For many businesses, the summer holidays can see things really slow down. As we head towards 'back to school' time and yes, dare I mention it - Christmas, planning for the upcoming season is essential to get your business back on track and in the minds of your target audience.
Obviously how you decide to tackle this really depends on your own business and what you are selling, but the following 5 tips will help give you a good idea of where to start:
When considering your promotions, focus on themes to help keep you focused as too many different offers can confuse your audience. What events are happening each month that you can use to promote your products or services or; is there anything time critical approaching that you can help address? Think about sporting events; bank holidays; festivals; film releases; winter getaways; Halloween; Black Friday; Cyber Monday; Christmas etc?
Where would you like to increase revenue in your business? Are there any particular areas where you know you have a great product or service that maybe people aren’t truly getting the message about or understand the benefits of? It may be worthwhile looking again at how you are marketing this area of your business; what are your competitors doing in this area of their business? Can you take any ideas and implement and/or improve them for your business and drive up your revenue?
Consistency is one of my favourite words and staying on top of your promotions as much as possible is always recommended. There are so many resources available for you to promote your business and many for free. However, rather than trying to hit them from every angle, particularly if resources (time and money in particular) are limited, target the channels that you know work best for you to get the best bang for your buck!
Consider time limited offers to entice your audience into interacting with you quickly. How can you ensure that they benefit from this more than they would at any other time of the year? Some promotions don’t necessarily stand out from other times of the year – particularly when you think about a ‘sale’. It’s almost expected that with every passing season, we can expect to get a discount on the products we buy or the services we use, but how can you go that extra mile at maybe on period of the year so that you can build up that anticipation and exclusivity?
Finally and most importantly – follow-up, follow-up, follow-up! It’s one of the most important things, but also one of the steps many companies don’t do or forget to do consistently. How can you possibly know what’s working and driving customers to your business if you don’t track your campaigns? Being in an age time where consumers have access to information from so many different areas being as targeted as possible and understanding where you make the most impact is crucial to your success. Don’t’ just do something because other people are doing it. Try to be as innovative as possible to generate new leads and brand awareness.
Planning your campaigns as early as possible, is what will help keep you on track to reaching your sales and revenue goals. Be considerate of what your customers want and how they want to receive it. Don’t just follow the trend…Be The Trend!