We may only be in October, but as usual, the festive season has already begun. With Christmas just around the corner, it’s important that you start planning for the holiday shopping season now! The next couple of months tend to be a busy time for most businesses, which is why

preparing your marketing strategy in advance will help you maximise your winter sales.

If you’re relatively new in business, and haven’t planned a seasonal marketing plan before –

don’t worry! We’re here to help.

1.    Create a Christmas Marketing Plan

Organisation is key to success. First things first, you need to make sure you start by creating a marketing plan that covers your goals and objectives – think about what you want to achieve, and how you plan to make it happen! Are you going to create unique Christmas content? What about offering special seasonal discounts? The possibilities are endless when it comes to this

festive time of the year.

2.    Communicate Plans with Customers

Next you need to think about how you’re going to spread the word and let your customers know that you have exciting plans in store for them in the upcoming months. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you need your customers on side. Think about your unique Christmas selling points. Why are they going to choose your business’s offering over others? For some

companies and industries, communicating Christmas specials can be easier than for others.

As an example, restaurants and pubs can create festive menus and Christmas cocktails, enticing people to book in advance and not miss out. If your business doesn’t necessarily align with Christmas, that’s okay – there are always creative ways you can get your business involved

in the fun!

3.    Set a Christmas Budget

One of the harder parts of your marketing strategy can be ensuring that you budget effectively for extra costs. When creating a Christmas budget, it’s important not to get carried away, and to ensure that you don’t spend more than you can afford.

If funds are tight, you might want to consider a small business loan to tide you through the season. Consumers tend to spend more at Christmas, which means your marketing efforts could easily result in more sales and a subsequent boost in cash flow. Borrowing funds can help to cover seasonal advertising costs, which you should then be able to pay back comfortably in

small monthly instalments.

However, when considering finance, it’s important to make sure you budget and forecast effectively. You need to be confident in your ability to make repayments, and not take on debt

you can’t afford.

4.    Prepare Inventory and Christmas Packaging

If you sell products, now is the time to be organising inventory to make sure everything is ordered and ready for peak-season shopping. It’s also important to think about how you’re going to package products, you can never go wrong with injecting Christmas cheer into gift wrap!

5.    Plan Your Store’s Christmas Decor

Now for the fun part, decking out your website or physical store with seasonal decorations! This can be a great way of driving footfall to your brick-and-mortar shop. Depending on your budget, the opportunities for Christmas fun are endless. If you’re in need of inspiration, Pinterest should be your go to!

For retailers, try to involve all senses – sight, smell, sound and taste… You could lure customers in by offering mouth-watering mulled wine, lighting enticing candles and playing festive tunes! If you run a website, make sure you include seasonal pop-ups offering discounts, and fill your blog with Christmas content. e-Commerce businesses can create an online winter wonderland!

6.    Analyse your marketing efforts

In order to maximise your Christmas campaign’s performance, it’s important to have analytics and reports set up so that you’re tracking the results of your efforts. By doing this, you will be able to analyse what worked, what didn’t work and what could be improved for next year.

For online sales, there are so many tools and analytics that businesses can take advantage of to ensure site visits and conversions are tracked. Take care of your customers at all stages of the customer journey and ensure you hit the ground running in 2022!