It's that time of year again! It's no secret that the holidays can be a busy time for flooring dealers. While typically it's good practice to plan holiday marketing tactics ahead of time, it's not too late to try to implement some last-minute ideas.
If you're in a bind and need some inspiration, here are a few last-minute marketing ideas that you can use to amp up your holiday sales season:
Promotion Ideas
- Implement a longer promotion that lasts 1-2 months to attract prospects.
- Try out short, holiday flash sales events to create urgency and close deals.
- Hold a “12 Days of Christmas” promotion event for 12 days.
- Offer “secret discounts” people can draw from a stocking, santa hat, mug, etc. during checkout.
- Look into being a sponsor for a local sports team this winter.
- Offer a “Take a holiday from your holiday” sweepstakes. Enter customers who purchase into a drawing, and have the grand prize be a free weekend stay at a nice destination/resort.
Storefront Ideas:
- Create and display holiday-themed stocking stuffers, gift cards, or gift bags with flooring samples/coupons/receipts/sales confirmations in them. Let people know they can use these items if they're buying for a spouse, significant other, or family member.
- After a sale closes, send customers a free holiday gift as a thanks. You can give them a mug, a box of chocolates, an ornament, a candle, a blanket, a canister of hot chocolate, gloves or hats, etc.
- Liven up your storefront with holiday decorations. Depending on where you live, you might want to not only decorate for Christmas, but also for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Diwali, Boxing Day, and other holidays.
- If it's cold outside, set up a hot chocolate station for visitors.
- Give out candy canes with pieces of paper that have a link or QR code to leave a review.
- Design custom, holiday-themed stickers to mark down products that are on sale.
Digital Marketing Ideas:
- Get the word out about your promotions with fun holiday-themed emails that you can send to customers and prospects.
- Post, post, POST on your social media channels about your holiday promotions. People need to know. Consider running a paid ad campaign for more exposure.
- Highlight service projects your flooring store is participating in to spread good vibes.
- On social media, share pics/videos of employees/installers wearing ugly sweaters, santa hats, etc.
- Use professional pictures of family gatherings, Christmas morning, or any holiday scene and be sure to feature/highlight the floors. Pictures of dogs, babies, and kids are also an attention-grabber.
- Liven up your website for the holidays. Work with your web dev or digital marketing company to put up website banners and new content for your holiday promotions. Don't forget to update your prices to reflect your promotions.
- Create landing pages on your website for your promotions and deals. Remember to include holiday-related keywords in your content for SEO purposes.
- Create paid ad campaigns that target holiday-related keywords (ie: holiday flooring deals, floor christmas sale, holiday kitchen deals, christmas flooring specials, etc.). You may need to do some keyword research to find the best holiday-themed keywords for your business.
Other Marketing Ideas:
- Send out Christmas cards to customers. Inside the card, include a coupon for their next purchase.
- Host or participate in service projects in your community. (Make sure to wear branded shirts so people know who you are!) You can donate to charity, serve in a soup kitchen, participate in a Secret Santa service project, donate old carpet remnants to refugees, collect food donations, etc.
- Coordinate with other businesses for a holiday blitz. Offer promotions at the same time, throw a block party with Santa/food trucks/activities, etc.
- In various email campaigns, send out ideas for winterizing your flooring/floor care tips during the winter months, new decor trends coming in 2024, ways to donate/recycle old carpet, etc.
- After the holidays, when things slow down, circle back with prospects to see if now is a better time.
Bonus Food-for-Thought: This isn't necessarily a marketing tip per se, but it's important that during this time of year that you continue to utilize flooring management software for your business. I know that things can get chaotic during the holidays (I'm in marketing - believe me), but as you take the time to streamline your processes and maximize profits, you'll have time and money to implement more of these marketing strategies.
Best of luck and Happy Holidays!
Want a printable PDF with all these ideas? Download it here:
