From creating a webinar to rewarding people for instant action, here are 15 answers to the question, “Can you share some of your best tips for boosting business during a holiday slow down period?”
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- Host a Webinar
- Pair Deals With Strong Customer Support
- Promote On Facebook
- Lean into Fun
- Focus on Current Customers More Than the New Ones
- Send a Letter With a Generous Gift Certificate
- Share Holiday Discount Vouchers With Customers’ Friends
- Curate Gift Guides
- Offer Customers What They Actually Need
- Hold a Social Media Contest
- Make Personalized Marketing Campaigns
- Use Virtual Reality
- Communicate a Unified Message
- Sync Up Your Sales and Marketing
- Provide Incentive to Act Now
Host a Webinar
One way to do this is by hosting a webinar. During a webinar, your audience is actively engaged in your content as opposed to passively watching it like with TV ads or Facebook posts. They’re more likely to stay interested in what you have to say and follow through with their purchase because they feel like they’re taking part in the process with you.
For maximum impact, create a lead magnet for your webinar and send it out before the event so prospects will have something to watch the event for and have the incentive to take part in the call or sign up for an email course following the webinar.
Paw Vej, Chief Operating Officer, Financer.com
Pair Deals With Strong Customer Support
The holiday season is full of ebbs and flows and it is during slowdown periods it is best to run special deals and pair it with a strong customer support experience in order to boost your business. The holidays are going to showcase a multitude of promotions, and while offering discounts and other deals is important, we cannot do it in a vacuum.
Highlighting deals that are specific to new, loyal, and VIP customers, rather than simply offering blanket promotions, will heighten the sense of personalization.
In addition, by focusing on your customer support strategy and implementing a plan with your team for creating the overall best experience, you can boost that personalization trait. By combining your special deal offerings with your customer support and experience, you can effectively boost your business during the holiday slow down period.
Greg Gillman, Chief Revenue Officer, MuteSix
Promote on Facebook
Thanks to Facebook ads, we’ve maintained a steady stream of new leads throughout the holiday season. Through Facebook’s granular targeting options, we can bring our offer to the attention of the people we’re trying to reach when they’re not at work on social media.
Sales may be harder to close during the holidays, but many companies find renewed inspiration to improve in the new year. Therefore, if you can meet with decision-makers during the “lull” between Christmas and New Year’s, your company will be fresh in their minds as they plot out the coming year.
Edward Mellett, Co-Founder, WikiJob
Lean into Fun
The holiday period, like the summer months, will inevitably come with a slower rate of site visitors, fewer leads, and long waits between emails. There’s no point pushing for engagement in the same way you would normally. There’s little to be achieved expecting the same results you got for September or October.
But you can stand to increase engagement by leaning into the festive atmosphere. Send out a warm and fun newsletter. Get a bit more relaxed on social media. Post a few GIFs. Tell some jokes. Post pictures of your team in ugly Christmas jumpers, or share baking fails (and successes!).
This change in tone will stand out to prospects and make them feel more able to connect with your business and your team as human beings, without too much rush or pressure to buy.
Matthew Stibbe, CEO, Articulate Marketing
Focus on Current Customers More Than the New Ones
The best tip to boost your business during the holiday slowdown is to keep your current customers at the top of your priority list. The new customers are already busy enjoying their favorite time of the year, so it would not be an appropriate time to attract them.
Get in touch with clients with whom you last interacted a while ago or with who you might be in danger of losing. Remember the clients who have supported you all year long, though.
During the holidays, giving your customers more attention can boost sales and stop losses as you enter the new year.
Madhurima Halder, Content Manager, Recruit CRM
Send a Letter With a Generous Gift Certificate
If you’re a local business, retail business, or business with products and services at a variety of price points—this is a great way to generate additional sales without investing in advertising. You’re basically investing in your customers and inviting them to buy more than they normally would.
First, pick the level of gift certificate you’re going to offer. It must be generous, with a major discount depending on your price point. If you go cheap, you’ll lose.
Next, send a fun and friendly letter (this is best) or email to your customers and tell them you’re providing REAL money they can use toward their purchase. Include a gift certificate or promo code they can use online.
Give them some ideas about what they might want to buy and watch the sales roll in.
Ivana Taylor, Small Business Influencer, DIYMarketers
Share Holiday Discount Vouchers With Customers’ Friends
Give a holiday discount voucher to your current customers plus two extra ones they can give to a couple of friends. You can say that the coupons are your way of expressing appreciation for their business, plus you’re empowering them to share with their friends the great experience they had with your brand.
