By RJ Horsley, SpotOn
The holiday season is almost here! Don’t check
the date or the weather — it’s still summer. But it’s definitely not too early
to start planning marketing and loyalty promotions for Thanksgiving, Christmas,
New Year’s and everything in between. This will give you an edge when it comes
to competing with “big box” stores. Plus, when you take the time to plan emails
and content now, you won’t have to start from scratch during your busiest time
of year.
Below are five things you can do right now to
make sure 2018 is your best holiday season yet:
Advertisement
1. Create A Schedule
Developing a basic
framework for the season keeps you organized and ensures you don’t miss any critical marketing
opportunities. Start with blank calendars for October, November and December and
fill in all of the holidays, events and days your
business will be closed. Use these dates to work backwards to determine holiday
promotional timing, and then which emails need to go out when.
2. Take Some Time To Test
Many customers expect
small businesses to compete with the deals offered by larger companies during
the holidays — especially when it comes to Black Friday. Do you know for sure
which promotions bring in the most customers? By thinking about the
holidays now, you have time to determine what offers drive sales by testing
smaller versions of these promotions. Then, when it really matters, you can
confidently roll out the winning strategy.
3. Consider Giving Back
Find a local nonprofit
organization that shares the values of your business and brainstorm ways to
partner during the holiday season. This can take a while, so time is needed.
It’s an easy way to build community and support a worthwhile cause. You can
pair a popular item with the charity and offer to donate a certain amount for
each one that is purchased. Or donate a percentage of the profits from a specific
day to the organization. Making this a part of your holiday marketing strategy
can benefit your business long after the holiday season ends.
4. Develop A Variety Of Messages
Remember that it’s a challenge to stay top-of-mind during this
busy time of year. Plan to send emails more often with a variety of content
that is both relevant and useful. On average, retailers should increase their
email frequency to customers by about 50% during November and December compared
to non-holiday months. Use special promotions to entice customers into your
store, but don’t forget to mix it up by leveraging holiday-related content your
customers will find useful, like hot hostess gifts or easy ideas for
procrastinators. Also, make sure to send emails with general information, like
when your business will be closed.
5. Plan To Reward Loyalty
In the world of small and medium businesses, a one-time customer
is a lost opportunity. So having a rewards program in place for the holiday
season is important. You want to make sure it’s simple to join and easy to earn
rewards. Then, there’s a very good chance that a customer who buys from you
during a holiday promotion will return and buy again during other seasons.
There are
plenty of things you can do right now to ensure you hit the ground running
during the most wonderful time of year. Take the time now to create a schedule,
test offers, consider charitable partnerships, develop a variety of messages
and plan to reward loyal customers. You get a head start and some flexibility to
tweak and improve your strategy along the way.
RJ Horsley is the President
of SpotOn Transact, LLC, a cutting-edge payments
and software company redefining the merchant services industry. SpotOn brings
together payment processing and customer engagement software, giving merchants
richer data and tools that empower them to market more effectively to their
customers. Prior to SpotOn he was the CFO of AXSY and an investment banker with
Financial Technology Partners. Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpotOn; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spotoninc/; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotontransact/.
