Cash In on Christmas

Christmas seems like a long way off when you are sitting in the garden on a long summer’s evening – especially with the UK experiencing its annual heatwave right now! However, to make the most of the peak selling season, plans need to be formulated now. We share small business marketing ideas to help you cash in on Christmas…

Christmas Marketing Plans

In the past 5 years, Christmas sales in the UK have ranged between £76.91million and £84.7million and I’m sure that your business would like a share of those sales. As a small business, you are unlikely to have the budget for a high-profile television ad, yet there is plenty that can be done to attract festive buyers. You just need to get those Christmas marketing plans underway.

Don’t Wait Until December

Small businesses can reap the rewards, but not if you wait until December. In 2020, eBay Ads research found that 25% of buyers planned to have their festive shopping done before December. This had risen to 41% in 2021. Even if you plan to do your main promotions in the final month of the year, building anticipation through marketing has to be underway several weeks in advance.

Working backwards, you can start to see that plans need to be in place very soon to allow sufficient time to order stock, design packaging, plan events and map out your social content.

So, let’s crack-er on with those Christmas marketing ideas.

Christmas Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Create Gift Bundles

Your goal is to make it as easy as possible for someone to spot the ideal gift for a friend or family member. This doesn’t need to be a completely new product range, instead rethink how you package and present existing goods and services. This saves you from holding a lot of seasonal stock.

For goods, start grouping items around themes. Can you offer a gift collection, a set of complementary goods that work well together? Get in touch with a local packaging company for advice on tasteful presentation boxes.

Services and experiences can also be sold as gifts, but you need to create attractive vouchers and cards to add to their appeal. With the cost of living rising, practical service gifts will no doubt be appealing.

Why not create a variety of gift bundle options so you have something to suit a range of budgets?

Build a Festive Website Page

Make it easy for website visitors to navigate to your seasonal range with a dedicated Christmas page. This can include festive filters, your gift bundles and opportunities for cross-selling – ‘shoppers who bought this also bought these’ or ‘have you seen our gifts for foodies?’

Your festive page could include information or a countdown to the last orders for Christmas delivery. You might include the option of a personalised message gift card or gift wrapping at checkout.

If your company is supporting a local charity in the season of giving, provide information on your fundraising campaign and the organisation.

Plan Promotional Events

Invitations to an online or in-person event can be a great way to promote your brand and bring people together. Consider what would be useful and enjoyable to existing and new customers. Could you offer a winter webinar, informative podcast or exclusive shopping event? Tailor ideas to a specific audience and plan your communications, whether magazine advertising, leaflet drops, printed invites or emails to get the message out.

Top Tip: Collaborate with other small businesses that are targeting the same demographic to share the responsibilities and benefits of promotional events.

Your event might be an online festive competition, volunteering at a charity event or extended opening hours and free gift wrapping on Small Business Saturday, this year taking place on Saturday 3 December 2022. Take a look at the website for further inspiration.

Get Social in the Countdown to Christmas

All your gift and event ideas, the new web page and charity or partner collaborations provide a wealth of content for your social posts.

If all goes to plan, you will be busy in the countdown to Christmas, leaving little time for social posts. The answer is to prepare a variety of content and take some top-quality photos in advance. A full campaign can be ready and scheduled in advance, so you just need to allocate time to responding and reacting to others’ posts.

Involve your Team in Christmas Plans

The success of festive campaigns will partly depend on having the whole team on board. Planning ensures that staff, suppliers, freelancers and partners have advanced warning; they are informed about the festive range and can help promote it; lead times are achievable, staff availability is in place and everyone has what they need to bring the plans together.

Help with your Christmas Marketing Strategy

This article might spark some inspiration, however, if you would like assistance with developing a tailored marketing strategy that fits your business and your target customers, get in touch with Alison Page Marketing. Call 07963 002065 or email hello@alisonpagemarketing.co.uk.

We can plan exactly what you need in place, and when, to benefit from the peak selling season. If your time is limited, our team of marketing specialists can implement the plan and in making sure everything is measurable, we can report on the outcome of our work.

Don’t leave it until the last minute; now is the time to prepare to cash in on Christmas.