The holiday season can be one of the busiest times of the year for vendors. Between managing inventory, fulfilling orders, helping customers, and handling everyday business tasks, finding the time to market your business can become difficult, especially during the holiday season. Getting a head start on your digital marketing can help you stay connected with shoppers even when your schedule starts filling up. You don’t have to have every post, reel, and email finished months in advance. A little preparation now can make marketing your business feel much easier once the holiday rush begins!
Start Planning Your Holiday Content
Start by looking ahead at the holidays and occasions that are important to you and your business. Along with major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, think about holiday parties, gift giving, decorating, events, and other reasons your customers may be shopping. Create a simple content calendar to plan out what you want to share each week and keep your shoppers informed about what’s coming up. You can plan posts about holiday products, gift ideas, bundle promos, new arrivals, shopping reminders, decorating inspiration, and more! You don’t need to write every caption right away. Just knowing what you plan to talk about gives you a place to start when it’s time to post.
When your business gets busy, stopping to create social media content may be the last thing on your mind. Start collecting photos and videos as soon as holiday products begin arriving. Take pictures of seasonal products, gift ideas, holiday bundles, and new fun finds for the season. Save everything, even if you don’t have an immediate plan for it. A short video or a few good pictures can give you plenty of content to work with later when you need it most!
Update Your Online Information
Your social media may catch someone’s attention, but your website is often where they’ll go when they’re ready to learn more or make a purchase. Before the season gets busy, look through your website and make sure your products, photos, descriptions, pricing, ordering information, and other details are correct. Make sure shoppers can easily find your holiday products and understand how to make a wholesale order with you. Preparing these details early means fewer things to worry about once holiday shopping starts picking up.
Before holiday shoppers begin searching for gifts and seasonal products, take a few minutes to make sure your business information is correct everywhere customers may find you. Check your website, social media profiles, and Google Business Profile for your current hours, phone number, address, website links, and other important information. As the holidays get closer, remember to update any special holiday promotions, shipping deadlines, and stock as well. Look at your online presence from a customer’s point of view. Can they quickly figure out what you sell and how to shop with you? Making that information easy to find can make the shopping process simpler for everyone!
Stay Flexible
Planning ahead doesn’t mean everything has to be scheduled. Leave room to share what’s happening in your business throughout the season, like social media trends, new products, creative displays, or unexpected best sellers. Those everyday moments can make great social media content. Having planned content ready gives you something to rely on while still allowing your business’s personality to come through.
Start In September!
You don’t need to completely change your marketing strategy for the holidays. Start by making a plan, checking your online information, collecting content, and deciding what you want your customers to know! Taking care of a few things ahead of time can help you spend less time wondering what to post and more time focusing on your customers and your business during one of the busiest seasons of the year!