The next few months are jam-packed with holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas tend to be the big marketing ones. Each holiday offers its own ways for you to promote your brand and improve office morale, so don’t delay and start planning your new strategies for the upcoming season.
Spread Office Cheer.
The holiday season offers plenty of inexpensive opportunities for you to boost company morale and promote camaraderie.
Halloween:
Depending on how spooky or kitschy you’d like to go (and keep in mind the comfort of your employees) your Halloween decoration options are vast. From fake cotton spider webs in the corners of your office to gourds of all sizes covering various surfaces in your office, your office will look like a pumpkin patch in no time.
Thanksgiving:
When the holiday of gratitude rolls around, put up paper turkeys to your heart’s content, or order Thanksgiving floral arrangements for display around the office.
Christmas:
Christmas decorations tend to be a big winner, so let employees spend an hour one afternoon decking the office in the best of the season. Garlands, trees, and fake wrapped presents can do wonderful things for mood in the weeks leading up to the holidays. If your office space or business repeatedly sees customers walk through your door, these decorations are a must.
Get Customers Involved.
Halloween:
Offer a trick or treat day within your store for local families to take part in. Work with other nearby businesses to make it an event that will bring out droves of children and their parents. This will help you become more connected to the community, and the advertised allure of a Halloween treat will bring potential customers into your store who may not have entered otherwise.
Thanksgiving:
Plan a fun run designed to fundraise money for a particular cause and have participants raise dollars with each mile completed. This opportunity is probably best suited for the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, as weather conditions in much of the country can turn wet and unsuitable for outdoor activities.
Christmas:
Buy ugly Christmas sweaters for your employees and instruct them to wear them during the weeks preceding the holiday. Offer discounts to customers who wear their own ugly sweaters to inspire community involvement and draw in more profits. One great idea to get customers excited for the season, as well as an incentive to visit your business, would be to have a giveaway contest. If you’re a clothing store, give contestants the chance to win something unique but relative to the holiday, like a vintage holiday ski suit. If you’re a bar and pride yourself on your whiskey selection, give away this cool whiskey advent calendar before December hits.
Promotional Ideas.
Halloween:
Trick or treat, the deals are here! Wrap coupons around inexpensive candy bites and hand them out to customers when they make their purchase. It will entice repeat business, and give a sweet treat to already loyal consumers.
Thanksgiving:
Black Friday is already one of the most lucrative days of the year for businesses all across the nation, but you can use this to your advantage. Plan a pre-Black Friday flash sale and beat your competition to the punch line.
Christmas:
Send out greeting cards from your company and make a connection with your customers. Tell customers that if they bring in the greeting card, they’ll receive a percentage off of their purchase.
Holiday Party on a Budget.
If you’re trying cut down on expenses, you can still throw an inexpensive shindig for loyal employees. Make it a potluck, and provide the decorations, cutlery, and plates for the event. Small businesses often don’t have the money to throw into elaborate parties, but your employees can still have a wonderful time sharing their favorite recipes and soaking in some holiday cheer. Providing incentives like fun office get-togethers contributes to camaraderie and productivity, so don’t skip it just because of monetary limitations.
Give Back to the Community.
The holidays are a time of caring and sharing. There are endless ways you can get involved and help your community, but here are a few ideas to get you started.
Halloween:
Plan a canned food drive and drop off the collection at your local food bank or homeless shelter to make for a Halloween treat they won’t soon forget.
Thanksgiving:
A delicious spread is usually a staple for most Thanksgiving celebrations, but many are not so lucky. Ask your employees to spend one workday at a local soup kitchen, feeding the hungry and inspiring the spirit of generosity.
Christmas:
During the Christmas season many children may go without presents under the tree, so a toy drive is a wonderful way to bring smiles to the faces of local kids in your community.
These simple efforts can help others and also improve your brand awareness by instilling you as an integral part of your local community. Many of these ideas can be altered to work at any time of the year, so make it a regular part of your efforts to improve your community and your business.
