Last month, Constant Contact’s River Cartie reported that, “According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), ‘each year, about 40 percent of consumers begin their holiday shopping before Halloween.’”
In other words, people start thinking about the holidays early, which means you should, too.
Whether you’re selling a consumer product, a business service, or a charitable endeavor, getting a head-start on the holidays now will help ensure you take advantage of both early thinkers and last-minute shoppers.
Whether or not you think you have the right audience or the right offers for holiday promotions, Cartie suggests asking yourself the following questions:
What do you have in stock right now, and can you bundle it into something special for the holidays?
Is what you already have enough, or do you need to add something to make it special for the holidays?
Once you identify your special offers, make sure your marketing plans include print, web, and email. Coordinated campaigns, run as a series, not only open the door wider for catching customer traffic, but they also reinforce your message on multiple fronts.
Instead of focusing on just the big two holidays—Thanksgiving and Christmas—try testing the waters with other holidays:
Veterans Day: 11/11
Black Friday: 11/26
Small Business Saturday: 11/27
Hanukkah: 11/28-12/6
Cyber Monday: 11/29
Giving Tuesday: 11/30
First day of Winter: 12/21
Kwanzaa: 12/26 – 1/1
New Year’s Eve: 12/31
No matter which holidays you target, do it with sincerity, emotion, and originality. Best wishes for an effective and productive holiday marketing season.