Get your Holiday Hustle On! (Part 1)

A Holiday Hustle means buckling down and focusing on your sales goals for the holiday season. This is one of the busiest times of year for small business owners, so you’ll need to be assertive in your marketing efforts and make the most of every opportunity. Here are a few tips to help you get your Holiday Hustle on!

1. Make a plan.

It’s essential to have a strategy for achieving your sales goals. Decide your tactics, and create a timeline to stay on track. For me, I like to have a sales goal. Then, I look at my offerings and work backward.

Say I want to make $500.

And I’m a wreath crafter who charges $100/wreath.

On the surface, that tells me I need to sell five wreaths.

But when I look back at my history, one of every two prospective people usually becomes buying customers. That means I need to focus on reaching out to 10 people, knowing that 5 of them will close.

2. Start early.

The sooner you start planning and marketing, the better your chance of meeting your targets. Please get your campaigns up and running before Thanksgiving and keep them going through the end of the year. But since I’m writing this at the beginning of December, it’s OK to start today.

Brainstorm and reach out to satisfied customers, aka people who are purchased before. Do you have any new product offerings? Mention those and see if they’d like to buy. Or, if you’re a service provider, set up free check-in calls, find out their needs, and customize programs just for them.

3. Tap into seasonal trends.

Consumers are already thinking about holidays, so take advantage of that by targeting your marketing to holiday shoppers. Offer special deals and promotions, create seasonal content, and target your ads to people most likely to buy from you.

Depending on your business, this could be a challenge. Retailers and product sellers have something tangible that’s easiest to grasp. Service providers like myself need to think outside of the box. The most crucial idea is to keep the niche small—the smaller the niche, the more manageable your marketing is during this stressful holiday. Don’t worry about selling to everyone. Focus on meeting your holiday sales goal.

4. Use social media wisely.

Social media is a powerful tool for reaching potential customers but it can also be a lot of work. Ensure you’re using it effectively by creating exciting content, running ads, and engaging with followers.

Make sure to advertise on the right platforms. For example, if you’re B2B, you might prefer LinkedIn. But if you’re B2C, you might choose Facebook. This depends! I recommend working with a social media expert to craft your holiday strategy. Make sure they help you track ROI, so you know which ads bring in the most sales.

5. Stay ahead of the competition.

It’s important to know what your competitors are doing so you can stay one step ahead. Monitor their online activity, see what deals they’re offering, and find ways to differentiate yourself from them.

Years ago, I had an oil company as a client, and they were the best in staying ahead of the competition. They knew their competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and learned to look for gaps in their offerings. Then, they’d respond to those gaps with furnace cleanings, maintenance plans, etc. They fulfilled the customers’ needs, grew the business, and built a reputation for excellent responsiveness and service.

In Conclusion

Thank you for reading my blog post on increasing sales during the holiday season, and check also this article on decreasing expenses. I hope that you found these tips helpful and will be able to apply them to your own business. Watch out for next week’s article! I have four more ideas to help you get your holiday hustle on! If you have any questions or need help implementing these strategies, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Apply for a free consultation here. Thanks again!