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The holiday season is a bustling time for shoppers to splurge on gifts, festive decor, and seasonal treats. It’s also a golden opportunity for growing businesses to boost sales.
However, with retailers collectively pouring $2.5 billion into holiday advertising each year, standing out in a crowded marketplace is no small feat.1 Businesses must not only plan early but also offer compelling promotions to capture customers’ attention and wallets.
In this guide, we'll explore 20 holiday promotion ideas that’ll give your business a competitive edge this festive season.
An early bird discount is more than just a popular holiday promotion — it’s a strategic move that injects a sense of urgency into the shopping experience. By setting a deadline for discounts, you can increase immediate sales and gain better control over your inventory before the holiday chaos sets in. In addition, getting customers in at the beginning of the season can give you insight into what may be in high demand this year.
To make the most of this strategy, clearly define the early bird discount period. Then, use every tool in your marketing arsenal — social media blasts, targeted emails, and in-store signage — to ensure shoppers mark their calendars.
Holiday shopping can be stressful for customers who struggle to find special gifts for a long list of family and friends. Bundled products and holiday gift sets offer a one-stop solution for overwhelmed shoppers, while allowing gift recipients to try out multiple products. As a bonus, holiday promotions drive up average order values and revenue for your business.
Another popular holiday promotion idea is to bundle together smaller-sized items into an Advent calendar. For each of the 24 or 25 days leading to Christmas, customers can sample different items your business sells — and hopefully return to buy full sizes in the new year. In 2024, 14% of U.S. consumers surveyed bought their own Advent calendars, while 20% received them as gifts.2
To curate seasonal bundles and holiday gift sets worth putting under the tree, consider:
By drumming up excitement and urgency, flash sales encourage immediate sales.
Drive shoppers to your flash sales by:
When designing limited-edition items, ask yourself: What embodies the holiday season for your target audience? Is it a festive flavor, design, or product that solves a specific holiday-related problem?
By adding a limited-edition item to your list of holiday promotional ideas, you’ll be able to show off your creativity along with how well you know the wants and needs of your customers. Also, consider the challenges your customers may face when shopping for gifts and then create limited-edition products that may appeal specifically to them. Some people may simply want something already wrapped green and red, blue and gold, or red, green, and black. Prepare your products to suit every need.
When you market your unique seasonal products through social media, influencers, and emails, highlight their features and benefits while emphasizing their limited availability.
Secret Santa and White Elephant gift exchanges can be intimidating for shoppers who don’t know the recipient of their gifts well, or at all. That’s when holiday gift cards and e-gift certificates are perfect: they’re flexible and convenient, and popular for customers tired of scouring shelves for just the right gift.
To promote your business’s gift cards, consider:
Social media contests can amplify your holiday promotion ideas and seasonal products — all while engaging your existing followers and attracting new ones. Make sure to plan contests that will increase social media engagement and offer prizes that resonate with your target audience, like seasonal bestsellers or exclusive discounts.
Social media contests might include:
There are many ways to effectively use digital marketing for your small business. Instagram Stories live for only 24 hours, so they’re a great way to announce flash sales and limited-edition items. But the permanency of Instagram Reels and TikTok videos make them better suited to customer testimonials and promotional videos reflecting the vibe of your store this holiday season. As a bonus, followers can scroll back to see what your business is like when the holidays roll around again.
This holiday season, consider using marketing on social media to showcase:
With every retailer trying to draw attention to their sales and seasonal offerings, you must be strategic with your holiday email campaigns. Email is a great channel for holiday promotion ideas.
Use these ideas for email campaigns to stand out in your customers’ inboxes:
There’s a reason retailers like Macy’s invest in spectacular storefront decorations every year: They’re great visual cues that not only get customers in the holiday spirit but also signal that your business has unique offerings for the season.
For smaller brick-and-mortar stores, consider designing window displays featuring seasonal specials or a themed photo spot for customer selfies. Meanwhile, you can jazz up your online storefront by uploading holiday banners or switching to seasonal color schemes.
