4 Easy Holiday Marketing Tips For Service Brands
Holiday marketing for brands that sell consumer goods (while competitive) is pretty straight-forward: promote your products. Typically by offering Black Friday door-busters, Cyber Monday deals for online shopping, or other discount offers.
Consumers gearing up for the holiday season not only love a good discount, they demand it. Maybe “demand” is a bit strong, but most have certainly come to expect it. Many have even held off making a purchase throughout the year because they know that most of their favorite products will be offered at a discount for the holidays.
If you’re a consumer brand, it’s what you do. If you want to save 15% or more on car insurance… Oh, wait, that’s someone else’s commercial.
If your brand offers services rather than consumer goods, the whole discounted products model presents a bit of a conundrum. On one hand, consumers are on a buying frenzy during the holidays and you want to get in on the action. On the other hand, unless you’ve commoditized your services, you probably don’t have an easy way to sell your services at a discount.
Here are some tips that can help with marketing your services over the holidays.
4 Easy Holiday Marketing Tips For Service Brands
1) Don’t offer a discount just because everyone else does.
Yes, the services you offer actually are products, and can be discounted. Even if you’re selling B2B (business to business) instead of B2C (business to consumer), whatever the end result of your customer’s purchase is – that’s your product. However, discounted service offerings can often come across as desperate or needy. In many cases, discounted services can also be perceived as inferior by consumers. In other words, if a service typically costs X amount, then a discounted service might be assumed to be rushed or otherwise sub-par. Or worse for your existing/repeat clients, overpriced in the first place!
If you do offer a discount, be sure that your promotion is in alignment with holiday shopping, not just an unrelated discount during the holiday season. Which brings us to the next point –
2) Integrate service promotions with the holiday season—but don’t force it.
If your service is pet grooming, then a promotion about getting fluffy all decked out for the holiday season is perfectly logical. If your service is tax preparations, a promotion about getting your taxes done early for the holidays is going to go over like a lead balloon. Other than tax accountants, no-one’s going to be thinking about taxes over the holidays, and any promotion will likely just be wasted marketing spend.
If you can’t logically correlate the holiday season with your service, then be creative in other ways. Perhaps your business could sponsor a holiday fundraiser, or include a discount voucher in holiday care packages being distributed by a local non-profit. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box—but again, don’t force it.
3) Leverage public relations and media opportunities.
Marketing isn’t all about directly selling products and services. Your business can take advantage of the holidays to build brand awareness and industry credibility through local media and online publications. The media are always looking for good stories to share with their readers or viewers. Submit your press releases, interview topic ideas, blog articles, and anything else the media might consume, with a holiday angle this time of year. Remember to be consumer benefit-focused, rather than self-promotional.
4) Send holiday greeting cards or gifts to nurture existing clients.
The holidays are an especially great time for showing appreciation to your existing clients. While many businesses use electronic communications or quasi-personalized services such as SendOutCards®, taking a more personalized approach will emphasize to clients that you really do care about their business. Customized Greeting Cards (with your brand logo and holiday greeting) are a very cost-effective way to show your appreciation while ensuring that your brand is remembered over the holidays. Be sure to hand address and sign for that personal touch!
For those very special clients, you might also consider a holiday gift of some sort. Promotional products are great, but can often seem a bit self-serving as a holiday appreciation gift. (Unless it’s truly a product that they’ll be sure to enjoy!) Instead, consider a more personalized gift, like a holiday gift basket, or a customized promotional product specifically for the holidays.