business you love, the holiday season just makes it that bit more special.
