Here we go with holiday marketing again! We’ve been seeing it EVERYWHERE for weeks already. ‘Tis the season! We believe that businesses start planning for the following year’s campaigns while executing the current year’s marketing initiatives. In the past, you could begin your holiday marketing in December, but those days are long gone.
It’s only been a couple of weeks since Halloween and Santa is already in London Ontario! The battle for customer attention with a rally to boost year-end sales for 2022 has begun in full force. This is especially the case with brick-and-mortar retail. Restaurants are actively accepting bookings and aiming for sold-out crowds for the holiday season since many people are organizing family gatherings and office events.
With so many businesses vying for our attention, how can a small business capitalize on the holiday season and be the first one that comes to mind, even after the holidays are over? Before we begin, let’s discuss the importance of holiday marketing. Over the holidays, there are many opportunities for businesses to grow. Here are some ways those opportunities may present themselves:
People often seek interaction more directly during holiday festivities.
During the holiday season, there is an increase in demand for products or services.
The holidays give businesses a chance to interact personally with their customers.
It’s the perfect time to engage in branding initiatives that can encourage client loyalty.
Seasonal holiday shopping periods are an ideal time to try new things and be innovative with your marketing approach.
How can small businesses leverage the holiday season to gain a competitive advantage?
Fortunately, there are more options than ever to keep your company at the forefront of customers’ minds. Here are a few things you can do to get started today.
#1. Post and advertise on social media.
It’s essential to provide quality content for your social media accounts at all times of the year. However, the holidays offer the chance to deliver useful material while also making it fun and festive! The objective is to create social media content that will put you on customers’ radars over the holiday season. Social media holiday contests or giveaways are also a good idea for driving engagement and raising awareness of your company! Another way to stand out on social is to mix up your content without always sharing sales or promotions. Instead, opt for publishing a team photo in Santa hats or a picture of your neighborhood decked out for the holidays to give your subscribers and customers a festive break!
When deciding which platforms to leverage for your holiday marketing initiatives, it’s important to evaluate where your target demographic spends their time on social media. Posting on the channels they frequent is the most effective approach to ensure they notice your holiday posts and ads. Start early to give customers adequate time for online orders and delivery before the holidays.
#2. Organize a value-added sales event.
Invite a large group of people to your store for an exclusive sales event on the same day and time, and let the crowd feed off each other. Everyone loves special holiday promotions! Another option is to hold exclusive crowd-controlled appointments at retail stores. This way, the staff can give the best customer service. Additionally, you’ll receive more purchasers through these appointments than browsers.
#3. Celebrate Small Business Saturday!
Every year, a promotion known as Small Business Saturday encourages customers to support local small businesses. This year, Small Business Saturday is on November 26th, 2022. There are various promotions, such as events, advertising, and public relations initiatives in many towns, so make sure your small business takes advantage of them. You can also participate on social media that day by using the hashtags #SmallBusinessSaturday and #FallinLovewithLocal. It’s an excellent approach to promoting your company over the holiday season. Visit https://www.smallbusinesseveryday.ca/ for more details!
#4. Decorate your website, too.
It’s always enjoyable to decorate for the holidays. Consider updating your website for the season with a holiday vibe as you spruce up your restaurant or retail space! Even if you don’t make digital sales, seasonal themes can help you imprint your company’s brand in the minds of customers. This is an excellent time to update your website and Google Business Profile with your current business hours, especially if you have a different holiday schedule. If you’re managing a restaurant’s website, be sure your online menus are up to date.
#5. Do door hangers still work? Yes, they do.
Team up with another business and share the cost by each of you advertising on one side of the hanger. Offer a discount or special deal code for ordering. There is still value in putting print advertising into the hands of your potential customers. Our client ordered hangers recently and was able to get thousands in his hands within a couple of weeks – a week for design and a week for ordering.
It’s also a fantastic time of year to give out logo swag! Throwing out a lovely pen or pad of paper is difficult. When potential clients are searching for you, you can make it easy for them with a nice little gift that helps keep your logo in their minds.
#6. Send them a card!
