How to Increase Holiday Sales

With the holiday season upon us, it is expected that retail sales and ecommerce sales are going to grow despite the fact that inflation has hit the U.S. economy. In 2022, shoppers spent more than $1 trillion on holiday purchases according to a report from Insider Intelligence. And the report goes on to say that in 2022, the holiday season retail sales grew by 4.8% YoY, following two years of surging retail and ecommerce growth. The expectation of a similar gain is the prediction for the 2023 holiday season. Considering this prediction, it stands to reason that small business owners should seize every opportunity to boost their holiday sales by using all available options just as the major retailers do.

As a small business owner, if you want to increase revenue for the holiday season and position your company for sales afterwards, you must get strategic. Check out my 7 expert tips for how to increase holiday sales.

1. Connect with your Customers/Clients in Meaningful Ways – Do something that says you took the time to reach out and show them how much you care about them and appreciate their business. Connecting is simply staying in touch. There are many ways to connect including but not limited to, a simple email, text, or thank you card.
2. Review Your Audience Habits – Learn the ways your customers consume your marketing messages, content and general communications. You simply need to study the data that is available at your fingertips. Data such as Google Analytics and the Facebook Pixel are great for learning about your audience. When you study the data, it will lead to dollars i.e., sales.? You should know your audience so well that you don’t have to guess about what they like or dislike. You should know your audience so well that you can describe their common features and characteristics. Being armed with this information properly prepares you for knowing how to effectively market to your target audience.
3. Evaluate Your Marketing Strategies – You must look at every marketing strategy you are currently using to promote your business. You should know which strategies work best. For example, does social media work well to bring you leads or do events work better for your brand? Does your audience respond to internet ads or radio ads? Which marketing mediums have you tried that worked well and which ones fell flat? You should be able to analyze which strategies are yielding the best results for your brand and business in general.
4. Optimize and Update Your Website – Make sure your company website is updated and optimized with key words pertinent to your industry. Add meta tags on appropriate pages so they can rank high in Google and other major search engines.
5. Post Holiday Sales, Discounts, Special Offers BEFORE, DURING and AFTER – You must understand that billions and trillions of dollars are spent on major holidays in the USA. However, the holiday season from Thanksgiving to News Year’s Day is typically considered THE HOLIDAY SEASON including some pretty big shopping days like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Christmas Eve, Day After Christmas and New Year’s Eve…all of these days are huge for retailers across the country. Therefore, as a small business owner, you too can take advantage of the holiday season by offering special sales during this timeframe. Don't miss out on after Christmas sales as this is a huge opportunity to position your business for a big pay days before the new year.
6. ?Utilize Referral Discounts – Giving people an incentive to talk about your business is a no-brainer. Word of Mouth is one of the oldest if not the oldest form of marketing. In order to give your friends and colleagues an incentive to drop your name when the appropriate time comes, you should consider offer referral discounts. People love getting a deal and they especially love getting discounts. However, the biggest flex is when your friends can say to their friends, that they can get a discount for you if you buy XYZ item or service from someone they know. The power of referral marketing is real. Why not use it at the holidays to make it pay off for your business?
7. Donate Proceeds to a Charity. – We live in a day and age where social responsibility matters. If you donate a portion of your proceeds over the month of December to a charity, you can promote that you care about your community and therefore garner some loyalty from your customer base as well as your network and community at large.

Any of the above tips and strategies will assist you in boosting your sales if executed properly. However, it's about making sure you've studied your target audience and your niche and industry, as well as the market to get an idea as to what will work best for you.

In summary, if you'd like to boost your business and increase sales not only during the holiday season but also after the season, you must plan properly and execute smart strategies that will help you achieve your goals.

If you're interested in learning how to grow your revenue on a consistent basis, the best thing you can do is to develop a plan that brings you consistent leads and drives traffic to your doorstep. You need a proven, strategic plan that will get results. I help purpose driven entrepreneurs to grow and scale their businesses using brilliant branding, magnetic marketing, and soulful sales strategies so they can attract ideal clients, gain brand visibility, and increase their income, impact and influence in record time.

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This article is written by Dr. Lori A. Manns. Original version of this article appears on the website at Quality Media Consultant Group a business consultancy firm that specializes in curating growth-oriented strategies that provide businesses with more clients, greater brand visibility, and increased sales resulting in bigger profits.

www.qualitymediaconsultants.com