Who’s excited about the upcoming holiday period then? Well you damn well should be, because this is probably one of THE best times of the year to maximize your end-of-year revenue during the holiday season.
In case you missed it, around this time of year, companies and brands pull out all the stops with killer marketing campaigns and sales promotions to entice you to buy on impulse and join the holiday spending craze.
So what really goes into creating a successful marketing campaign to maximize the holiday promotional period and who’s doing it well that we can learn from?
I’m here to take you behind the scenes and show you how you can replicate these tactics for yourself.
Based on what I’ve seen, there is a working framework that you can implement in your own business to plan your holiday promotions to make more sales or simply create more buzz and goodwill that lasts beyond this period and into the future.
1.) Determine your goals
There are two major goals you want to focus on here: Increasing revenue and building your list (for future promotions and updates).
Set a stretch goal that forces you to aim high and get creative in your sales and marketing efforts to achieve it.
- How much money would you like to make during this period from sales of your products?
- How many new clients are you interested in attracting to buy your services or packages?
I like to focus my goals on a 1) ‘Must reach’ goal, 2) `Happy to achieve’ goal and finally 3) `Blew it out of the water’ goal.
From these goals, you can then reverse-engineer your sales and marketing strategy.
2.) Define the services/products you have available
In my BizShop, you can see that I have six digital products on offer and currently I have three Business Design Coaching packages.
I can choose to create an awesome bundle of my BYOB series (especially since two guides are new) into one special holiday price so people get Build Your Online Business Guide, Am I Your Customer?, and The Proven 8 Step Method to Build a Sales Funnel.
I could also offer up a holiday flash sale on a couple of my most popular products that I plan on taking out of my shop to make way for my new flagship program launching at the end of the year.
So ask yourself, do you want to promote and sell more of your existing products, or do you want to use this sales period as part of a launch for a new product or service to get people excited and interested in what you currently offer?
If you offer services like coaching, consulting, web design, nutrition or SEO sessions, how can you change these offerings to make them special just for the holiday season.
Which ways can you bundle your services or create an added value special package just for the holiday period that makes your existing clients feel like they’re getting an exclusive offer?
What holiday special or introductory offer could you promote to attract new clients and get them to try out your services?
3.) Choose which holiday(s) to use for your promotions
Here’s a breakdown of the holidays you should be aware of that are coming up*:
November 29 Black Friday (U.S.)
December 2 Cyber Monday
December 17 Free Shipping Day
December 21 The last Saturday before Christmas
December 24 Christmas Eve
December 25 Christmas Day
December 26 Boxing Day
December 31 New Year’s Eve
*****Source: Miva Merchant
According to CNN Money, last year retailers did their best to stagger their exclusive sales and discounts throughout the holiday season instead of on just one day.
For example, you could create a sale exclusively for your unique coaching service for Pre-Thanksgiving, offer a sale that complements that service over the Black Friday weekend, and then offer a bundle on your services and products on Cyber Monday.
4.) Figure out which type of offer will work best
There are three main types of offers you can consider using:
1. Discount offer
Percentage discount: This is where you would give a 25%, 50%, or 75% discount on a product or service.
Dollar discount: This is where you would give a $10, $50, or $100 discount on a product or service.
2. Bundle Price – This is where you can bundle specific products together and give them one discounted bundle price.
A great example of this can be seen in a past promotion run by Naomi at Ittybiz called the ‘How Not to Screw Up’ bundle package.
Here is what made this work so well:
- She made the sale exclusive by saying that once this sale period is over, all of the products being offered will no longer be sold.
- She themed the bundle, which gave the customer a clear idea of what they would get out of it. What’s more, each product included followed the theme and hit a pain point that most of her customers’ experience.
3. Pay What You Can – This is where you let your audience name their own price for a product/service.
One person who has done this without fail, every year for her birthday, is Danielle LaPorte. She has a solid structure for these to ensure efficiency.
Some tips include:
- Tell your audience exactly how it works
- Openly share disclaimers and rules
She states: “1. This offer ends at 11:59pm PST Saturday May 26. Fer reals. If you’re out of town, if you missed this email in your inbox…then the opportunity will have vanished. I like things, especially money things, elegant and simple (and generous.)
2. This only applies to Your Big Beautiful Book Plan.
3. I’m sorry, this offer is not retroactive – even if you bought Your Big Beautiful Book Plan yesterday.
4. I reserve the right to refuse too-low offers. Good karma is in effect. (And yep, I see all of the bids coming in.)
5. I will take multiple payments over time. This works on the honor system. If you want to pay, say, $30 in three installments via PayPal, email installments@daniellelaporte.com to set that up. Easy breezy.
6. If you have a question please email angie@daniellelaporte.com. She will respond as soon as she can, and definitely within 24 hours. (Please, I implore you on Angie’s behalf, don’t DM her, or Facebook or email her three times today. Promise, promise, she will get to you. These events are amazeballs and we do manage to serve everyone.)
7. If you already have Your Big Beautiful Book Plan and would like to gift it to someone at a pay-what-you-can rate, go for it! In past events, we’ve had people offer to pay for strangers i.e., “I’d like to buy three copies at $70 each for three people who can’t afford to pay anything.” Email angie@daniellelaporte.com and we’ll help make that happen!
8. For those of you who do not jive with PayPal or credit cards, I will take a cheque(s) (that’s Canadian for “check”.) Please email angie@daniellelaporte.com for details.”
5.) Layout your marketing plan for the entire sales period
There are two major components to this marketing plan:
1. Social media plan
- What sites do you have the most presence on to promote the sale and which sites are your customers most engaged on? How will you encourage others to share the sale with their followers?
- Answer: Read Which Social Media sites should you be on and why? Use tools like Clicktotweet to make it easy to share on websites like Twitter and bitly so you can track your link to see how many clicks it is getting.
2. Email marketing
- How far in advance are you going to introduce this sale to your community through email marketing?
- Answer: Anne Samoilov recommends implementing a ‘leak strategy’ where you mention the upcoming launch in various ways from 4-8 weeks out, like expressing enthusiasm for it on social media, asking opinions on your Facebook page, mentioning it in your upcoming blog posts or interviews, and putting a PS in your newsletters.
6.) Make sure your website is good to go
Before you launch into your holiday promotion go ahead and check the following on your website:
- Are all of your major links to your sales pages and your products and services working?
- Does your sales page clearly explain your products/services?
- What is the customer experience like as they buy a product or participate in the sale? Is it easy to navigate?
- Is your website mobile-friendly for those wanting to buy on impulse and while on the move?
According to CNN Money, nearly 20% of shopping on Cyber Monday was done purely through mobile. If your site isn’t functioning correctly on a smartphone, there is the potential you could lose a sale.
So there it is. Your 6-step approach to making the most of the upcoming holiday season to increase your revenue, attract new customers and build your online following and email list too from each person who purchases!
You still have plenty of time to put your own plan into action and look back at the useful ideas and creative options shown in this post to build your own perfect sales funnel and delight your customers.
Proud to disclose
I am blogging on behalf of Visa Business and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Visit facebook.com/visasmallbiz to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business.
The Page serves as a space where small business owners can access educational resources, read success stories from other business owners, engage with peers, and find tips to help businesses run more efficiently.
Every month, the Page will introduce a new theme that will focus on a topic important to a small business owner’s success. For additional tips and advice, and information about Visa’s small business solutions, follow @VisaSmallBiz and visit https://visa.com/business.
I’d love to know what you have up your sleeve or what you’ve done before that really worked well for you in the comments.