Oh man I love the holiday season! I love it as a marketer since I get to see all the new pushes for different holiday items. Big retailers sell all the new gadgets and tons of new holiday only items. The marketing is intense as everyone is vying for your attention as a consumer, but also as a business owner. As a business owner I am sure you are probably wondering how you are going to be able to get your message in front of your customers and potential customers this coming holiday season. Do you have a plan in place? Have you started thinking about how and what you are going to market? Do you have a focus item to get people in your door? What if you are not a retailer but you sell a service that isn’t really a holiday item?

What is your plan?

You need to be working on your plan if you don’t have one! The big retailers have already started putting out their Christmas stuff, which I think is absurd because I want to celebrate Thanksgiving and be thankful for what I have first. The harsh reality is that these big stores get a jump on everyone and start bombarding you with Christmas items so that when you start shopping you will know where to go get quick gifts. A plan is very important so that you know what you are going to market and to whom. Even if you have a small plan and it is only advertising in your store, you will at least be ahead of all the people without a plan expecting shoppers to walk through their door.

How are you going to market and what will you market?

This is an important part of your holiday marketing plan! Will you be running an ad in the paper, on your website, on Facebook or in a mailer? Being an internet marketer, I love anything digital that I can market on and through. But you need to make sure you have the “how you are going to market” portion of your plan. If you have an email list of customers, this will be the easiest way you can market to your customers with the biggest return! What you will be marketing is just as important!

What is a focus item?

Have you ever looked at the front page of a sales paper? Have you noticed that some items stand out a little more than others? Those are focus items! For small retailers you need a focus item for people, so that you can give them an idea of a great holiday gift! Can you have more than one focus item? Sure you can! But remember people have a short attention span and oh look a kitty! I am sure you get my point, the better you get focused with your marketing on specific items the easier it will be to keep peoples attention. If you have a focus, then you can help others be focused!

Let me give you an idea of a focus item, I really should save this for my Holiday Cash class, but I want to share this with you here. Big retailers kill it with box sets and gift baskets, these are some of the quickest selling items in all of the stores. If you don’t believe me, head over to your local Wal-mart or Target and take a look at their box sets the first week of December. Then go back a week later and look at the dent that has been made in those items. Also, those items sell like hot cakes the last couple of days before Christmas, because they are easy and the price point is cost effective. So if you are a retailer, you may want to consider having a box set item or a gift basket item. If you don’t want to make a ton of these, make 2 or 3 as a test. Then have them be special order items with a quick turn around or free delivery.

But I am a service industry company or I don’t sell holiday related items! What do I do?

I have some sneaky tricks for companies that do not sell holiday related items, which I teach in my Holiday Cash class. With that being said, the holidays is a perfect time to market your business through discounts, especially if you are slow and really need people to call you. The other big ticket item for the holidays is gift certificates.

But I am a plumber, I don’t do gift certificates! Well in my opinion, you better start! What better way to grab new referrals from your existing client base than by offering them gift certificates! You can say that it is the gift their friends and family won’t be expecting but will need! I love gift certificates, if you have ever been given a gift certificate I am sure you started thinking how quick you could use that bad boy!

If you have never tried it, then this will be a good year to start. What do you have to lose? A couple of bucks on the paper and ink? If you have a client base with their email address and you send them an email saying they can come purchase a gift certificate. Then you get 3 people buying gift certificates, well that is 3 more sales than you had over not doing anything at all!

Grow your business this holiday season! Make sure you have a plan in place that will help guide you. Know how you are going to market and which mediums you will use to market through. Have an idea of what you will be marketing, a focus looks better to people than too much info that they cannot process. Focus items are great ways to get people in your door so that you can show them other great things they can get their holiday hands on! Even if you are not in the retail holiday item business this is still a good time to grow your business and grow your potential marketing list!

Oh I missed that part! The marketing list! Make sure this holiday season that everyone that comes in your door, you get their email address! Especially if you give a discount! This is a huge focal point in the Holiday Cash Class and I will be talking about this in a little more detail in an upcoming blog post. So make sure you are growing your list this holiday season!

Until next time thanks for reading and I hope this has helped you gain a little insight on what you need to be doing to grow your business this holiday season! If you would like more information on my upcoming Holiday Cash Class, you can check it out here:http://www.freskosmedia.com/holiday-cash-class-description/