Bukie Iwajomo: Seven Tips to Get Your Business in the Holiday Action

“Ding dong merrily on high” the holiday bells are already jingling.

The excitement is in the air, it’s the season of cheer and good tidings, and that means only one thing to the business owner- holiday sales!

The busiest shopping season of the year has begun.

Holiday sales are already booming for the business savvy entrepreneurs who started their marketing campaigns before the clock struck midnight. But not to worry, the train hasn’t left you behind, there’s still space for you. So hop in quickly, the train is about to leave.

Here are a few tips to help you get a good share of the holiday shoppers spending this season.

If You Are Not Social Media Compliant, You’re Wrong
If you’re still a member of the ‘Social Media is just a waste of time, I will never be found there’ gang, then salvation is not near for your business. More than ever before, holiday shoppers are relying on Social Media to find the best deals, and make their shopping decisions. Your prospective customers are on social media. It is the new marketplace. However high your business sales are right now, you could triple that if you hop on the social media bandwagon and do it right.

How can leverage social media this holiday season?

It’s the season of Santa, dazzling trees, and colourfully wrapped boxes; be a part of the holiday excitement for your social media followers. Share holiday-inspired nuggets, tips and fun facts that relate to your industry, in addition to sharing updates on your products or services.

Deal is An Action Word
Do you know the one word that gets holiday shoppers jumping off their behinds and hitting the buy button? It’s the four letter word- D-E-A-L. Forget what you were taught in fifth grade, deal is an action word. From today, start a daily “Deal of the day” update on social media and watch your sales soar. Just like Santa, shopping deals are the holiday shoppers best friend. They spend hours scouring the internet and social media for deals. Get them coming to your site or social media page everyday, eager to see the day’s deal.

Tip: You don’t have to shoot yourself in the foot by offering crazy discounts that will leave you bankrupt in 2015. You can use this to create awareness for a product that nobody really buys from you, add it as a bonus complementary gift on purchase of another product. You’ve got nothing to lose on that, no one was buying it anyway.

You can also give a free gift voucher- make orders up to N10,000 and get a N 1,000.00 gift voucher redeemable at your store.

Free Delivery, Anyone?
The Christmas season is always filled with loads of tasks and activities for shoppers, so much that going store-hopping to make purchases can be a Mission Impossible. Today’s shopper prefers to place their orders through your company website, WhatsApp, BBM, or social media, and have them delivered to their doorsteps.

How does this affect you? The answer is ‘delivery’ . The average shopper has grown weary of businesses that do not offer the delivery option. There is no excitement in driving long distances or getting stuck in road traffic in a bid to carry out the holiday shopping. Delivery is a good option, but no delivery is a good as ‘free delivery’. To get a good share of the shopping money being spent this season, offer free delivery.

Tip: If absolutely necessary, wrap a percentage of the shipping cost into the cost of the product.

Also, you can pump up the excitement by hiring Santa to be your deliveryman.

Catch the Holiday Bug, Will You?
Folks drive by your store/office all year round, so much that they have stopped taking notice. This is a great time to get their attention again.

Decorate! Just like in real-estate, the better the ‘curb appeal’ the more likely it is for shoppers to come knocking. Add some holiday cheer, decorate the your store/office exterior with holiday décor. Make it appealing and eye-catching. You can switch it up daily, adding something new and different.

You can do this online too, add holiday cheer to your website. On social media, you can upload photos of your employees in holiday action.

Tip: Decorate some of your products in gift style, take a photo and upload to social media. This gives shoppers ideas on buying your products to send out as gifts.

It’s The Season Of Sharing, How About We Share Contacts?
The holiday season is a good time to get shopper’s contact details. When anyone attempts to make an inquiry or make a purchase from you, get their contact details and ask if it is okay to send them future shopping deals and information. Get their names, e-mail and phone number- this helps you open lines of communication with them and increases the chances of future purchases.

If Your Customer Service Is Crap, You Will Be Found Out
This is the time when your customer service has to be at its super best. If you get your marketing right, you will have a high increase in the number of visitors and customers you attend to, so if you have a problem with being all nice and friendly to shoppers, it’s going to hit your business like the holocaust. Shoppers who are already exasperated from the holiday activities and deadlines have no tolerance for cranky attitudes and unexceptional service. If your customer service is wrong, it’s going to affect your business all year round.

Thanks And See You in The New Year
Give holiday shoppers a reason to come back after the holiday season. Offer coupons or shopping vouchers that can be redeemed after the holidays. This will help you convert one-off shoppers to customers.

If you haven’t started boosting your holiday sales, you are already behind. Get to work immediately and you will still be able to profit from shopper’s spendings this season.

Photo Credit: Dreamstime | Hugo Felix