People love holidays! Along with traditionally celebrated holidays, people also love changing weather-patterns and seasons, sporting events and seasons, non-traditional holidays, festivals and fairs, and just about everything you could think of that we could turn into a celebration. Basically, people love fun! And businesses love those things too! Holidays and events bring in the peaks of sales – if you market them correctly, that is.
Follow these 4 steps to effectively market during holidays and special events:
1)
The first way to market these important events is to tell people about them! Create signs to place by the entrance and around your market, post about them on social media, and remind clients and customers about them through word-of-mouth. Anything to get the buzz, well… buzzing!
Some holidays and events may seem obvious, but customers might be busy and the events can come up more quickly than expected. Give people reminders to help them to be prepared for events – this will help you gain sales. Take advantage of the “Last Minute Purchases,” by having convenient items for those customers that haven’t thought ahead.
2)
A second way to market holidays and events is to decorate for them. Get people in the mood and enthusiastic about the upcoming holiday or local event! For example, put up a few flags around your market, and a red, white and blue banner on the walls to get people excited about the 4th of July. Decorations don’t need to be excessive or over-the-top to get the point across. A few things here and there will get noticed and (sometimes subconsciously) be the extra push to get someone to buy an item they might not have otherwise thought to purchase.
3)
The third way to seasonally market, is to offer deals or specials. Since there are oodles of holidays and events to market for, it is understandable that you might not want to offer discounts during all of them. Sometimes, advertising and placing items in the right places is enough to make the sales. However, during some holidays, deals might be necessary to increasing sales. Typically, these deals are offered at other (competing) stores during the traditional holidays.
Instead of simply offering discounts, you might consider having a BOGO-style sale. For example, buy three firework-poppers, get a free flag. You could also offer a limited-time-only sale of holiday-specific merchandise. Typically your market would probably not offer firework-poppers, but during the end of June-beginning of July you can sell them! In August, you might add back-to-school supplies to your selection. Team merchandise before the Super Bowl … get creative!
4)
The fourth way to market, seasonally, is to strategize the placement of your merchandise. The seasonal merchandise that you offer during a limited time, should typically be placed by the entrance/exit and by the kiosk. These items should be the first and last thing that customers see, because they are the most important items to show-off, during those times. Keep the items you want to sell most or have the highest mark-up, at eye level. Try putting products on separate displays. Basically, give the customers no way to miss them!
Place complimentary items near each other. For example, for the 4th of July, you would put flags next to the fireworks. For Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day you might want to put a stand of flowers near the candy. After New Year’s, you could put bottled water next to a healthy snack, to encourage people to keep up their resolutions. Again, creativity is key! It’s the upsell! A simple way to get customers buying not only what they came in for, but a little something extra.
Using seasonal marketing in your market space is a phenomenal, fun and easy way to increase sales. There are so many opportunities to use this strategy!
- New Year’s (Jan 1)
- MLK Day (Jan 19)
- Super Bowl (Feb 1)
- Valentine’s Day (Feb 14)
- St. Patrick’s Day (Mar 17)
- 1st Day of Spring (Mar 20)
- Easter (Apr 5)
- Graduation (May)
- Cinco De Mayo (May 5)
- Mother’s Day (May 10)
- Memorial Day (May 25)
- Father’s Day (Jun 21)
- 1st Day of Summer (Jun 21)
- Country Festivals (Summer)
- Comic-con (Jul)
- Independence Day (Jul 4)
- Back-to-school (Aug)
- State Fair (Aug)
- Labor Day (Sep 7)
- 1st Day of Autumn (Sep 23)
- Halloween (Oct 31)
- Veterans Day (Nov 11)
- Thanksgiving (Nov 26)
- Black Friday (Nov 27)
- 1st Day of Winter (Dec 22)
- Christmas (Dec 24/25)
- Don’t forget about the local festivals and events in your area!
Three Square Market 