Every holiday season offers business owners an opportunity to connect better with their clients and boost sales. Although this could come with challenges, it is essential for entrepreneurs to figure out what is required of them to make the holiday season profitable and serve their customers better.
Below are the 5 costly mistakes that you need to avoid this holiday season as a small business owner!
1. Not showing appreciation
This is the perfect time to thank your followers, customers, vendors, suppliers, partners and employees. Why does this matter? Basically, these people contributed in one way or another to the growth of your business. Appreciation will only motivate them to do more and boost loyalty.
While you acquire new clients during the holidays, you should also focus on your former customers who have been there. The best strategy is that which targets new clients without neglecting your current ones.
2. Not sticking to your brand style
Since its the holiday season, you might be tempted to “break character” in order to blend with the theme of the period. Your brand is how you are perceived by your target audience, investors and other business stakeholders. If you have successfully built a brand persona that is trustworthy and inspiring, the holiday season is not the time to try on a new image. If the word “vibrant” does not necessarily define your brand, it’s fine even in the festive period. All you have to do is maintain your identity or originality while celebrating with your customers. A big mistake would be attempting to convince your staff, customers, and vendors you are something else. You can stay unique even during the holiday season.
3. Not maintaining prices in order to attract customers
According to Nate Tsang, creator of market analysis software WallStreetZen, customers might not respond well to normal prices after holiday sales are over. “Customers expect another promotion next year” said Tsang as quoted in a Bloomberg article. As an entrepreneur, you might not be able to keep up with these holiday discounts in the future. In addition, customers may only look forward to your holiday sale and in the long run, this could affect your profit. In summary, slashing prices during the holidays may not be financially healthy for your business at the end of the day.
What to do then you ask? According to Tsang, it is advisable to run some kind of promotion like freebies attached to orders in the spirit of celebration. This way, you are not cutting down prices, you are basically showing appreciation to your customers.
4. Not focusing on sales
Do not be carried away by the traffic numbers, especially on your e-commerce site. Remember that this is the time to up sales and you can run advertising campaigns to reach more people but ensure that your leads convert to actual sales. That is the major point. Therefore, do not be too quick to celebrate the traffic on your website, and direct messages on social media. The questions to ask are: Are people abandoning their carts? Are they checking out or abandoning their carts or are they making payments for their orders?
Simply because you can see the impressions and analytics suggesting that many are visiting your website or that they are viewing your posts do not automatically translate to purchases so do not get excited so fast. Because it is the holiday period, you will definitely notice a boost in your numbers but just check to make sure that there is also a boost in your bank account!
5. Not analyzing your past holiday season
Each holiday season should be an opportunity to gather data and figure out what works and does not work for your business. Develop the habit of recording your previous tactics and their results as a reference for what can be adjusted or introduced in the next holidays.
Analyzing your competitors is not a bad idea as well. Try understanding their holiday campaigns and strategies and learn valuable and applicable lessons from them.
The year is usually filled with different holidays and they are sometimes diverse in terms of culture, religion, national values, social and environmental causes, etc. Depending on the ones that apply to you, your business, customers and location, they always present the right chance to promote your offerings, increase sales and profit and essentially have a good time with customers who are more receptive during these seasons. You will excel if you communicate and act the right way.
However, some mistakes could occur especially for small businesses that have probably not experienced enough holidays to help them make informed decisions. These set of businesses might not also have the wherewithal to engage and make a profit like the larger companies. Now, you know what to avoid and how to get the most out of holidays.
