Get More Sales this Small Business Season

It doesn’t matter what kind of business you are in. People need what you make and provide. If you’re fortunate, they’ll consider you when gift-giving this holiday season, but even if you’re not in retail or food/beverage, you can still bring in holiday customers with these ideas.

To increase your holiday sales in a non-traditional holiday industry, it’s important to reposition or remarket your items/services. You need to show people how what you offer is essential and deserves some of their hard-earned holiday budget. Here are some ways you can do that:

Paint a Picture (or sing a song)
Your product or service may not be sexy. It may not be on the top of every good boy’s and girl’s most-wanted list. But you can still have a great holiday if you show and tell your audience why it’s essential to buy what you’re offering. You can even do this with humor. For instance, if you’re a plumber, consider creating a parody of the song Twelve Days of Christmas to point out the workout your pipes get during the holiday. It might go something like this:
“On the first day of Christmas my nice guest gave to me, a giant clog in the potty.”

Tell Your Story
Every business owner has a story. If you're not telling it, you're missing an opportunity to connect with your audience.

Small business owners sacrifice a lot for their businesses. So do their families. Posting about your family is part of your business story. Many business owners share how old their children were when they first opened their business. Some proudly point out that those children are now working for that business.

If you have a similar story, create a collage with a picture of your children (or yourself) from when you first opened and a current picture. Placing them side by side can be a really good reminder of how long you've been a part of the community. It's a very effective way to show people how important it is to help keep businesses like yours in the community. It's also a nice time to be able to thank your loyal customers and encourage others to come check you out even if you don't sell traditional holiday gifts.

Reframe
Again, not every business celebrates the holidays because the owners or marketers may not deem their product or service as holiday worthy. But you can have a lot of fun with it. Suggest buying something — a product or service from you — as a white elephant gift or a gift for someone they don't know that well. For instance, it could be funny and helpful to give your teacher a gift card for an oil change. It's not something you think about as a traditional holiday gift but it would be very valued. If you want to increase your sales at Christmas time, start marketing your products and services as unique Christmas gifts.

Tie It All In
If you don't sell a traditional holiday product or service, market your tie to the holiday. For instance, if you're a roofer explain that no one wants Santa to get his sleigh stuck on a bad roof. Perhaps a new roof is probably not something someone thinks about during the holidays. But if you're offering discounts and deals, you can tie in your service with the holiday.

Just because you don't have a traditional holiday business doesn't mean you can't increase sales during small business season. It just takes a little humor, creativity and a whole lot of fun to get people to notice you.

​And when you do, you'll be glad you did it.

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