The holiday season is a funny time. For some businesses, especially retailers, this is go-time; the three month period where sales have to be strong enough to carry them through the rest of the year. For other businesses, the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year’s are slower than slow.
One way to boost your sales, no matter which type of business you are, is to present a gift guide. The holiday season is all about hooking your loved ones up with things that make them happy. It sounds simple, but it can be an extremely overwhelming job. People get stuck for ideas. They don’t know what to give, who to give it to, or how to present it.
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That’s where you come in. Gift guides are an easy way to suggest merchandise in a way to reduce your customer’s holiday stress. Rather than creating one huge document, make 2015 the year you create multiple small gift guides to be deployed through all of your marketing channels.
For example, let’s say you sell fishing tackle. Mini gift guides could be created for the serious fisherman, the Grandparent who wants to introduce their Grandchild to the sport, the would-be survivalist, and more. These mini guides can appear as blogs on your website, be shared via social media, and even be emailed directly to your customers. Formatted with calls to action that make it easy to buy, these guides can help you drive sales of items that might otherwise not get so much notice.
What about those businesses that aren’t normally go-to destinations for the holiday season? You can benefit by creating your own gift guide, pointing out how your products and services could be the perfect surprise. If you have a seasonal business that can’t be enjoyed right now, offering gift certificates that can be used later can help solve your customers’ holiday shopping quandary and boost your bottom line.