In this day and age, sending anything via “snail-mail” may feel weird. However, sending a physical holiday card can help your business stand out, especially since mail is so limited. Plus, many of us still value a physical token of appreciation. Send out your cards early and avoid a sales pitch. Simply being in the mailbox with a personal touch will make your clients happy!
Over to You
Holiday marketing for small businesses should be fun and does not have to be tough. Of course, we understand that many small business owners are extremely busy and lack the time to even think about holiday marketing. Why miss out on all the fun, not to mention the advantages of holiday marketing? We are here to assist – call or contact us today!
Establishing social media marketing goals is an important step in growing your business. Having an active and engaging social media presence is an important tool to invite customers to contact you. Social media platforms play a role in identifying and directing interested potential customers to your website and that is invaluable to any growing business.
Here are three major reasons why social media should be a non-negotiable component of your business’ marketing, brand communications, and online presence strategy:
1. Social media provides the same opportunity for brand visibility, regardless of the size of your company.
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from social media’s levelling effect. Each is given the same amount of online space, as well as the same options for using appropriate and successful keywords, verbiage, eye-catching images and ads to reach their audiences online, regardless of its size or revenue.
By making it easy to display your brand and offerings online, social media platforms provide one of the most effective marketing and communications strategies for your business. What’s even better? Social media is an inexpensive and convenient way to highlight a company’s online presence. This is especially good news for smaller businesses with limited marketing resources. When users are asking their social media community for recommendations, your business is easy to find, to tag and to recommend!
2. Let’s Talk About Social Listening
Businesses that use social media to listen online rather than only broadcasting all the time will find the platforms are extremely beneficial. Social Listening helps a company gain firsthand knowledge of the issues that are important to their audience and future clients. This information then helps them make decisions, take effective action, and make a positive impact.
As well, businesses are more likely to gain their audience’s trust and loyalty when they remember that social media communication requires both engaging with and listening to their audience! Businesses that consistently concentrate on developing genuine relationships with their followers may end up closing more deals than they would have done by sales calls and advertising alone.
3. Social media improves your company’s visibility, both online and off.
Every day, social media assists companies in enhancing not only their online presence but their offline presence as well. In many cases, a large percentage of consumers conduct online research on potential purchases before making a final purchasing decision. If you want to attract these potential customers, you must strengthen your online presence by creating and maintaining your business social media platforms.
Establishing social media marketing goals is an important step in growing your business. Having an active and engaging social media presence is an important tool to invite customers to contact you. Social media platforms play a role in identifying and directing interested potential customers to your website and that is invaluable to any growing business.
Here are three major reasons why social media should be a non-negotiable component of your business’ marketing, brand communications, and online presence strategy:
1. Social media provides the same opportunity for brand visibility, regardless of the size of your company.
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from social media’s levelling effect. Each is given the same amount of online space, as well as the same options for using appropriate and successful keywords, verbiage, eye-catching images and ads to reach their audiences online, regardless of its size or revenue.
By making it easy to display your brand and offerings online, social media platforms provide one of the most effective marketing and communications strategies for your business. What’s even better? Social media is an inexpensive and convenient way to highlight a company’s online presence. This is especially good news for smaller businesses with limited marketing resources. When users are asking their social media community for recommendations, your business is easy to find, to tag and to recommend!
2. Let’s Talk About Social Listening
Businesses that use social media to listen online rather than only broadcasting all the time will find the platforms are extremely beneficial. Social Listening helps a company gain firsthand knowledge of the issues that are important to their audience and future clients. This information then helps them make decisions, take effective action, and make a positive impact.
As well, businesses are more likely to gain their audience’s trust and loyalty when they remember that social media communication requires both engaging with and listening to their audience! Businesses that consistently concentrate on developing genuine relationships with their followers may end up closing more deals than they would have done by sales calls and advertising alone.
3. Social media improves your company’s visibility, both online and off.
Every day, social media assists companies in enhancing not only their online presence but their offline presence as well. In many cases, a large percentage of consumers conduct online research on potential purchases before making a final purchasing decision. If you want to attract these potential customers, you must strengthen your online presence by creating and maintaining your business social media platforms.
Over to you
Are you ready to incorporate social media into your business’ marketing strategy and improve your brand’s marketing and communication strategies? MYOB is here to support you in your social media marketing.
