Using the holidays and other big events in your marketing plan

As both a small business owner and as a consumer you are probably already aware of the fact that during certain times of the year people are more inclined to spend money. The reason for this is that consumers have been trained that certain holidays and events require us to spend extra money so we do so willingly, what this means is we don't give much thought to the fact that we are spending money. As a business owner your goal is to take advantage of the consumers' during those times of the year in hopes that they will spend that extra money at your place of business rather than at your competitor's place of business.

In fact some of the most common times of year that consumers spend more money are during back to school months, major holidays like Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. If you are a smart business owner you have probably already created a marketing plan for your business, but you might not have though about using the major holidays and other big events as a part of your marketing plan. But if you want to stay above the competition and have a successful marketing plan then you are going to need to include at least the major holidays and some big events into your marketing plan so you can keep customers coming into your place of business.

Here are some tips to follow when using the holidays and other big events in your marketing plan.

Tip one:
One thing that you want to keep in mind is that you are offering something that is unique to your customers. Keep in mind that people are going to buy products during the holidays because that is what they were taught to do, but what they buy depends on your marketing plan. Basically what you are going to need to do is to convince your customers that you are offering them something that nobody else can, basically you are giving them a reason to buy your products during the holidays rather than your competitors.

Tip two:
Another thing that you are going to want to do is to make sure that you are prepared for the holidays. What this boils down to is that you are going to need to plan in advance to take advantage of the major holidays in your marketing campaign. The best thing to do is to create a marketing plan about 12 months ahead of time and to make sure that you review your plan on a regular basis. Make sure that you review the calendar at least three months in advance so that you can prepare for anything that is coming up.

Tip three:
If you are going to center a marketing technique around a certain holiday you are going to need to do this before the holiday approaches, basically what this means is that you can not wait until the last minute to send out your marketing materials and hope to take advantage of the holiday or other big event that you have planned. If you wait until the last minute chances are that your competition will beat you out and you will end up losing money. Your best bet is to plan for the holiday at least two months in advance. For example if you are doing direct mailing campaign for Valentine's Day you are going to want to make sure all your stuff is printed by the beginning of January at the latest and in the mail by the last week of January at the latest.

Tip four:
Another thing that you are going to need to keep in mind is that some business willl benefit from holidays that are not popular gift giving holidays or they will benefit from big events that nobody else would think of. So what you need to do is to go through your calendar and figure out which holidays and events will best benefit your business and then put them into your marketing plan.

Rating: 0/5 (0 votes cast)

---

Categories: Management,

Help others find this article:
Socializer, Digg, del.icio.us, reddit, StumbleUpon

Favorites: Add to favorites
Tags: marketing_plan how_to_use_holidays_in_your_marketing_plan using_big_events_in_your_marketing_plan tips_for_using_holidays_and_big_events_in_your_marketing_plan why_you_should_use_holidays_and_big_events_in_your_marketing_plan what_to_include_in_your_marketing_plan using_the_holidays_and_other_big_events_in_your_marketing_plan