‘Tis The Season

Whether you become the favorite destination for company Holiday parties or the go-to retailer for the must-have gifts, your business can (literally) profit from being relevant to customers during the Holiday.

It’s a given that retail and restaurant traffic increases during the Holidays. More customers are shopping, eating and celebrating during this season than any other time. Your job is to find a way to take advantage of this traffic.

While the LSMGuide site already has a Course dedicated to Promotion Planning, this Holiday Planning Guide dives deeper into the period from Nov 1 through early-January.

Building a Holiday Promotion uses the same process as building any promotion. However, the Holiday season offers so many more “hooks” – excuses for events and Holiday themed activities – than the typical promotional period. This Guide will help you take advantage of these!

We know for many businesses – especially retailers – the Holiday season drives a high percentage of total annual sales. Our experience tells us that many retailers will generate 25% of their yearly sales during the six-week Holiday shopping season. Thus, it is critically important to be as prepared as possible to make the most sales possible.

Below is an overview of the steps to building and planning a promotion.

• Review Goals – Determine what you need to accomplish.
• Assess Challenge/Ease – Will it be easy or hard to meet your goals?
• Determine Strategic Focus/Hero – What is going to be the strategic focus for the period?
• Develop Programming – What activities and programs will you use?
• Choose Theme/Participant Take-Away – What customer-relevant theme will make the promotion most interesting?
• Select Your Tools – What tools will you use to build awareness and excitement?
• Write It Down – Put plans on paper so it is (a) all together and (b) sharable with those who will support you in getting it done!
• Get It Created – From signage to employee talking points, these are the elements that bring the promotion to life.
• Implement & Track – This is putting your plans into action, tracking progress as you go, and making adjustments as needed.

The two key strategies for the Holidays are:

1. Take Advantage of the Traffic
2. Surprise & Delight Your Customers & Potential Customers

We’ll introduce these ideas in the next section, and then go in further detail toward the end of the guide.