The opportunity to reach new customers and re-engage old ones is heightened during the holiday season when holiday parties and dinners abound. While the holidays are a time for increased consumer spending, they are also a time of increased marketing and advertising, making inventory for both organic and paid advertising and marketing online both expensive and scarce.
Your message can easily get lost in a sea of advertisements, calls to action, and a deluge of holiday inspired posts. The following are three powerful tips to reach your ICA (Ideal Client Avatar) easier and more effectively this holiday season.
Start early & add value
Don’t wait until Black Friday or Small Business Saturday to start promoting your business. While these days can be powerful days to launch specials and holiday campaigns, it is also a noisy time of year with everyone clamoring for new customers and clients.
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Instead, start early with inspirational content like gorgeous food shots, holiday prep tips and tricks, and your favorite holiday recipe ideas to get people interested and engaging in your brand earlier in the season. Whether it’s social media, email marketing, or writing blog post articles, start building your audience as soon as possible with highly-valuable content.
Reconnect with like-minded colleagues in the Industry
Venues and planners can be your most powerful allies when it comes to referrals. Take time to reconnect with colleagues who are attracting your ideal clients. Start early in the season by attending networking events (especially if you’ve been absent during the busy summer and fall wedding season). Or get together with select vendors for coffee and discuss your mutual goals for holiday bookings. See how you can add value and be supportive while also striving towards your own goals.
Be a team player by returning client referrals as you book clients who are looking for a planner, venue, or any other vendor like florists, DJs, bands, and so on.
Target your fans & followers with paid ads
The cheapest and most effective advertising is to warm up your audiences. These are people who are familiar with your brand and have engaged in it in some way, whether by engaging with a social media post, signing up for your email list, or even simply visiting your website. You can run social media ads specifically to each of these groups of people.
Here’s what you can do with warm audiences:
- Upload your email list to Facebook and target people who have signed up with specific, specialized advertising.
- Create custom audiences with people who have engaged in your social media posts and run ads to a special page on your website encouraging them to request a quote for their next holiday party or dinner.
- Create an ad reminding people who have visited your website but have not inquired that your holiday calendar is filling up fast and to inquire about available dates soon.
Your strategy will greatly depend on the makeup of your target audience, but the idea is to reach them early and effectively. By starting early and adding value to the conversation with clients and colleagues alike, you can powerfully position yourself for a busy holiday season with the very best clients.
