The Bermuda Triangle of holidays is almost upon us: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. It can feel like a vortex into which you get sucked against your will and you can’t control the velocity with which you spin widly out of control – until you get unceremoniously spit out the other end on January 2. Often with jetlag, a hangover and an eye-popping credit card bill.
But the holidays can also be a great time to bolster your brand and connect with your customers and clients. Here are 5 quick tips on how you can leverage the festivities to increase sales and delight your audience.
- Give Thanks by Giving Back: Donate a portion of sales during Thanksgiving week to a local charity. Collect coats and gloves for a local shelter. Or gather canned goods to give to your local food bank. This increases traffic to your site, encourages a concentrated week of sales, and presents your brand in a fabulous light – not to mention the amazing good it does for your charitable recipient and your Karma. Approach a charity you love and ask them to partner with you by spreading the word to their mailing list or via social media. And heck, pitch the local paper or news about your event for the Community Events calendar.
- Turkey Day Dinner Giveaway: Offer a full-on Thanksgiving Day dinner, with all the trimmings, for 8 people as a prize. People can automatically enter if they buy from you within a certain period of time. Of course, this is for catered fixins….unless you really, REALLY like to cook! You can even partner with a local grocery or specialty food store to increase exposure AND get the items donated.
- Give Peace a Chance: Create a wine-tasting event or movie night for your customers and prospects by partnering with a competitor or two. Put aside your competitive spirit and exponentially increase exposure for all your audiences. You can even make this event a charitable giving exercise by asking people to bring a donated item or charge a fee that goes 100% to a cause you both support. You can market this really creatively around “Calling a Truce for the Holidays” or something fun like that. Make T-shirts or giveaways that say “Team Red Slice” or “Team Whatever” and offer games and prizes for some friendly competition.
- Countdown to Christmas: Celebrate the 12 days of Christmas by offering a special promotion each day leading up to it. If you’re a store, highlight one special sale item each day, or offer something unique with purchase. If you’re a service business or big on social media, craft a new holiday-themed inspirational quote or trivia contest to share with your audience. This will delight them and encourage people to keep checking back with you – in your store, on your blog, or on your Facebook page – to see what you’ve got cooking next.
- Glitter and Sparkle: If you own a store, throw in giftwrapping for free. If you sell online, offer free shipping for the month of December. If you’re B2B, incent people to sign contracts for work starting in 2013 prior to December 31, 2012 at a special rate so you can stock your sales pipeline for a very happy new year.
