4 Holiday Promotion Ideas for Service-Oriented Small Businesses

I hear you screaming from here – “Holiday promotions? It’s not even Halloween yet!” and in a way you’re right. It is a little early for Holiday promotions, but that’s also the point; now’s the time to start thinking about what you’re going to do and how you’re not going to get lost amongst all of the multi-million dollar campaigns the big boys are going to run between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The first thing you need to realize is, not to sound negative at all, that chances are you won’t be able to fairly compete with national, regional or even large-scale local businesses in the Black Friday weekend frenzy. The second thing to come to terms with is that the bulk of the holiday promotion and advertising strategies and tactics you see everyone going nuts with in November and December probably aren’t going to work for service businesses in the way that they work for retail businesses.

When Everyone Else is Having Door Buster, Early Bird Blowouts Have a “Door Closer” Blowout

Let the big box retailers fight over who’s going to make people get up and stand in line for TVs and video game systems the earliest. Make it your position to give people a place to go after the frenzy is over and wind down a little! Run your big special in the late afternoon or early evening. A promotion like this is particularly suited to service businesses that have a storefront, do a normal walk-in trade and provide services that customers turn to for relaxation and comfort – restaurants, bars, lounges, salons, spas and the like. If you’re not normally open in the evenings, being open at a time that makes it easier for people who are going to spend their daytime hours shopping to visit makes it even more special! Promote ahead of time with postcards to existing customers and fliers to prospects. If your business is located in or on the route to any major shopping areas use banners and yard signs to let people know you’ll be there to help the wind down and relax after a long and strenuous day of shopping.

Give People a Reason to Come In and See You During the Holiday Shopping Season

Let’s face it if you provide a professional service like accounting or even home services chances are you don’t have many people beating down your door between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But that’s not to say that you can’t stay on top of consumers’ minds, give them a reason to visit and start filling up your schedule for the New Year. Start by sending your existing customers a postcard or even a holiday card and offering them a discount for booking work in the coming year with you early. If you want to drive new customers through your doors, try some guerilla marketing techniques like a flier or door hanger campaign or try to find a place near a busy shopping venue to display banners or signs. Remember, shopping is what people are concerned about so try to be available or open after prime shopping hours to make it convenient for them.

Stuff Some Stockings – Or at Least Some Shopping Bags

If you provide a service of any kind to a retail business that is likely to see a lot of holiday shoppers; strike a deal with them where you’ll give them some kind of discount if they agree to toss a rack card, flier or business card in each of their bags. Make sure that what they are handing out clearly explains who you are, what you do why you are better than everyone else who does what you do. Use a festive design for your handouts and make sure that you include some kind of an incentive or coupon. While you’re at it, why not ask stores in your neighborhood or businesses you regularly patronize to do the same thing? Tell them they can use it as a free extra gift to their customers and throw them the same discount you gave your clients. Who knows, they may actually become clients themselves!

Have a Festive Event and Build Your Brand and Get Some Publicity While You’re At It

If you have some space, or even if you know you can get access to some space at a reasonable price, plan a festive holiday event for your community. It can be anything that gets and keeps people in the holiday spirit – from choir and musical performances to a model train show put on by a local club to an opportunity for kids to meet and get a photo with Santa. If you’re strapped for time or resources get a few other local small businesses on-board with you. If possible, get a local media outlet like a radio or TV station or a newspaper to partner with you for the free publicity. At the very least send a press release announcing the event so the local media talk about it and put it on their community calendars. Supplement your publicity with advertising if you can and make sure to use banners and signs in heavily-travelled places to get the word out too! Have some simple holiday refreshments and give attendees a gift bag or Christmas stocking of goodies including information and coupons about the sponsoring businesses, useful advertising trinkets and even a small real gift if you can get it donated by one of the sponsoring businesses. Make sure sponsors have plenty of festively-themed banners with their logos and messages on them!