The holiday season is upon us and is likely to be one of the biggest times of the year for you, with the final months accounting for a large portion of your annual sales. This year the ability to sell online is going to play a big role in your online marketing campaigns, and it will be critical to your success. In fact, e-commerce has increased by 30% as a result of the pandemic. We’re anticipating that aside from home delivery options to buy online and pick up in-store will not only be here to stay, but they will continue to grow in the retail industry.

Now’s the time to plan ahead for the holiday season so you can get more sales, referrals from existing customers, and find new customers.

Holiday Goals: Once you’ve determined which dates you want to promote around, it’s time to sit down and solidify the offers you’ll be promoting throughout the holiday shopping season.

It’s important to start by identifying your marketing goal. Nailing down your business goals will allow you to determine which offers and tactics you’ll use to get the word out about it.

Understand Your Audience: Once you can imagine your customers’ needs, you’re able to position your offer as the solution to that need, whether it’s to find the perfect gift, save them time or solve some other problem, or even give them an opportunity to give back and be part of something bigger this holiday season. Putting yourself into their shoes, you can also position YOUR solution as better than your competitors’ for their specific needs.

Create Your Offer: Discounts, Coupons, & Free Gifts are just a few offer ideas. If you don’t have products to sell, you can still take advantage of the holiday momentum. Just like a special product coupon might be good only for a few days, perhaps you can open your calendar on two or three days to have free consulting sessions with people during what is normally a slow time for you.

Don’t make these things open-ended. Having a limited quantity available triggers an interesting psychological response in people. No one wants to miss out on something special. Even if you always offer free consultations, you can promote those few days differently. Maybe you call them “ask me anything” sessions or “laser coaching sessions.”