Five tips to help get you ready for the silly season
Are you ready for the silly season?
Yep, it’s that time of year again. The shops have pulled out the Christmas decorations, there’s Christmas countdown messages hitting your inbox every day and you’ve already received several party invites.
The silly season has officially begun. Are you ready for it?
To make the most of your silly season you really need to start getting ready now. Actually, ideally you will already have some marketing plans in place.
If not, here are five tips to get your marketing sorted for the silly season.
- 1Time travel
- 2Make people feel special
- 3Make your existing customers feel even more special
- 4Share your stories
- 5Make things easy
- 6Bonus tip – get scheduling
1. Time travel
Go back to 2018 (doesn’t that sound like a long time ago) and look at what delivered you the best results.
- What were your most popular and highest selling products?
- What were your most profitable products?
- What campaigns delivered the highest sales
There’s no point in reinventing the wheel. If you know what works, tweak it for this year and roll it out again.
2. Make people feel special
Increase your average sale value by creating an incentive for multiple sales. For example, a free gift valued at $X with purchase valued at over $Y. Or offer free gift wrapping – very appealing for those who don’t enjoy wrapping things themselves. Or, buy three and get free freight. Value add rather than discount.
3. Existing customer love
Having loyal customers is a real bonus these days.
Make sure you look after them by acknowledging their loyalty and making them feel special.
Because they are special.
Hold a customer event, like a lunch, or send them a little gift. Or simply send a handwritten card to say thank you for their custom throughout the year.
Everyone loves a thank you.
4. Story telling
People love connecting with people.
They love knowing what’s happening behind the scenes, seeing snippets of real life (as opposed to the curated life often seen on social media).
Create a festive connection with your market by sharing your stories.
For example, go live when you’re unpacking new stock. Share your incentives, like showing a customer getting their gifts wrapped for free. Or take photos of your team putting up the Christmas decorations.
5. Make things easy
If you sell online then make go and review your shopping/checkout process.
Better still, get someone else, someone outside your business, to review it.
Take the feedback and update your site to make the purchase process as seamless as possible.
And do this before you start your silly season promotions.
If your sales are predominantly in-store, make it easy for people to find things. Group similar items together, have signage guiding customers to specific areas, and make sure you have enough staff on.
6. bonus tip
Make scheduling your best friend. Plan your social media right through to and beyond the new year. Book time in your calendar and get creative.
Taking a few hours out of your day now, before the silly season gets too crazy, will save you not only time down the track, but you’ll sleep at night not having to worry about what you need to post tomorrow or the next day.
Start Now
The most important thing is to start now. Plan what you’re going to do so you are ready for the silly season. And then action your plan early.
Plan. Plan. Plan.
Create. Create. Create.
Schedule. Schedule. Schedule.
Implement. Implement. Implement.
And make the most of your silly season.
If you need help with making your planning your silly season marketing, then let us know. We'd love to help you.
