Fall is a great time to put a little extra effort into promotion and make good use of hyper-stimulated consumers who are on the hunt for every deal they can find. November and December are the top months for holiday shopping, and not only can your business rise to the occasion, you can meet consumers where they are with a few targeted promotional strategies. Included in this article are just a few ideas to give you an edge in reaching your customers during the early holiday season, and as always, there are many more ways to go about it—all you have to do is use your imagination.
1. Mobile Optimization
A survey conducted in October of this year by the National Retail Federation revealed that 21.4 percent of smartphone owners will use their device to make holiday purchases, and 47.5 percent will use smartphones to research products. This point cannot be stressed enough: If your website or online store is not completely smartphone-friendly, then you will be missing out on a substantial portion of business that you could have captured this holiday season.
2. Launch Early Promotion
NRF’s survey also found that the second-strongest reason American consumers want to get their gifts early is to avoid the crowds of last-minute Christmas shoppers. Take advantage of early birds by gearing your fall advertising towards those who are trying to buy all of their gifts before the masses begin to flood the stores.
3. Shipping Discounts
Probably one of the best ways to bring in new customers during the holiday shopping season is to offer free shipping on some or all items. Especially for online shoppers, an offer for free shipping is probably the most reliable way to tip a buyer’s decision in your favor.
4. Encourage Sharing
People are already sharing all kinds of content on Facebook, every day—so why not give them an incentive to share yours? Offering a discount or small-denomination gift card might be just the nudge for current customers (or anyone who’s interested) to post something about your fall promotion on their page.
5. Gift Cards
It’s a fact; people love gift cards. Whether you are giving them away as part of your seasonal promotion, or simply offering them for an everyday purchase price, your customers will be very glad for the option to purchase these cards to use as gifts, as well as for themselves.
6. Don’t Replicate
The first thing you want to think about when you’re preparing to launch your new fall promotion or sale is to take a look at what you did in prior years. Though it’s not necessarily a bad idea to repeat some essential element that your customers are already comfortable with, the look and feel of your current promotional material should be fresh and new.
7. Pinterest
There’s no question that, more than ever before, we are engaged and even motivated by visual imagery over any other form of media. Pinterest is the perfect platform to share new content because this social networking site is built around a social network that communicates through image-based material. Sign up for a free business account, and you can post your latest promotion in a community where users are constantly looking for their next project or their new favorite company.
8. Small Business Saturday
Here is a chance to promote your small business, which you shouldn’t pass up. November the 28th of this year marks the 5th annual Small Business Saturday, an unofficial holiday, partially founded by American Express, to celebrate local small businesses and the consumers who love them. Promising to one day be on par with its adjacent calendar landmarks, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday is a great chance to get a buzz going about your products and raise awareness about your business.
Stephanie
Stephanie is the Marketing Director at Talkroute and has been featured in Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur as a leading authority on business and telecommunications.
Stephanie is also the chief editor and contributing author for the Talkroute blog helping more than 100k entrepreneurs to start, run, and grow their businesses.