Some eco businesses are the busiest over the holidays. If your sustainable business is one of them, it’s essential to make sure you take steps and map out your strategies ahead of time so you can shut down the computer, sip a peppermint latte while watching reruns of Home Alone, and truly relax and enjoy your holiday season!
If this sounds like a scene that you can get on board with this Christmas, check out my best tips on how to prep your biz for the holiday season.
Prepare Your Website
With more people online – especially over the holidays- you need to make sure your website is on point. This means it needs to be functioning, aesthetically pleasing, and high-speed, especially if you are selling products online. People don’t have time to wait for your site to upload only to find out it’s wonky and kinda ugly. #hardtruth
Prepare your website ahead of time and triple check that it can handle large amounts of sales, troubleshoot your payment processing systems, and check for malfunctions, broken links, bugs or glitches ahead of time. Don’t forget to update your website information with holiday hours or changes in policies or prices over the holidays!
Plan Ahead
It’s a busy time of year, both in business and in life. That’s why it’s critical to stay organized. I can’t stress preparation enough. Think ahead. Do you need to order client gifts, team member gift, store decorations, or holiday-related products?
Keep organized can help you stay on top of your to-do lists, so you don’t miss deadlines or deliver Christmas cards in April of next year. As a business owner, you should already know that emergency situations can pop up out of nowhere. Expect this, and be prepared for it!
Create A Marketing Strategy
If you want to create a holiday campaign for your products or services, you need to develop a strategy for your marketing. This includes everything from posting on social media, email campaigns, website updates, and all the content creation behind this.
Go back and look at last year’s analytics and campaigns. What worked then? Will it work this year? What historical trend did you see? What will your audience be searching for that’s related to your industry and the holiday season? What keywords can you use to keep your SEO on point? These are questions you need to answer!
Be creative! Your audience will probably have an onslaught of holiday messaging all over their devices and inboxes, so standing out this holiday season can definitely be beneficial for you! How can you stand out while also showing your appreciation for their business?
And don’t forget to engage with your audience! Get them excited about the holidays (and your business)!
Entice Your Audience With Promos & Sales
The holidays are a great time to promote your business by using discounts or sales on your products or services. Just don’t discount your prices too much – you still want to make a profit! Exclusive deals and coupons are a great way to attract your existing customer base and a great way to pull in new customers who have been on the fence.
Consult Your Team
If you have a team, schedule a team huddle or meeting in November (at the latest). Ask them what worked last year, what didn’t, get everyone’s holiday schedules accounted for, and make sure there is always someone available to handle Independence Day scenarios in the business.
If you run a product-based eco business, you need to decide if you are shutting things down over the holidays or ramping things up. If you’re ramping up – do you need to hire seasonal workers? Or offer overtime hours to your current team members? Prepare, prepare, prepare!
I highly recommend that you prioritize and schedule in these tips long before the holidays so you can avoid unnecessary stress and enjoy the holiday season with your loved ones however you like to celebrate.
Have questions on preparing your business for the holidays? Send me an email! I’m happy to help you get everything in order so you can relax this holiday season.