‘Tis the Season to Make Money - Holiday Marketing Tips

By Jackie Rosselli

Ok, so you’re not Wal-Mart or Target - but you are a retailer, and it’s time to start thinking like one. Holiday time is typically when retailers earn the lion’s share of their profits. The National Retail Federation is estimating a 5 percent increase in Holiday sales this year, somewhat above the average 4.6 percent annual gains in recent years. Quoted in USA Today, Madison Riley, a retail strategist at Kurt Salmon Associates, said he expects lower gas prices and a buoyed stock market may "lead to a sense of financial freedom, and people may open up the pocketbooks a bit this holiday."

Why not take advantage of all this expected holiday cheer and good will? After all, the holiday season is a great time to get your products in front of your customers again, no matter what you‘re selling.

In-Store Tips

While some holiday marketing tactics are more involved than others, it’s still not too late to do something for this season. Illinois’s Star Uniforms has run a successful holiday marketing campaign for years, and offers the following in-store advice to other uniform retailers:

Tip One: Plan ahead. If you’re going to sell holiday related items like Christmas tree or Santa Claus scrubs, you must order these the previous spring. And make certain you order enough, for they can’t be reordered once your inventory is gone. What’s the most popular holiday print? Snowmen. “They can be worn all winter, as opposed to the short holiday season,” says Phyllis Goewey, manager, Star Uniforms. “This really appeals to the cost-conscious customer, and to those who do not celebrate Christmas.”

Tip Two: Deck the Halls. The music. The lights. Let’s face if -- even if you don’t celebrate, it’s still a special time of year. Make certain you fill your customers with holiday cheer by decorating your store and playing seasonal music in the background.

Tip Three: Designate an area of your store, if possible. Display all your holiday merchandise in one area, calling attention to it with signage, lighting, or anything else that will lure customers to the site.

Tip Four: Take it on the road. Exhibiting at trade shows? Don’t forget to bring your holiday wares with you -- it’s a great way to boost sales.

Tip Five: Create a gift bag. Even if you don’t have themed merchandise to sell, you can still get in the spirit (and ring up additional sales) by creating a pre-wrapped gift bag or basket. What to include in your creation? Socks, pens, lights, and ties are a few of the many possibilities.

Tip Six: Nothing says lovin’ like a gift card. The popularity of gift cards in the consumer market is equally impressive in the uniform business, according to retailers we spoke with. Even those who haven’t marketed based on the holidays report increased spending on gift cards during this time of year. So if you haven’t pushed your gift cards yet, or if you don’t have one, now’s the perfect time to start.

E-commerce Holiday Marketing

Online shopping has become big during the holidays, so when decking the halls of your stores, don’t forget about your website. Be sure to promote your website at all your events and in any and all ads and marketing pieces that you distribute between now and Christmas. Most important, be sure your site is ready to receive holiday visitors by doing one or more of the following:

• Make certain that everything is working properly.
• Add a link from your home page to a special holiday section.
• Do a mailing of gift ideas in different price categories.
• Offer free holiday e-cards (along with prominent links to your holiday shopping pages).
• Include a holiday gift ideas page, broken down into different price categories.
• Offer an early shopper discount to those who make online purchases by a certain date
• Since shipping fees are a major obstacle to online sales, consider featuring reduced shipping at your online store this season.
• Allow local customers to order online and pick up their orders in person at your store.

Other Advice We Like

Tie in your marketing program with a public relations campaign. Why not issue a press release to trade publications and local media outlets announcing holiday gift-giving ideas?

We recently came across one such campaign from 5.11 Tactical, the Modesto, California manufacturer of police uniforms and gear. The release, titled “Head to toe gear from 5.11 Tactical,” lists several gift-giving ideas at various price points, all designed to “make holiday shopping easy.”

Hold a special holiday sale. Take this time to offer customers an incentive to buy from you this holiday season. Offer a discount and try to extend the expiration date past the holidays into January. Offering a discount for after the holidays is a good way to draw in your customers. They may want a little something for themselves or have some fun money they want to spend; that is where your discount comes in. Most people are apt to buy something when they are receiving at a discount, its that extra nudge to purchase.

Create a clever promotion . Is there anything you can give away? If so, you can increase your sales and your customer base. There are dozens of holiday promotions you can run, but one of the more interesting comes from www.WebPromotion-Weekly.com , a free ezine about internet marketing, promotion and advertising. Called the “12 Days of Christmas,” it contains the following elements:

On each of the twelve days of Christmas, you put together some sort of free gift. It doesn't have to be big, or cost a great deal of money, but be certain to give away things that have some sort of value in the eyes of your potential customer.

Then, for the next 12 days you give away one object to everyone who signs up for your promotion, be it past customers, online shoppers, or run ads to get new people to sign up just for the promotion.

How will this boost sales? First, for the next 12 days you have the undivided attention of a brand new potential customer.

This gives you a great chance to get to know them and for them to get to know you, which is the cornerstone of selling anything. Remember, people buy from people they like.

Second, at the end of the 12 days, you put together some sort of package deal and send them a new series of sales letters selling that package.

They've been getting information from you for the last 12 days - they're used to it. It makes getting them to read future sales letters from you that much easier. Plus, if you send good gifts, you create a vague sense of guilt in the person which helps push them into buying your stuff.

In the end, holiday marketing is just a continuation of the best business practices you should already have in place. Look for ways to stand out and you’ll have a busy and prosperous holiday season.