In today’s How to Engage Your Customers With Themed Promotions post, I’m going to share some simple strategies for reaping the rewards from the numerous “holidays” that appear throughout the year to substantially boost your profits.
Switched on businesses start planning their holiday or themed promotions way in advance. By doing this they can make the most of these bumper times. Businesses from many niches have realised that holiday marketing can prove extremely lucrative for them.
Now it’s not just Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc, that businesses are recognising. They see the potential in so many other dates such as Black Friday, bank holidays, sporting events and so on.
Benefits of Themed Promotions
Businesses know that any special promotion can help drive sales. Particularly among those prospects avoiding making a decision about a specific product or service.
Furthermore, by offering seasonal or themed promotions their prospects instantly know that it’s a limited-time deal and therefore will be more likely to make a purchase. The fact that these holidays are peak buying periods is a major bonus for businesses.
For example, many people are probably already making lots of purchases over Christmas, Black Friday, Valentine’s Day, etc, so you can jump on this and enjoy the benefits while people are in a buying mood. You can use this to your advantage to stand out from your competitors by offering a super-duper special deal.
Like other promotions, it’s generally best to run these as limited time offers (even if you decide to bring them back multiple times) so your prospects don’t have the chance to deliberate for too long.
Quick and Easy Marketing
Try running your campaign for three days as this is often the optimum amount of time. Make sure you flag up lots of reminders to keep people engaged.
For example, if you have a list of email subscribers and have decided to contact them with a three-day offer, then try using this tactic:
- Day 1 – Contact them once.
- Day 2 – Email them twice.
- Day 3 – Make sure you send three emails. One in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening.
Applying this strategy will result in you making a lot of sales on the final day, especially during the final hours of your campaign when they know time is running out!
In the USA over 70% of all adults celebrate or take part in some kind of Halloween activity. There’s a massive market just itching to buy costumes, treats, makeup, themed party food and so on. Here in the UK Halloween is becoming a major event too with businesses seeing the potential for making lots of sales during this time. However, even if your niche is totally unrelated you can creatively launch an effective Halloween marketing campaign for your products or services.
Many business owners seem to be oblivious to the fact that even “after the holiday” people are still buying, and sales can be immense. When it comes to big holidays like Christmas or Easter people are often still at home, bored and are looking to buy or do something. So, don’t take it for granted that people will be spending all their time with family and friends. Some people will be looking for a break and a distraction so it can be the ideal time to run a special offer or schedule a special event.
Let’s Look at Ways to Engage Your Customers With Themed Promotions
1. Loyalty Program
Set up a loyalty program where customers can obtain additional bonus points during holiday times. Always do your research first to make sure your customers are receptive to the idea. Focus on designing one specific to your brand and your customers’ needs. With a bit of creativity your options are limitless.
2. Create Giveaways
Everyone loves giveaways. Offer your customers free giveaways on holidays and try to connect them to the specific holiday. Often when customers are given a freebie, they’re more likely to make a purchase as well. I do that all the time. If a business gives me something for free, I want to support them by buying something from them as a kind of thank you. You could also create mystery gifts that you sell or attach as a bonus to an upsell. Lots of opportunity to be inventive here.
3. Website Makeover
A holiday is an ideal time to give your website a makeover, especially if you receive a lot of traffic. It’s a good idea to try to add something holiday related to your pages. For example, you could create a fun video of yourself in a Santa costume talking about the Christmas special offers and discounts you’ve applied to your products or services.
4. Reconnect and Share Stories
Use holidays to reach out to your customers and reconnect with them. People love stories. You could talk about how you spent the holiday and share photos. Ask your customers to share stories of their celebrations too. When you do this your customers get an insight into your life and feel like they know you better. This builds trust and loyalty.
Clearly holidays, different seasons, or any other special time of the year are prime times to create themed promotions to not only drive more sales, but also to give you an advantage over your competitors and stand out from the crowd.
I hope you found value in my How to Engage Your Customers With Themed Promotions post and are beginning to think of ideas for promoting your products and services in a unique way during these periods.
Don’t miss out on these fantastic opportunities to increase your profits. With a bit of forward planning and imagination you can benefit greatly from these times.
To Your Success!