When it comes to finding new customers and boosting revenue during the holidays, partnering with other local businesses for cross-promotions can be a win-win opportunity.
For instance, a coffee shop and a bookstore could run a joint holiday promotion where a purchase at one store grants a discount at the other. Alternatively, you could co-host holiday events like a Christmas market or a New Year's Eve party.
Shared marketing efforts, such as social media shoutouts or joint email campaigns, can also amplify the reach of both businesses.
The holiday season is a time for giving, and affording your customers an opportunity to join in your charitable initiatives can spread goodwill for you and your company’s brand. Holiday charity ideas might include allowing customers to round up their purchases to the next dollar for a charity of your choice or offering a discount to customers who contribute to a specific cause.
Charitable initiatives are holiday promotion ideas that can live beyond the point of sale as well. You could donate your services or host a donation drive. You might also consider supporting a local family or donating to an organization active in your community. This allows customers to feel more connected to both your business and the charity you’ve selected.
Want to keep customers engaged from Black Friday to New Year’s Day? Consider a holiday countdown calendar or promotion.
Holiday promotions could include:
The holiday season is a time for gratitude. A well-crafted loyalty program acknowledging your existing customers can encourage them to return for more and also deepen their loyalty to your business.
Show how much you value your customers by offering them:
Another holiday promotion idea is to create a rewards program for regular customers if you don’t already have one. This can be as simple as a punch card where they earn a free item after buying a certain number. Or, you could track a customer’s purchase history through your point of sale and tailor offers to them. Be sure to promote your new rewards program through your holiday email campaigns.
Just because your customers are scattered worldwide doesn’t mean you can’t reach them through creative holiday promotion ideas. Virtual holiday events like webinars, workshops, or live Q&A sessions offer a unique way to deepen customer relationships. For example, a kitchenware business might host a holiday baking workshop showcasing their holiday-themed product line.
To ensure success, make sure to:
Sharing customer stories during the holidays is a powerful way to build trust and foster community around your brand. Warm and fuzzy testimonials provide social proof and strengthen your brand's emotional connection with its audience.
To collect these stories, you could run a social media hashtag campaign asking customers to share their experiences. Alternatively, feature a "Customer of the Month" on your website or in your newsletter.
When shoppers are in a rush to find the perfect gift, they may not have the time or patience to walk through every store or sift through dozens of product pages. This is where a holiday gift guide curated by you and your staff can help. After all, you know your products best.
Use these tips to create an effective and appealing gift guide:
You have several options for presenting a holiday gift guide. Consider one or more of the following to ensure you reach all of your customers:
Studies show that more than a third of shoppers have been at least somewhat concerned about shipping delays during the last few holiday seasons. It’s clear that reliable shipping can set your business apart from the competition.3
Consider offering both expedited and free shipping. The former ensures timely delivery, alleviating customer anxiety, while the latter can be the deciding factor for budget-conscious shoppers.
Make sure to promote these holiday shipping options prominently on your website and through marketing channels.
Want to add more excitement to your holiday promotions? Look no further than a mystery sale, where you offer customers an unknown discount amount when they perform a specific action.
Easy ways to implement mystery discounts include:
Remember, your customers are under pressure to get their last-minute holiday shopping done. Be ready with holiday promotion ideas to help make their shopping experience that much easier.
Combine some of the tips above, such as:
Just because the holidays are over doesn’t mean it’s time to put your marketing to rest. Extending promotions beyond the holiday season can help you maintain sales momentum into the new year and keep revenue flowing.
You can:
In the world of holiday promotion ideas, creativity and planning are your greatest allies. This is your chance to close out the year on a positive note with your customers. Helping with their shopping will show them you’re there for them — not just during the holiday season, but all year long. Mix and match these ideas to craft a unique strategy that suits your business best. Check out our holiday checklist for more ways to prepare your business for the holidays before they even get started.
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