The Seattle area is a great place for small businesses to thrive. Our community tends to appreciate an independent, family-owned business over large, indifferent corporations. However, small businesses still face many challenges, no matter where they are. A limited budget for marketing and growth is one of these challenges. When the size of your business leaves little room for taking risks or having an off-season, you have less to spend on marketing and less freedom to experiment.
At GreenHaven Interactive, we specialize in helping small businesses succeed with practical, affordable digital marketing tailored to each client’s unique needs. In this blog post, we’ll explore some inexpensive (even free!) marketing ideas for small businesses to help take advantage of increased shopping this Christmas. These are ideas you can easily implement yourself, but we’re here to help if you need it!
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Capitalizing on Christmas Shopping as a Small Business
For many retail businesses, Christmas is the busiest, most profitable time of the year. Christmas shopping brings new customers to your doors in their search for gifts. Businesses that sell products in the toys and hobbies categories especially thrive in the holiday season. Home decor, gourmet goods, and clothing also see a boost as popular gifts.
If your small business sells the type of products people might have on their Christmas shopping list, you should do what you can to capitalize on the rush of the season. Not only does it give you a profit increase in the short term, but it brings in new customers who may just come back throughout the year. The great thing about Christmas shopping for businesses is that it often creates two customers: the person who bought the gift, and the person who received it.
5 Easy Christmas Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses
Successful marketing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. While it often includes extensive SEO work, PPC advertising, and other time-consuming or expensive approaches, some small businesses are better suited to simple strategies they can implement at little to no cost. These marketing ideas for small businesses are meant to be easy enough to do yourself and cheap enough to do no matter your business’s size.
1: Partner with Another Small Business in the Same Target Market
Let’s say you sell candles, and you know another small business that sells soap. You are not direct competitors but you have a lot of overlap in your target market. Partnering with another small business that has the same target market as you is a great way to help both of you succeed. Here are some ways you could partner with another business to increase your outreach and sales.
Create themed gift sets. Pair some of your candles with their complementary scented soaps, and you have a gift set that’s convenient for your Christmas shopping customers. Both businesses make a sale, and both get a new customer–it’s a win-win.
Give discounts to each other’s shops. They can offer a coupon for your shop with every sale they make, and you can do the same for them.
Share social media shout-outs. Tap into one another’s social media followings by giving shout-outs and mentions. If you have blogs, you could also do guest posts.
Split costs on events or promotions. As a small business, you might not have the budget for some marketing promotions yourself, but what if you split them? Your complementary businesses can share a booth at a vendor event, or split the cost of a marketing campaign.
2: Sell Mystery Boxes
People like surprises. A mystery box naturally intrigues us with the “fear of missing out” phenomenon. Bundling a few of your products into a mystery box, especially at a slightly discounted price, is likely to get more sales. It’s also an effective solution for slow-moving products that you don’t sell much of. By putting those in the mystery boxes, you make room on your shelves for more popular items.
3: Share Fun Product Recommendations and Gift-Giving Ideas
If you have a blog for your business or do any social media marketing (which you should), you can apply this marketing idea to your content calendar for the month. Share some Christmas shopping-relevant recommendations and ideas with your followers. For the best results, make it fun, quirky, and unique.
Gift idea lists are a great option to promote your products in a way that’s helpful to customers. “Gift ideas for the person who has everything” is a common one you’ll see online–start there and give it a fresh twist based on what you sell.
4: Give Free Samples and Swag
If you can afford to give away a little inventory, people love free stuff! Give out some free samples, like mini candles or a single serving of your gourmet popcorn. Then, your product has the chance to sell itself. Maybe the customer didn’t buy anything originally, but when they go home and light that delicious-smelling candle or taste that popcorn, they might come back for the full size.
Free samples don’t make sense for many businesses or products. A similar option is to give away branded merch and swag. Create some fun stickers and stationery that you can give customers when they make a purchase. Not only does it tend to improve customer loyalty, but if they then use that swag and their friends see it, they’re advertising for you!
5: Try Referral Programs and Email Sign-Up Discounts
While these marketing strategies typically take longer to make a noticeable impact, the busy Christmas season is a good time to get started since you have more customer traffic in your store and on your website. Referrals are especially essential for small businesses that do little advertising and mostly get found by word of mouth. A customer loyalty or referral program incentivizes your customers to refer you to friends and family by offering discounts or other benefits.
Email might seem old-fashioned, but it’s still on-trend in marketing! Offer a discount when a new customer signs up for your email list. Then, you can continue sharing news, offers, and products with them by email. That initial 10% off discount is a worthwhile investment, trust us.
Get More Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses at GreenHaven
These Christmas marketing ideas for small businesses are easy and inexpensive to implement on your own. You don’t need any fancy software, paid ad campaigns, or technical expertise to give your business a little boost this holiday season.
But if you do want that technical expertise and paid advertising for the most effective marketing, or you need to take marketing off your plate entirely, GreenHaven Interactive can help! We offer comprehensive marketing and SEO services for businesses of all shapes and sizes in Seattle, Tacoma, and beyond. Contact us today for more marketing ideas and solutions!
