Beating
the Post Holiday Blues
3
tips to generate business post-Christmas
With the holiday buying frenzy
over, both consumers and businesses tend to pull back on
their purchases in the first few months of the New Year.
Consumers are dealing with the bills from the holiday
season, leaving many small businesses and even larger
corporations looking for ways to boost business. If you’re one of
them, here are some tips to stir up some sales in the
next few months.
Strike
Advertising Deals – If sales are down from the
consumer end of the spectrum, that means that many
companies will also be pulling back on advertising
expenses. After all, they spent more than enough on ads
over the holiday season. When advertising slows down,
newspaper and television advertising reps get a bit
concerned. Remember they have holiday bills to pay as
well, and they need to sell advertising to help pay
those bills. All of that adds up to deals for small
business owners and other advertisers. You can get more
bang for your buck by advertising at a time when
advertising sales are down, so consider running some
advertising for your business in the early months of the
year at a reduced rate. Remember not to pay the going
rate at this time of year. Always look for some type of
discount and if you don’t get one then look to
competing advertisers. Somebody will offer you a
discount to help fill their ad space.
Offer
Discounts – Dropping your prices is not a long
term solution for any business when it comes to
generating sales. However at this slow time of year it
can be helpful to discount your prices on a few items to
help generate in store traffic or traffic to your
website. Just as you can find advertising deals, your
customers are also in bargain hunting mode at this time
of year. So give them what they want and offer a small
discount on a selection of your product of service
offerings. It will help to generate sales and keep your
sales figures up during a normally slow month. You can
even build a promotion around the fact that the discount
is related to this time of year, and will expire as soon
as normal business patterns resume. This may encourage
some customers to buy now rather than risk missing your
promotional offer. When it comes to sales, a bird in the
hand is worth two in the bush.
Prepare
your Annual Business Plan – Don’t spend all of
your time advertising and discounting. Even if your
business is traditionally slow at this time of year,
there’s lots of time left in the year. Spend some time now
focusing on setting objectives and developing tactics to
help you meet your objectives during this early part of
the year, allowing you to spend all of your time in
direct pursuit of business in the middle to latter part
of the year when your business picks up. Having a plan
in place will help you generate business while keeping
your costs in line, and as always, a good planning
process helps you to learn more about your business.
By seeking discounts, offering discounts where
possible, and working on your annual business plan, you
can turn January into a winning month for your business.
Article
contents © 2007 by marketingyoursmallbusiness.com
Will
Dylan is the Author of “Small Business Big
Marketing” a powerful e-book for small businesses
available through his website www.marketingyoursmallbusiness.com
. You can contact Will at askwill@marketingyoursmallbusiness.com
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