Tap into the spending season

The holiday season provides the perfect opportunity to connect with customers and leverage off the seasonal shopping period.

For many businesses, the upcoming Christmas season presents a peak in sales and revenue. Businesses that fail to maximise the holiday shopping season can miss out on a huge revenue opportunity and risk losing customers to competition.

It pays to adjust your marketing based on seasonal sales opportunities. A marketing campaign that capitalises on the upcoming season provides businesses with the opportunity to position themselves as an adaptive and quick-to-react business.

When crafting your holiday marketing campaign, it is not a good idea to leave planning and execution to the last minute. Here are five ways to boost sales and awareness this holiday season:

• Pick the right opportunities

Ensure your marketing campaign meets the needs of your target market. Understanding your target market and their purchasing behaviour will help to hone into the festivities that may appeal to them and allows you to design your marketing campaign based around their wants and needs.

• Advertise ahead of the holidays

Consider offering special discounts, increasing your availability for appointments (if you are a service based business), and introducing early bird offers to attract customers who like to shop ahead. Promoting your holiday sale early helps to prime customers to choose your business as a default shopping destination before your competitors get a chance.

• Integrate with social media

Successful holiday campaigns integrate social media to increase reach and engagement. A strong social media strategy will help brands increase their social subscribers while encouraging customers to purchase. Consider enticing customers to subscribe with special offers such as free shipping or percentage discounts.

• Reuse, recycle

As marketing efforts can be relatively expensive, consider reusing past marketing campaigns that were successful. Past campaigns may be recycled if they are still relevant or only need a few minor amendments. When developing a seasonal marketing campaign avoid time-specific references so the content can be used again.

• Include a call-to-action

Seasonal campaigns will often have a deadline due to the nature of the campaign and therefore require a call-to-action. Encourage customers to contact your business via email, telephone or social media in your campaign and include deadlines for any special offers to create a sense of urgency. If uptake on promotions is not as expected you may extend offers for additional time.