It’s time to plan your fall and winter promotions
While there’s no rush to pack up your flip-flops, as long as the warm weather holds, it is time to start planning your fall and winter sales promotions. Here are some ideas to get you thinking, and we can help with the creative aspects as well as the implementation. Call soon though! A great ad campaign takes a bit of time to develop and set up, and your promotions need to run before these dates.
Thanksgiving, Monday, October 14 (Canada)
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to show your customers some gratitude. A note of thanks, along with a discount or gift with purchase, is always appreciated. You could also use this opportunity to launch new products or services, giving advanced access and deals to your best customers. If you primarily cater to a local or regional market, Thanksgiving is also the perfect time to give back to the community. Make a donation to the Foodbank, give your staff time off to serve up dinner at a shelter, or offer to provide the turkeys. Take photos, and share your joy of helping others on social media.
Halloween, Thursday, October 31
Halloween is big business in North America, and you can take advantage of the attention it gets. You can stick to the traditional pumpkin give-away or children’s party, or hold a costume contest on one of your social media platforms for a nice prize. If you sell something totally unrelated, we’ll have to get creative, but that’s part of the Halloween fun. For the HVAC biz: “Is your furnace about to ghost you?” For the roofer or building supply store: “5 kids’ costumes you can make with tar paper and duct tape.”
Black Friday, November 29, 2019
Black Friday sales are catching on in Canada, but most of the ones I’ve seen in the past haven’t offered the deep discounts shoppers expect. If you’re going to have a Black Friday sale, make it a spectacular one. While Black Friday is meant to be the start of Christmas gift buying, it’s more appropriate to pitch household items for Black Friday than as a gift (see below). You also need to plan your advertising well in advance and focus on your ideal market. There is a lot of noise to contend with leading up to Black Friday.
Cyber Monday, December 2, 2019
If you sell anything tech-related, this is your day. Again, just remember that you are facing a ton of competition, so direct mail to your customer database and social media followers may be the most productive. Since Giving Tuesday is the next day, partnering with a charity to do things like make a cash donation for each sale, or to give a device for every 10 sold, can help you both.
Christmas, Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Direct marketing for Christmas sales can start running mid-November, but general advertising is best left until after Black Friday. You’ll get the biggest bang for your buck advertising products or services that people will really want as a gift. (Mom does not want a new vacuum cleaner!) Offering a free gift with purchase or partnering with a charitable organization to boost their coffers, are some other ways to attract shoppers.
Opportunities abound, so call us now!
