‘Tis the season … to start stressing about how you’ll market your franchise to attract holiday sales. But, avoiding the holiday crunch is easy if you start planning today how you’ll market your business in the coming weeks during the holiday season.
1. Decide What Your Goals Are
Sure, you want to increase sales this holiday season. Maybe even exceed last year’s numbers. But specifically, how much do you want to sell, or what percent increase are you looking for?
Using numbers and exact goals can help you actually achieve them in the fourth quarter.
2. Consider Additional Advertising Options
2. Consider Additional Advertising OptionsMaybe you go heavy on social media year ‘round, and you’ve got a great email marketing campaign running as well. But now is the time to step out of that box and try something different so that you’ll get different (better) results.
Social media and pay-per-click ads are a few options to consider. You could also advertise directly on a website that caters to your audience, or in a local publication.
3. Think About Promotions
Now that you have your sales goal, let’s look at what you have to sell. You’ll need to have a few different promotions throughout late November (starting with Black Friday) and running until Christmas.
For Black Friday, make your promotions insanely good, even if it means you lose money. The idea is that if you have a few items that are super cheap (called “loss leaders” in marketing terminology), people will come in to buy them, but they’ll also buy other items that you will make a profit on.
Beyond Black Friday, you could offer a 25% coupon for a return shopping trip to customers, a Buy One Get One Free, or a Free Gift with Purchase promotion.
4. Spread the Good Cheer Across All Marketing Channels
You’ll want to keep doing what you’ve been doing all year to market your franchise, with a little gingerbread and peppermint injected for the holidays. You can do this by adding holiday images to your website and social media profiles, writing holiday-themed blog content on your blog, and sharing those holiday products on your Instagram feed.
As the Holidays Approach …
Take copious notes. This will help make next year’s planning easier. For example, if your pay-per-click ad campaign failed but Facebook ads got you tons of new business, plan to invest more in the latter next year. And plan to replicate whatever promotions sent people flooding into your franchise next year.
A little planning for your holiday marketing now will help you stay organized and profitable as the year draws to a close.
Image: Photospin
