There are many ways to increase revenue for your small business, particularly during the holiday season. You may feel you have more competition during the holiday season but there are many creative ways to increase business revenue such as:
Offer Discounts
Consider offering free shipping if you have products you sell online. If you own a service business, offer holiday specials and coupons. Can you offer 20% off certain services or specials for the upcoming year? For example, if running a janitorial business, consider offering a special that would gain repeat customers such as a discount on one cleaning when signing a 6-month contract.
Did you run a holiday campaign last year? What worked and what didn’t? What should you change?
Run Holiday Advertisements
Another way to increase revenue for your small business is to run advertisements. Spread holiday cheer by using targeting ads on social media. For any ads, show your holiday cheer to customers. Use Google for Small Business to run your ads and give special promotional discounts. You can add offers and posts from your business profile.
Also, it is the holidays so be creative with your marketing strategies. How can your product or service help someone?
Research Best Practices for Holiday Landing Pages and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If you are a local business, update your posts on your website for local SEO to feature holiday-themed ideas.
Can you offer cleaning tips for the holidays or how to build a holiday object easily? What can you write about that will attract more customers? Post these ideas and articles on your social media pages.
Furthermore, think about running seasonal landing pages for your website as well.
Upsell to Increase Revenue for Your Small Business
You should always have services or products available to upsell. When talking to a customer you can ask them if they want these additional products/services as a discount during the holiday season.
Upselling is vital for your small business, but it is important to:
- Be open and transparent
- Show value
- Tailor your offer to customer needs
- Use good timing
- Show evidence of how that product or service works well
Also, it is important that you show how this additional product or service will help them but don’t generalize every offer. For example, if you are a cleaning company, don’t try to sell them additional products for hardwood floors when they have all carpets. Understand what your customers need.
Increase Productivity
Can your business handle the extra demand from your holiday promotions? When your business is doing well, review measures to see where you can increase productivity to utilize your workforce better. For example, you can increase revenue for your small business by automating tasks such as using ezClocker, a time-tracking software, or implementing other measures that help your staff work more efficiently.
Automating tasks such as time-tracking can free up time where you can focus on more important tasks that can’t be automated. Managers can create and maintain employee schedules, assign workers to jobs, and track everything in real-time. Good scheduling practices increase engagement, satisfaction, and retention. There are many benefits to using a good time-tracking software. Once you automate your processes, you will find your productivity increases.
Increasing productivity can help your business grow while keeping costs down.
Need an Affordable Mobile Time Tracking App for Your Employees?
Email Marketing Campaign
When you get new customers, ask them to join your email lists for specials. Running an email marketing campaign is a great way to increase revenue, especially with a low budget.
You can pay for email lists or use the one you may already have from your sign-up lists. Your email campaign should be planned before the holidays. For example, if you own a construction company, you can offer discounts, but you can also offer advice on how to solve common household issues or how to fix problems. Ensure your subject line will catch their attention. It is important to research best practices.
Ask your customers to refer your business as well. For example, you can also offer a discount such as 20% off if they refer you to a new client. This will help your clients to promote your business for you.
Offer Free Gifts
Research found that 61% of consumers believe “the most important way a brand can interact with them is by surprising them with offers or gifts just for being a customer.” According to Forbes, many companies launch free products that help consumers build a solid emotional connection with the brand and earn their loyalty.
Do you have a free item or service you can throw in with your product or service? Free gifts are a great way for your customers to feel they are getting special attention. Consider offering a free product or service you currently sell, or it is related to your business. If it is an item, imprint your business name or logo on the gift. A great gift campaign can create interest in your business if you use good marketing tools. Encourage others to share information about your product on their social media sites.
Offer Gift Cards
During the holidays, consumer demand increases. Whether you own products or services, offer gift cards that your customers can purchase to give to someone else.
Do you own a service business like a janitorial company? Offer cleaning gift cards that can be purchased. Once you are in a new person’s home and you do a good job, you can sell your cleaning service. Show the value of what you are offering to every potential and new customer. Consider doing the same thing for other service businesses.
Send Out Holiday Cards
Another way of how to increase revenue for your small business is to send out holiday cards to your current and potential customers. When sending out your holiday cards consider putting in your business card and a discount offer. Also, handwrite your card to make it more special and personalized. If you know your customer well, make it even more personalized.
Increase Your Social Media Activity
As mentioned before, you can increase your social media ads and postings. Show the holiday cards you have received from customers on Instagram. Show your staff dressed up for the holidays. Make your social media pages holiday themed. Hold holiday contests on your social media.
Encourage your team to also think of holiday ideas to promote your business. For example, some companies do gingerbread house competitions. Think about these fun activities that your staff can do and document them on your social media. Encourage feedback from your followers. You could also encourage people to share their gingerbread house creations by tagging your account. Offer awards for the best gingerbread house. This type of idea could work for all holidays during the year. Make it a fun seasonal activity.
Research and think about other holiday themes that match your industry.
Final Thoughts
Know the right marketing channel to utilize creative ways to increase business revenue for your small business. Whether you use social media, search engines, email marketing techniques, or offline marketing (e.g., newspaper ads), you should recognize each platform is different. Not all of them are going to work for your audience. Where do most of your business leads come from? Tap into that market first.
Also, consider running your specials into January or the winter season. Some may not be able to use your services this month but can use them the next month when their budget is not so tight. Make sure your business can handle increases in demand. Ensure your staff is trained for higher demands than normal. Incentivize your workers as well. Consider giving them a holiday bonus for all their hard work when the season is over. When your staff is happy, your customers will feel appreciated too.
