Small businesses know that even though the year is winding down, the holiday sales season is most definitely not.
With that said, there’s no doubt it can be a difficult time to stand out from all the tinsel and twinkle of your business competitors. This is a time when effective holiday messaging is more important than ever.
How can you ensure your holiday messaging leaps out from a crowd or overfilled newsfeed? Here are some suggestions.
Be valuable
Holiday shoppers are looking for the best deals to fulfill their Christmas Wish Lists. As a small business owner, you want your deals to reach them.
While it can be a tempting time to push sales messages through newsletters or Season’s Greetings cards, it’s often more strategic to be value-focused instead.
As with any other marketing communications you create, you need to be thinking about your target audience and how you can add specific value. Perhaps your services can specifically solve a winterized problem your customer might have. Or, a restaurant could include special holiday recipes they plan to share.
Ensuring your messaging contains value that’s relevant to the services you provide will make you more memorable. It also gives your customer a reason to reference the messaging again in the future.
Be thankful
As many know, the holidays can bring out incredible kindness, generosity and good cheer. For brands and businesses, expressing gratitude to your customer can be an incredible way to cultivate more of this feeling during the season.
When gratitude-based marketing is done right, it humanizes your brand and transforms a transactional customer experience into an emotional one. People often underestimate the incredible power a “thank you” can bring.
Moreover, the power many small businesses have start with the close-knit, community-based relationships they hold with their customers.
The holidays give you a perfect opportunity to thank your customer for their business, let them know you’d like to see them over the holidays and cultivate further brand loyalty that’s based on real holiday spirit.
Be generous
The holidays are an especially charitable time.
Highlighting your brand values and using your marketing messaging to promote causes your company plans to support during the holiday season is good for the community, and your customers brand perception.
Remember: bringing people together is the hallmark of the holiday season. Charity causes are a great reason to reach out to your customers and encourage engagement. Ask your customers to participate, get them engaging in a good cause and help raise awareness.
An engaged customer who shares your company values, keeps your business top-of-mind.
Be personal
During the holidays, customers are bombarded with holiday newsletters, sale specials and other gimmicky promotions. This is not the time for generic mass messaging.
Personalization is the key to truly connecting with your customer.
The benefits of personalization and the cost of impersonal, disconnected messaging are likely obvious.
Having access to online data can help you tailor and personalize your messaging. If you have an online shop, reminding shoppers that their online carts haven’t been fulfilled is one example of personalization done right.
One of the best ways to personalize anything is simply addressing your customer by name. It’s not always easy to pinpoint the personalization sweet spot, but it can advance your customer relationship if done incrementally and strategically.
There’s no doubt the holidays are a great time to connect with your customer and make a memorable impact. Regardless of what you might celebrate, the season opens the door for sharing, connecting and communicating.
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