It’s hard for us to believe that the holiday season is fast approaching. In just a few weeks, we’ll be able to enjoy sweet potato pie and turkey on the radio. Holiday music is available 24/7. The frenzy starts for consumers. Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Any Given Sunday are all shopping days.

Consumers are only one side of this coin. This is the time for business owners to shine. Businesses can make a lot of money with 20%-40% of sales occurring in the last two-months of the year, and eCommerce sales expected to grow more than 15% this fiscal year.

Are you unsure where to start your holiday preparations this year? We have you covered, whether you own a physical store or an online shop.

Make your holiday designs

You know what this means: The snow is almost falling and the leaves are changing. You can give your physical and online businesses a holiday makeover. You can decorate the holidays by adding holiday photos to your website, snowflake icons on your homepage, or promoting products and services using a Wix App Market Holiday Badge. Make sure to check your website for mobile-friendly features. The staggering $17 billion holiday season mobile spend has been reported! Thanks to the Mobile Editor, your desktop can be converted automatically to a mobile-friendly website.

If you have a brick-and-mortar shop, attract customers by decorating with holiday decorations. Set the mood for the ultimate shopping experience by playing holiday music through your speakers.

Create a content and social calendar

Once your business is in the holiday spirit, it’s time to create a plan. A content calendar is a great way to start building your holiday marketing strategy. This calendar is basically a daily plan for all the content that you will produce throughout the holiday season and beyond. ).

A content calendar can be described as a structured to do list. It allows you to focus on one task at a given time and gives you a clear picture of what you need to accomplish your goals. In a moment we will discuss the types of content involved in this. But in the meantime, here is a content calendar that’s full of creative ideas that will help you stand out in this holiday season. You can use the entire calendar or just as a starting point for your own content calendar. Remember, the more content you share, the more likely customers will engage with you.

Run holiday sales

Giving is the holiday season’s theme. This is the perfect time to promote sales, with over 35% making holiday purchases prior to Thanksgiving. You’ll see that we included a few promotional ideas in our content calendar. A “buy one, get one” sale can be offered, offering 50% off any products or services, free shipping for 24hrs, and many other options. You want to instill a sense of urgency when planning your sales. A sales campaign that lasts only a few minutes can give buyers the push they need to buy.

Pro Tip Increase the hype surrounding a product by including a “special holiday pricing” label.

Promote your company

Once you have your sales schedule in place, you can start digging into your content calendar to prepare the rest your marketing materials. This can be divided into two categories: content marketing and direct advertising.

Direct advertising includes

• Landing pages: Create a one-pager for a holiday collection promotion or to sell a product. Learn more about how you can create a landing page, or get started by using our landingpage builder.
• Paid Advertising: Target your audience and create engaging ads to attract new customers. This topic is very complex. I suggest you take some time to learn more about Facebook advertising as well as the basics of PPC advertising.
• Email Marketing Blasts: Let your customers know about your blog post by Wix email marketing.
• Banners & lightboxes: Add a holiday-themed banner or notify your website visitors about a sale using an eye-catching Lightbox.

Content marketing also includes

• Social posts Connect with your social followers to make them feel like there’s someone behind the screen.
• Blog Content Add holiday-inspired content to your blog.
• Your website: Why don’t you refresh some pages that are important to you? This is a great opportunity to improve your About Us page to really grab your visitors.

Get ready for the storm

You need to be ready for the storm, regardless of how much traffic you get (physical or otherwise). To avoid disappointing your customers, you need to be able to manage all technicalities. You must:

• Make sure to stock up on your most-sellers.
• Get your packaging and delivery labels ready for the season.
• Get in touch with your shipping companies to ensure they are available during peak times.
• Hire extra staff if needed.

Give the required information

It’s 2017, but some people still hesitate to shop online. There are a few things that you can do to make your customers feel secure and safe online.

Your contact information should be visible on your website’s homepage. You should also make sure that your FAQ page is current. Also, ensure that your return policies and shipping information are clearly written on your product pages. Enableutomated Confirm Emails to let buyers know when their packages have shipped. Also, add a tracking number for each order to ensure that your customers can rest easy knowing their gifts are on their way. You will appear more trustworthy the more information you give. You might also consider including testimonials or customer reviews and a section for press to showcase your appreciation.

Take it a step further!

It’s not my intention to offend you, but there are many businesses competing for attention this holiday season. Think outside the box! What can you do to maximize your exposure and engage your community the best way possible? These are some simple ideas that you can implement quickly:

• Reach out to customers who have a large social media following and ask them to create a guest post.
• You can partner with a complementary company to run a cool holiday campaign.
• Enjoy some social fun with mini-contests and creative videos.
• Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be improved. Learn how to increase your local SEO for increased foot traffic for those who have a physical store.

Optimize

You can optimize your business for holidays by preparing in advance. Tools such as Google Analytics or Facebook Information can give you a good idea of the performance of your content. You also have plenty of time because you are a boss and have prepared so far in advance, to experiment and improve.

You can make subtle changes to your website from time to time, try different social media posts or promote a coupon. See what your customers respond to, and take the necessary actions.

source https://www.wix.com/blog/ecommerce/2017/11/how-to-get-your-business-ready-for-the-holidays