As the holidays approach, there are a lot of shoppers getting ready to spend a lot of money. If you have a store then you should expect a lot of business. This means that you have to be ready for it so you are not caught unaware. The more prepared you are, the smoother the season will go and the more money you will make. The key is knowing what needs to be done.
The problem many store owners face is that they end up leaving money on the table since they didn’t do anything to make sure they were positioned for the increase in customers. It’s not enough to sit back and wait for the customers to come rolling in. In this article, we will go over some of the ways that you can prepare for the increase in business during the holiday shopping season.
1 – Have your marketing material ready
Shoppers will be making plans on what to buy and where so you have to make sure that they are thinking about your store. This means that it is a very important time to be sending out some marketing materials. Think about doing some direct mailing that targets your ideal customer in the area where your store is located. Look into the demographics of your targeted audience and send the material to the ones who fit the profile.
Holiday greeting cards are a very good way to get the word out that you are ready for the business that the holiday will bring your way. You can advertise a sale or give a coupon that will make sure that they do come to your store.
Even doing digital marketing is important so that you will be on the radar of your customers when the time comes for them to look into buying a gift for a special somebody. Create some content that catches their eye and will give them a reason to come to you.
2 – Use an email list
It doesn’t matter that your business is not online. An email list is essential for many things but especially for marketing during the fourth quarter. This is because you have people that essentially are asking you to market to them. You can use the list to send them updates about store hours and also what types of promotions you might be running.
Unlike direct mailing, using your email list to give them coupons and increase awareness is free. Hopefully, you have been trying to build that list during the course of the year so it is big enough to make a difference in your sales.
3 – Hire extra staff
You need to have an all-hands-on-deck mentality during the holiday shopping season. Hiring a few extra helpers for a few weeks will be exactly how to get through the influx of shoppers. There are usually people looking to pick up some work during the holidays so that they have extra money for gifts, too.