Do you want to increase the visibility of your brand on social media? Are you dissatisfied with the amount of engagement you’re currently receiving on social media? Running giveaways through social media is one of the best ways to get your products or services in front of new customers. People LOVE free stuff, so giveaways create a win-win situation for both you and your followers. They get something for free and you’re able to promote your business. Here’s what you need to know.
What Exactly Is a Social Media Giveaway?
In exchange for a chance to win a prize, brands, influencers, and businesses encourage their followers to complete a task on social media, such as tagging friends, following accounts, liking, or sharing posts. Because winners are selected randomly with no purchase required, everyone who enters the giveaway has the same chance of winning.
The Advantages of Holding a Giveaway
Running a social media giveaway is an excellent way to boost traffic to your website, gain followers, and increase business. Here are just a few of the advantages of holding giveaways.
#1.Expand your clientele. Giveaways can help increase client engagement and grow your client base. Giveaways also have the potential to attract new readers who will visit your website. You’ll have more chances to interact with potential customers on social media and build strong relationships with them! Views are fantastic, of course. However, engagements are a sign that you’re developing long-lasting client relationships.
#2. Increase customer loyalty and brand awareness. Social media giveaways may help boost brand awareness and client loyalty for businesses of all sizes. If you provide exciting prizes and opportunities, your followers will be interested in hearing about more in the future. Invite them to stay tuned!
#3. Boost the number of people who see your products or services. Giveaways allow you to market your business while introducing more people to your offerings. Instead of just giving something away for free, you can offer any product (or service) you want as part of a giveaway. Then, after the giveaway ends, you’ll have a new customer who is already acquainted with your business and what it offers.
How To Manage a Social Media Giveaway
Now that you’re aware of the benefits, let’s go over the steps for launching a social media giveaway. Sprout Social recommends the following steps for giveaway success:
Decide whether you want to gain more social media followers, generate more leads, keep customers, or raise brand awareness. Have a giveaway that fits your goal.
Set a budget and a prize or prizes.
Remember to keep your target audience in mind when selecting a social media platform for your giveaway.
Planning, then conducting your giveaway are the next steps.
After the giveaway is over, take some time to consider your results and decide whether you succeeded in achieving your original goals.
Be sure to review the rules surrounding giveaways on the platform you are choosing. One important no-no on Facebook and Instagram is that you may not ask people to share things to their personal pages as part of an entry requirement. You can, however, offer this option as a bonus entry. It is important to note that you will not be notified or able to see a share from anyone who has a private profile.
Over to You
There are so many ways to conduct a social media giveaway, and each one has advantages from a strategic standpoint for your small business. More importantly, your customers are enjoying themselves while you’re having a good time, too. Launch a social media giveaway, and let the fun begin!
Keep an eye on our MYOB social channels for some upcoming giveaways!
Colours elicit emotions and evoke strong feelings, whether we are aware of it or not. It’s no different when it comes to choosing colours for your business. Choosing the appropriate colours for your marketing efforts could mean the difference between your brand standing out from or fading into the crowd. By strategically employing colour in your marketing, you may influence your audience’s perception of you and help them see your brand the way you want them to see it.
A few months ago, we shared a series of branding colour choices and the meaning behind each colour when it comes to your logo. Here is what we found:
RED Red is said to stimulate senses – including appetite! When designing with red, keep in mind the meanings behind it: energy, power & danger, passion, and love.
ORANGE Orange is a friendly colour that offers youth, vibrancy, fun, energy, and enthusiasm. It combines the warmth of red with the playfulness and joy of yellow. As 99Designs notes, it is not typically associated with luxury.
YELLOW Yellow is happy, fun, and youthful but it can also indicate low prices. Different shades of yellow can indicate different things: bright yellow is attention-grabbing and functions as a great brand accent (think McDonald’s, or Best Buy!) whereas a pale yellow may imply health or nature.
GREEN Green can take on many meanings. When it comes to eco-based branding, it’s a natural choice; it is the colour of leaves on the trees, healthy grass, and Spring gardens. Green is also associated with money offering an instant feeling of prosperity and stability. Many businesses will choose green because it incites action – green means go! We love green for all these reasons and chose it for our branding.
