Last Minute Holiday Marketing Tips for Retail Stores

As if we all needed one more thing to stress about this holiday season, there are a mere 26-31 days in the normal holiday shopping season. As a retail business, particularly those with a brick and mortar storefront – attempting to grab the attention  from those customers is a fight to the finish. Holiday marketing strategies can make or break your revenue for the whole year.

Statistically, this time of year accounts for 20-40% of annual sales for retail businesses in the United States. That’s a lot of pressure! If you are struggling to meet your year-end goals, it’s not too late! Here are a few strategies to help you make the most of your holiday sales.

#1: Maximize Extra Inventory with BOGO Deals

For retail stores, end of year doesn’t just mean reaching a certain financial goal – it also means making the most revenue from this year’s inventory to make room for the next season. Upselling is an easy and effective way to use your extra inventory to help you reach your holiday sales goals.

One way to do this is to feature a “Buy One Get One” offer. For example, buy one item at full price, get a second item 25-50% off. Another great way to do this is to offer a gift card with purchase. For example, spend $50, get a $5 gift card. This is a great way to encourage repeat business after the holidays as well.

#2: Create a Gift Guide

Gift guides are a shopping procrastinator’s best friend! Be the hero this holiday season and offer a gift guide featuring your products. Using Canva as a design resource, you can create a quick, professional looking digital guide to share on your website and social media campaigns. Create guides featuring “Gifts for Him”, “Gifts for Her”, “Gifts for Professionals”, etc.

Gift guides also give you a chance to up-sell. Don’t just offer one item as a gift idea – consider creating deal sets. Think hats and gloves, coffee mugs and seasonal cookies, high-end pens and a beautiful journal. Get creative!

#3: Partner with a Charity

‘Tis the season for giving! Statistics show that many holiday shoppers would rather buy from a store that associates itself with a social or environmental cause.

Choose a local charity and use your holiday sales to support that cause. For example, you may offer a certain percentage of overall sales as a donation to that charity (i.e., “5% of every purchase goes to ABC Foodbank”). Alternatively, you can offer a donation with certain purchases (i.e., “For every Santa Bear sold, we will donate $5 to ABC Foodbank”).

Another great option is to host a food drive or coat drive for your local charities. You can offer a discount towards purchases during the holiday season with donation. For example, “Bring in 5 nonperishable food items, get $5 off your purchase!”. Work with the charity to promote the partnership on social media, email marketing, and so on.

BONUS: Start Planning for Next Year

Once you’re through the hectic holiday season, take the time to invest in your business and plan your marketing strategy. Review what worked this year, and what didn’t. Set yourself up for success by establishing a budget and a plan for next year’s holiday season so you can enjoy a successful fourth quarter without the stress.

Heeren Content & Strategy offers a 15% discount on services for veteran and military-spouse owned businesses.

Guest Contributor: Erika Heeren is the founder of Heeren Content & Strategy. With 14 years of experience marketing and public relations, she has a professional focus on integrated media spanning 16 different industries.

Heeren works with small businesses and non-profit organizations to provide affordable, professional-quality content development, marketing, and public relations services. Her clients include local small business owners, marketing agencies, public universities, media outlets, Huffington Post-published authors, IT firms, and non-profit organizations.

A military spouse herself, Erika is an outspoken advocate for veteran and military spouse education, employment, and entrepreneurship. As a volunteer eMentor for the Military Entrepreneur Program, she works one-on-one with aspiring military-affiliated entrepreneurs to help them grow their business. She also volunteers as a digital marketing instructor with Treasure Valley SCORE.

Heeren is an award-winning writer and has been featured on NextGen Military Spouse, Veteran on the Move, Wright Stuff Radio, and Social Media Week.