Set a limited period for the vouchers’ validity to create that sense of urgency to encourage them to shop from your store as soon as possible.
Kevin Huang, Founder & CEO, Ambient Home US
Curate Gift Guides
I’m a big fan of creating gift guides during the holiday slow down period. It grabs customers’ attention and helps them choose the right holiday gift for that special someone in their life.
Here are some gift guide ideas for this holiday season:
1. Top 10 Christmas Gifts To Get Your Boyfriend in 2022
2. 7 Productivity Gifts That Your Employees Will Love
3. 10 Best Gaming Gifts For The Gamer In Your Life
You could use these guides to collect customer email addresses for your email newsletter or post them as articles on your website to generate traffic.
Scott Lieberman, Owner, Touchdown Money
Offer Customers What They Actually Need
Amid this current economy, many companies are still trying to interest consumers in products or services that they just don’t need.
When you create your marketing strategies, it’s crucial to understand what your target audience is looking for, and how you can best showcase the features that will most apply to their specific needs. Don’t be afraid to get creative—sometimes the best way to reach your target market is through an unconventional method.
Lilian Chen, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Bar None Games
Hold a Social Media Contest
Holding a social media contest is a simple way to boost business during a holiday slowdown. Contests generate interest all across social media and encourage more frequent engagement from customers who take part. The possibility of prizes will draw in interested parties from all over social media too, boosting site traffic.
Lyudmyla Dobrynina, Head of Marketing, Optimeal
Make Personalized Marketing Campaigns
Decide on tactics to draw your primary target market to your businesses and encourage them to make purchases after identifying your audience.
Everyone has different buying habits and preferences, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The age groupings and other demographic variables enter the picture. When you are aware of who your target market is or who you are trying to attract, you can create a marketing strategy that appeals to them based on their needs and behavior.
You can then optimize your storefront under this strategy to increase your chances of making sales and raising your revenue during the holiday season.
Steve Pogson, Founder & E-Commerce Strategy Lead, FirstPier
Use Virtual Reality
One way to generate interest in your business during a holiday slowdown period is to give your customers something to get excited about, and with the advances in technology, a great way to do this is to incorporate virtual reality into your marketing strategy.
It may be difficult, or even impossible, to get customers to physically visit your store to inspect the items you have on offer, but virtual reality allows them to have the same experience from the comfort of their homes.
Offer a tour of each department in your store and allow the viewers to pick up and inspect the items that drew them. Make recommendations based on the customer profile and offer incentives such as discounts or promotional giveaways, on some items.
A virtual tour is a way to get your customers talking about your business and you have the chance to offer an experience they will never forget.
Colin Palfrey, Chief Marketing Officer, Crediful
Communicate a Unified Message
Ensure that the story you tell about your visitor is constant from the moment they click on your link or see your advertisement until they enter their name and email.
Also, honor your commitments. If you get someone to click on your website by promising them a useful guide, be sure to repeat the offer when they give you their email and fulfill the promise after you capture the lead.
Kurt Uhlir, Chief Marketing Officer, Kurt Uhlir
Sync Up Your Sales and Marketing
Although sales and marketing are basically two sides of the same coin, they frequently clash and lead to large-scale repercussions. This can range from lost profits, squandered resources, and gaps in the buyer’s journey.
Aligning sales and marketing takes time and effort, but their results are definitely worthwhile. Companies that take the time to ensure that both teams are in sync usually have more successful sales rates.
For example, if you’re looking to gain leads, collaborate with your marketing team as a sales manager. You should let marketing know about frequent consumer concerns and inquiries so that their plan and methodology may be improved and work in alignment with each other.
Guy Sharp, Relocation Advisor, Andorra Guides
Provide Incentive to Act Now
If your company experiences a holiday slowdown period, and you need to boost your business in that time, provide incentives for buyers to act now.
Some businesses see less buying activity during a holiday period because buyers prioritize spending their time elsewhere, often in their personal lives. Aside from working overtime before and after the slowdown period to offset the dip in performance, it would be best if you had a way to motivate your buyer to make time for you.
Incentives to act now help create urgency, which can change buyer behavior. That lead who is interested in your solution but was thinking of reaching out after the holidays could be persuaded to reach out now if you provide an incentive, such as a gift card for a meeting or an added discount, extended trial period, or added discount on your solution, if they act now, i.e. before the end of the holiday slowdown period.
Joe Kevens, Founder & Director of Demand Gen, B2B SaaS Reviews
