As a service-based business, you are always thinking about your customers and clients first. You want to make sure they’re satisfied with your business so that they will keep coming back. Sometimes, you might be focused a bit too much on the customer and not enough on the business itself. This can present quite the problem once the holidays roll around.
Don’t Take a Backseat to Retail Stores
The holidays tend to be a time for service-based businesses to take a backseat to retail stores as they are offering all sorts of discounts and promotions to customers. While your customers and clients are still a priority, it may be harder to get them to stop by your business while they are out gift shopping. That is why you have to take the time to plan out a marketing strategy that will get them to check out your business. Ensure that you are using the right tactics and coming up with good ideas as you want to make sure your promotions stand out.
What if you don’t know where to start? Fortunately, we have some holiday marketing suggestions that can help you promote your brand.
Holiday Marketing Suggestions
Promoting your brand during the holidays can be a great way to grab attention from new customers/clients. Retail businesses seem to always thrive during the holidays, and so can service-based businesses! Here are some ideas and suggestions that you can use to promote your brand this holiday season:
- Volunteering: You can have you and your team volunteer for various charitable events or holiday events that are going on. This can help get your name out there to potential new customers. Volunteering also leaves them with a good impression of your business. Start looking for volunteering opportunities right now so you can plan when you are participating in them.
- Offer A Holiday Package: It’s the holidays, and you want to make sure your customers know that you are part of the festivities. Come up with a special package to help your customers, such as a New Years’ package or a holiday special. People will be more than happy to come to your business!
- Decorate Your Social Media and Your Business: Since it is the holidays, you will want to make sure that your store and your online profile reflect that. Take some time to put up some decorations inside and outside your store. Make your social media posts more holiday-friendly. These little things can help your customers feel more in the holiday spirit.
- Send Thank You Cards: The holidays also signify the nearing of the end of the year. Take some time throughout your day to write a thank you card to your current customers. This is a thoughtful gesture that can nurture loyalty to your business, and it can also potentially lead to referrals to you!
- Help Out Other Businesses: Some clients or customers might use your service to manage their website. During the holidays, their website might be slow due to an overflow of traffic. This is where you can help them deal with these issues. Ensure that they have nothing to worry about come the holidays, which might lead them to continue doing business with you.
- Create An Event: You can create an event in which you can invite other businesses to attend. Getting to know about other businesses in your area can also lead to opportunities for working with them. An event is a great opportunity to get to know them and see if they need help with anything.
- Offer Coupons: Holiday shoppers will want deals to entice them to come to your service-based business. Maybe you can offer them a complimentary 30-minute massage if they use a certain coupon. How about 50% off of a new website? Coupons like these can encourage customers who are on the fence to go and try out your service.
- Giveaway: One way to generate some attention for your business is by promoting a giveaway. You can include some of the products that your service offers, a goodie basket, or even a gift card. A giveaway can be just what you need to gain some hype during the holiday season, especially on your social media platforms.
- Promote Yourself: During the holidays, some people might be too busy to do other things they normally do. Some of them just might be stressed. Create a holiday promotion that shows how you can make their lives a little easier during the holiday season. They might check out your ad and come running to your doors if they feel you can help them.
- Partner Up: You can market yourself during the holidays by partnering up with another business. If your businesses are similar, maybe offer customers a packaged deal. This could help promote your brand to other customers who otherwise might not have heard about you if you didn’t partner with the business they use.
There are many different ways to market service-based businesses during the holidays, but these suggestions are a good starting point. You can use these as a guideline if this is the first time you are marketing during the holidays or simply want some new ideas that you can try out this year.
Conclusion
Service-based businesses don’t have to experience a decline in sales during the holidays. Maybe all you need to do is start marketing your business a bit more so that people know what you have going. There are all sorts of ways you can go about promoting service-based businesses. Just make sure that you plan so that you are prepared for the holidays. This can help make sure that you don’t miss out on a great opportunity!
Keep us in mind for your holiday marketing plan next year! We can help create a custom holiday marketing package for you. Contact us here.