By Ashley Sinclair

Consumers consider the holiday season to be the months of November and December, but for businesses, the holidays start sooner. Whether you are a small business owner or a supportive team member, the holiday season has already begun. This year, consumers will begin their holiday shopping before Halloween, due to production and shipping issues they have experienced recently.

Here are Several Ways You Can Advertise Your Small Business for this Upcoming Holiday Season:

Update Your Social Media Profiles and Storefronts
Adjust your social media by increasing your post frequency by getting creative with content for the holiday season. Holiday marketing can be the easiest and most fun content for the whole year. One outlet that can be useful is Canvas. You can advertise your new products, discounts, and promotions through multiple mediums to reach your target demographic. Updating your storefront can bring joy to the holidays and help cheer up consumers, too! Decorating your storefront can also appeal to new consumers who may be walking by and notice your creative spin.

Create a Gift Guide
It is all about convenience when consumers are shopping. Creating gift guides for them to easily shop for their loved ones can be a great way to provide this. Make it easily accessible for them to find your guides by posting those to social media, your website and even having handouts when they come into your store.

Offer Promotions and Incentives Taking a part in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, in addition to Small Business Saturday, can potentially reach earlier holiday shoppers. Creating incentives like free shipping or a promotion can motivate your consumers to spend more. Another thing to consider is adjusting your return policy for holiday shopping. Most sales have a 30-day return policy; however, with consumers starting holiday shopping in October, you want to give them more flexibility on returning items that do not meet their needs and wants, which in return will encourage them to make those early holiday purchase decisions.

Holiday Emails
For your consumers, send out frequent emails throughout the holiday season. Send out reminders about exclusive holiday products, discounts, events, store updates, and email out your gift guides for easy and quick access to your customers. If you do not have an email system for your consumers, you can post on social media or reach out to your local Chamber to send out an email blast to the community. All of these mediums are a good way to keep consumers informed about important shopping safety measure you will be taking during the busy season.

Partner with Local Businesses, Civic Organizations or Charities
Creating a partnership with other professionals in the community is a great way to increase brand awareness. Host holiday events or partner up with another business for social media engagement. For example, you can host live giveaways to encourage your audience to participate and broadcast it with another business. Also, consumers are wanting to give back to the community and even during the holiday season. Partnering with local charities can create the opportunities for consumers to give back. There is an appreciation consumers have for businesses that share similar values, by creating a way for them to give back and donate to a cause through your business can encourage them to spend more on your products and services.

Remember as you think through everything and decide on promotions, open houses or special events, it is important to advertise. Many local consumers look to Kernersville Magazine to learn what you, the retailer, has to offer. Kernersville Magazine alone, offers exposure to over 25,000 customers each month. Imagine your revenue if even half of these consumers decided to shop local for the holidays.