Christmas is just around the corner and we are all getting excited. It will be time to celebrate, to share and give, to thank and especially to spend… a lot! Which it's good news for any business.

Brands around the world spend lots of money and efforts in holiday marketing campaigns. If you are a small business owner, you won’t want to miss the opportunities that the holiday season can bring to your business too.

Aware of the fact that a small business cannot invest as much as a big brand in their marketing campaigns, today I’m bringing a 6-week marketing plan for small businesses, with over 22 low-cost or inexpensive actions that you can implement this holiday season.

““ The entire point of Christmas Marketing is to broadcast the Christmas Spirit while explaining what your business has to offer””

— Christmas Marketing Ideas For Small Business, by Transition Marketing.

WEEK 6 - Planning

This week is all about planning your marketing campaign. Think about every relevant marketing material that will be used during this holiday season and work with your designer to create your marketing collateral and branded elements.

	Produce a holiday catalogue and/or gift guide – design and print (or just online) catalogue with product recommendations and gift ideas. You can also look for opportunities to get listed in bloggers’ holiday gift guides.

	Design branded holiday elements – your designer can create unique branded designs for shopping bags, wrapping paper, gift tags, greeting cards and more.

	Decide your holiday incentives – everyone looks for deals and ways to save more during this time of year. Incentives can be free shipping, discounts, free promotional items or buy-one, get-one-free deals.

	Create gift cards and certificates – when people don’t know what to buy for someone else, gift cards are a lifesaver. Make sure you have plenty of gift cards ready for the holiday season.

WEEK 5 - Communicating

This week is all about starting to communicate your deals via email marketing, social media channels, your website and your brick-and-mortar store.

	Launch your email marketing campaign – email your catalogues, gift guides, offers and special discounts to your subscribers.

	Create a seasonal area in your website - add holiday related products or services and make the announcement in your home page and social media channels.

	Host a Holiday Pre-Sale – promote your Christmas specials by offering a sneak peak of your seasonal sales.

WEEK 4 - DECORATING

This week is all about getting into the Christmas spirit by bringing your decorations out and dressing up your business for the holiday season.

	Dress up your shop - If you have a window and a storefront create a Christmas window display. If you're in an office setting, some Christmas-inspired floral arrangement will look professional and ultra-stylish.

	Start a Christmas Countdown – build the excitement and create a sense of urgency in your potential buyers by starting a countdown in your website and adding some tweets and Facebook posts.

	Add festive graphics to your website, your e-newsletter, your social media pages and your email signature.

WEEK 3 – GIVING AWAY

This week is all about spreading Christmas cheers by giving away things to thanks your buyers for choosing your business and attract new potential customers.

	Start your gift-wrapping service — Christmas is a busy time for everyone and gift-wrapping services can be a great add-on or complementary service to offer in your store, as they can save a lot of time to your buyers.

	Run a holiday contest or giveaway – The prize can be a great opportunity to showcase your products or services. For example, the prize can be a hamper with some of your products or vouchers to try your services for free.

	Create a free (industry specific) downloadable – A holiday survival guide, a downloadable craft template, a Christmas recipe ebook, or any other piece of content that can be valuable to your customers and show your industry expertise.

	Hold a “12 Days of Christmas” event - Offer a different discounted product on each of the 12 days in the lead up to Christmas or team up with other business to give away something every day during the 12 days.

WEEK 2 – GIVING BACK

This week can be dedicated to showing appreciation to those who have contributed to your business success along the year.

	Send greeting cards – acknowledge clients and suppliers by sending greeting cards. Decide if you will be sending e-Cards, paper cards or a special gift.

	Host an Open House day - If you have a brick-and-mortar shop, consider having an open house to celebrate the season. Treat your visitors with free samples, cookies, beverages, candy or hot chocolate, and organise a raffle.

Organise a fundraising campaign - Choose a cause that matters to you and makes sense for your brand. Get your customers involved and make them part of the cause. Some ideas are:

donate goods and services to charity
volunteer for a charitable cause
offer discounts or free gifts for customers who volunteer to a charity
donate a percentage of each sale to a charitable cause
host a gift-giving tree to collect gifts for underprivileged kids

	Hold a Christmas party - celebrate your success over the past year with your staff, special clients and suppliers.

WEEK 1 - Scheduling communications

During this week, you can focus on scheduling the last pieces of your marketing campaign to make sure that the last minute communications go out while you enjoy a stress-free Christmas week with your family and friends.

	Schedule social media to auto-post - Use services such as Buffer or Hootsuite to auto-post your holiday greeting for Christmas and New Year in social media.

	Send holiday greetings emails – and wish Merry Christmas your email list subscribers by email.

	Communicate your holiday business hours – update your website with an announcement that includes your holiday business hours and closing days, as well as your holiday delivery deadlines for the following week.

	Schedule an end-of-year email update – You surely have big plans for 2016 and want to share them with everyone in your email list! The firsts days of 2016 are a great opportunity to wish a happy New Year to your email list and let them know all your exciting plans for the New Year.

Wrap-up

The holiday season offers a great opportunity to burst your sales and increase your revenue as well as strength existing relationships and expand your brand awareness. No small business should miss these opportunities as they only come once a year.

Just remember, the key to a successful Christmas marketing campaign is planning ahead.

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