According to the National Retail Federation, 20 to 40 percent of yearly sales for small and mid-sized retailers take place within the last two months of the year.1 The holidays are right around the corner and customers are ready to spend big. Campus stores can leverage their audience by advertising themselves as a one stop shop. Creating a plan for the holidays early will help maximize your profits. Below are some suggestions on how to create your holiday/end-of-semester marketing plan and tips and tricks for generating engaging material.
- Make sure all of your end-of-year marketing actions are measurable so you can track your ROI and plan for an even more profitable campaign next year.
- Make shopping easy for your customers by sending a unique gift catalog with suggestions for everyone on their list.
- Use email, social media, and your website to let customers know about your upcoming deals.
- Host a holiday season event to bring customers in store—such as taking pictures with your college mascot as Santa or offering hot chocolate for all shoppers. Follow these tips to make sure your event is a success.
- Create limited-time offers to encourage customers to buy now.
- Target consumers and offer exclusive deals for email subscribers that signed up within the last year. Don’t forget to give exclusive offers for loyal customers too.
- Incorporate social media marketing into your plan. Small businesses that use multiple channels when advertising see 73% more customer engagement and 40% more revenue.2
- Take advantage of free scheduling tools like Hootsuite to plan as many social media posts in advance as possible.
- Create all campaigns as mobile and tablet-friendly. The average person carries 2.9 electronic devices at any given time; creating your design to fit multiple screen sizes will help with your click rates.3
- Think shareable! Holidays are a sentimental time for many people, focus your messaging on telling a story to help connect to your students.
