With the end of the year fast approaching, there are lots of things to consider when it comes to the front-facing part of your business, but what about your website and social media? How can you optimise them to speak to your consumers during the madness of the holidays?

From updated business hours, to holiday specials, these little additions are a must to consider when ramping up your end of year marketing plan. To help you with the process, we spoke with leading web design agency, Digital Health Co, for their advice for businesses in the run up to the silly season.

In your experience, what are the most valuable additions to a website or marketing around the holiday season that businesses often fail to incorporate?

Most business owners believe that investing time in a website is a once or twice a year commodity. They’re unaware of the power a regularly-updated website can have, especially when the holiday season comes around. 

Let’s take John for example. He’s a busy man who knows very little about beauty but is looking to treat his wife this Christmas. He walks past a salon on his way to work, but doesn’t have time to stop so he quickly pulls the salon’s website on his phone. If a salon’s website is difficult to navigate or doesn’t make it easy for him to book a treatment in a few clicks, he won’t bother. On the other hand, if he’s greeted by a special Christmas offer, can see the feature/benefits/price very quickly, and book it for his wife with ease, that’s a different story. 

To ensure to attract those holiday customers, a website should be updated with:

• A salon’s holiday trading hours
• An hero banner which should advertise the holiday offer
• The holiday offer added to the shop page or a dedicated landing page 

It can also be beneficial to ensure that the booking or payment gateway process is easy to navigate and that the website is mobile-friendly. Additionally, updating your Google My Business with holiday trading hours and offers will help enhance customer experience (and revenue). 

When do you think businesses should make changes for their website or marketing in the holiday lead up? 

Right now! Before November comes around, it is good to decide on what holiday you will or will not participate in, as well as what you will offer. Everyone will have different opinions or values when it comes to holidays (Black Friday, Melbourne Cup, Boxing Day…) so we always advise you to participate according to your business’ values. When deciding what to offer, take the same approach. You can either provide discounts or extra value. Think about what your customers request most around the holiday, and find a way to transform this offering into something limited that makes the most sense. For example, a hair salon can offer 15% off on blowdry during the Melbourne Cup, or make beautiful packages for gift cards around Christmas.

By November, you will want to have a clear idea of your offer and a fully-updated website, so that you have at least two weeks to promote it on your social media, newsletter, or storefront. You want to have enough lead time to order flyers if necessary, batch create social posts, or even hire an extra staff member. If it starts to sound overwhelming, don’t despair. You can just focus on one offer and one holiday, or even one offer you slightly adjust for 2-3 different holidays. Take a look at where your customers are most active online (whether it is your Instagram or Newsletter) and focus on creating content for one platform, which you can recycle for another. The goal is to start thinking about all this right now, so that you have time to plan ahead and skip the overwhelm. Platforms like Trello, Notion, or even the Reminder app in your phone can help you map out your do-to list with ease.

Can you share with us some of your tips for businesses to set up for success this holiday season?

• Make sure your website is mobile-friendly! This is super important as 70% of people will likely book your services through their phone.
• Pick one offering from what your customer loves during the holiday, and slightly tweak it to each holiday you participate in. 
• Make sure to add your holiday offer on your website’s homepage, easy for customers to access and purchase.
• Batch-create your content marketing for one social platform, then tweak and recycle it for another. Don’t forget to include 1 specific call to action that redirects customers to your website.
• Update your Google My Business with your holiday trading hours! We can’t stress that enough.

The post Let This Be Your Holiday Marketing Checklist So You’re Ready For The Silly Season appeared first on SPA+CLINIC.