Competition between businesses gets fierce during the holiday season. This means your marketing game needs to be on point if you want to steal the spotlight from your competitors and attract more customers during this busy time of year — especially if you’re a small- and medium-sized business operating on a limited budget.
To help get you started, 12 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:
“What’s one local marketing tactic small businesses can use to attract more customers during the holiday season? Why is this an effective approach?”
Here are a few of the methods they think can propel your holiday marketing to new heights.
1. Share Content From Your GMB Listing
“A commonly overlooked local marketing tactic that small- and medium-sized businesses can use to attract more customers is sharing content (special offers, videos, images, etc.) from their Google My Business (GMB) listing. Google posts can increase your visibility in Google searches, show up in Google Discover (over 800 million users) and are now also prominently displayed in the Google Maps app ‘Explore’ tab.” ~ Kevin Getch, Webfor
2. Reach Out to Local Influencers
“Reach out to local influencers for campaigns. Meet with people who host events and run small organizations like charities, mom groups, hobbyist groups and more around your community. Of course, what you sell has to be of value to these influencers and, in extension, to those you want to reach. If they like your product, others will buy too. Results can be pleasantly surprising if done well.” ~ Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS
3. Get a Booth at a Local Christmas Market
“Depending on the business, some companies can do well by getting a booth at one of the local Christmas markets. Many towns will do one or even several of these and it’s a great time to meet with the community face-to-face while selling your products.” ~ Andy Karuza, Base64.ai
4. Send Out Email Newsletters
“You can use email newsletters to connect with your local audience and boost your conversions and sales during the holiday season. Email marketing is an effective way to reach your customers so you can sell products, promote deals and more.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
5. Give Away Free ‘Pieces’ of Your Product or Service
“One local marketing tactic is to give out ‘pieces’ of your product or service for free. Let people try a piece of it at no charge. The ‘free’ will attract them and, after they use it, they will want to move forward with finding out more information. From there, you can connect and sell.” ~ Lisa Collum, Top Score Writing
6. Create a Holiday Party Approach
“Businesses should create a holiday party approach during the holiday season. That should reflect in their marketing but should also be amplified in their physical and online stores. That means going beyond holiday decor. It also means music, party favors, hot apple cider and goodies for all customers walking in.” ~ Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
7. Offer Interactive Photo Ops
“Try offering photo ops. Holographic Santa anyone? In-person experiences have declined since 2020, but they are not dead. They offer a way for people to interact in person, in passing, which is great for brand awareness. Follow the hashtags and brand interactions with offers or provide exclusive content for those who interact at an in-person level. It is effective because you are not asking for anything.” ~ Matthew Capala, Alphametic
8. Collaborate With Other Local Businesses
“You can try collaborating with local businesses to cross-promote each other’s brands. Suppose you have a clothing store and you collaborate with a coffee shop. You can give away a free coffee coupon from that store to your customers every time they buy from you. The coffee shop can also do the same by giving a discount coupon to their customers for your clothing store. It helps you attract leads.” ~ Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
9. Leverage a Word-of-Mouth Strategy
“No marketing strategy can work better than word-of-mouth. So, try leveraging it to maximize your profit. To do that, you have to focus on quality. This is not just for your products, but for customer service as well. If people are satisfied with your business, they will definitely tell others about it.” ~ Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite
10. Use Geolocation Ads on Social Media
“Geolocation advertisements on social media are an excellent way to reach more local customers during the holiday season. When you set geolocation parameters, you can choose who sees your ad based on their location and preferences. This strategy gives you the freedom to create unique offers for the people who live close to your business, which could certainly drive more sales.” ~ Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
11. Get Involved With Community Events
“An important way for small and local businesses to get more customers is to get involved with the community. People value group events and familial gatherings during the holidays. By being part of a local charity event or some other attraction, you will win the goodwill of your audience. This will lead to greater loyalty and bring more customers to your door.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
12. Use Google’s Local Inventory Ads Feature
“One local marketing tactic I recommend is Google’s new local inventory ads feature. When people search for a product, Google displays ads with the top three businesses offering that product and their exact location. Often, people search for the product they’re looking for, including the phrase ‘near me,’ so when using this feature, you can generate more walk-ins to your store.” ~ Benjamin Rojas, All in One SEO
Image: Depositphotos