BLUE There are many different shades of blue which can offer different meanings. For example, light blue may invoke feelings of peace and relaxation (spas for example!) whereas dark blue often invokes depth and power. Many tech companies will use blue for their colours, as well as a number of social media networks! (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook…) Blue is one of the most popular and versatile colours when it comes to branding.
PURPLE Purple is a unique colour when it comes to branding. It combines the energy of red with the calm of blue. This is one of the factors that contributes to it provoking mystery. Historically, purple is associated with royalty. Purple dyes were expensive and thus only royalty could afford them. Purple is also a colour associated with spirituality and holds special meaning in many religions.
PINK In today’s marketing, pink is automatically thought of as girly, feminine and in many cases has become an indicator that “this is for women.” Pink also has a place in conveying fun, sweet, romantic, and sensitive messaging. Some companies that come to mind with pink branding are traditionally girly companies like Barbie, Victoria’s Secret, and sweet and delicious companies like Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts!
Additionally, research demonstrates how important colours are and how they play a significant role in all our visual experiences. Here are some interesting facts:
Colour increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent.
76% Believe that the use of colour makes their business appear larger to clients.
90% Feel colour can assist in attracting new customers.
As you can see (no pun intended!), colour choice plays a crucial role in branding and design. The colours you choose for your brand can create certain impressions that might help or hurt your business. Just remember that colours influence customers’ perceptions and behaviours, so be mindful of how you use them in all your marketing!
Social media is all about interacting with others, especially as a business. Your goals should include engaging with customers, building relationships, and staying at the forefront of their minds. That is how you achieve repeat and referral business. Using proper social media etiquette is just as important as the other elements of content creation and engagement. Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to acing social media etiquette.
Separate Your Personal and Business Accounts
Most people primarily use social media to stay in touch with friends and family. Of course, many businesses use social media to raise brand awareness, drive traffic to their websites, and even generate sales. Perhaps you find it annoying when friends use their personal accounts to promote their businesses. By running separate accounts for your business, you are respecting your friends who are only interested in what’s going on with you. On the other hand, using your business account for personal use could make your company appear unprofessional.
Avoid Misrepresenting Your Company
There are many good reasons for a business to establish a positive social media presence, such as reputation management, growing a base of devoted customers, and gathering feedback. However, it is critical that you represent your company openly and honestly online to build trust with your audience. Even seemingly minor embellishments to make your company appear better can cast significant doubt on the overall integrity of your business.
Respond Mindfully
It makes sense that you may get annoyed if someone disrespects your business or leaves a negative review on your social media channels. But keep in mind that you are speaking for your organization before you react and respond. An explosive or negative response could give prospective clients an unfavourable impression of your business. Before responding, take some time to collect your thoughts. Remember to be as gracious and kind as you can when handling critical feedback. Making that extra effort helps to build and maintain trust with current and prospective customers.
Refrain From Sharing Too Many Posts
Regardless of your social media goals, delivering value to your audience should be top of the list. Some businesses make the error of thinking what is valuable to them is also valuable to their audience. As a result, they exclusively use their social media platforms for advertising and sales. Being informative versus annoying is key.
It matters how frequently you publish on social media, and your profiles may be affected in various ways depending on how often you share posts.
Neil Patel states it well in an article from Forbes:
“If you post too infrequently, your audience will forget that you exist and you will quickly fade into the deep dark recesses of their minds. However, if you are posting too often, you will become a complete nuisance and they will dread seeing your posts overcrowding their feed.”
Always Review Your Posts for Grammar and Spelling
This past April, we explored the topic of grammar in our blog post, “Grammar & Brand Messaging for Your Business.” We mentioned that improper grammar can completely affect the interpretation of what you are trying to communicate. In other words, your company’s overall message is at risk of being confusing and even completely misunderstood. Because business social media accounts are public, many more people can see any mistakes. Simply double-checking a post before you send it out can save you a lot of embarrassment!
Over To You
We hope these pointers will enable you to engage in more fulfilling social media interactions. Are there any you would add? Please keep in mind that if you need help creating and managing social media for your business, we are available to help.
