‘Tis the season: Do you have a plan in place to take advantage of holiday shopping?

The holiday shopping season can account for as much as 40 percent of a company’s annual revenue….and sometimes even more if you’re a small online business. So you want to make sure you’re doing everything you can to reel in those shoppers!

The No. 1 thing I hear from my clients is that they didn’t start early enough. So don’t get caught off guard this year. The time to prepare is now.

Here are five ways to position yourself for holiday shopping success.

  1. Make your list — and check it twice. Nothing happens without a plan of action in place.  Don’t just leave your marketing efforts to chance. Sit down and make a plan for how often you will post, what sort of content you think will be important to your customers and how to fit social media marketing into your busy day. It’s essential to a successful selling season!
  2. Deck your walls. Are you already active on Pinterest and Facebook and taking advantage of all they have to offer small businesses? Now is the time to really up your action on those sites. Make sure that you are posting consistently and often to so you are top of mind as your customers start shopping!
  3. Window shoppers? Make it easy for your potential customers to turn from browsers to buyers by making your site as easy to use as possible. Have a couple of friends try it out to see how intuitive it is for clicking through. Make a faux purchase to make sure that all the buttons and tabs are working as they should. Visit your social media sites and make sure that your content is optimized and that you’re using rich pins. You want to make sure that it is as easy as possible for interested lookers to convert to buyers!
  4. Let them walk in a winter wonderland: Worried your customers aren’t yet in a holiday shopping mood? Help them get that way by reminding them that the holiday shopping season is right around the corner. Make sure that your site features lots of gift ideas, clearly labeled. Consider a “Top Gift Items” for hard to shop for relatives. Add a “shopping countdown” ticker on your site. Create that sense of urgency that will make them want to do business with you.
  5. You know who’s been naughty or nice. This is the time to engage your best customers and reward them for being loyal. Think about creating a special offer for them, whether it’s buy one get one half off; a certain percentage if they buy this morning, or whatever makes sense for your business. Consider expanding the offer to anyone who refers a friend or who starts following you on Pinterest or “likes” your fan page.

For more in-depth tips on how to increase holiday sales, drop by my blog!

There’s no doubt that now is the time to start developing a plan to capture those seasonal sales.

Not sure where to start? Take advantage of my seasonal sale! Find out more about my 60 minute customized sessions to help you create a profitable plan of action!

{Featured image via Not on the High Street}