The holiday season is usually a gold mine of opportunities for product-based businesses that can deploy special holiday products or sales t...
The holiday season is usually a gold mine of opportunities for product-based businesses that can deploy special holiday products or sales to make their business stand out and be relevant for that time of the year. While service-based businesses may find it more difficult to capitalize on the season’s business opportunities, there are still several creative strategies they can utilize to make holiday marketing work in their favor. For guidance, we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) this question:
“In your opinion, what’s the best way for a service-based business to take advantage of the coming holiday season? How might this differ or relate to a product-based business?”
Here’s what YEC community members had to say.
1. Provide A Unique, Streamlined Experience
“Purchasing products online tends to be a great user experience because it’s easy and streamlined. At my company, we think purchasing services should be the same way. First, ensure your booking and sales processes make things easy for customers. Then, dream up some unique experiences and special holiday packages.” ~ Diana Goodwin, MarketBox
2. Create Holiday Packages
“A good way for service-based businesses to take advantage of the coming holiday season is to create holiday packages for their customers. For example, if you have a massage parlor, you can offer a free foot massage with a head massage for the festive season. People love offers, so when they see such offers they will definitely come in to take advantage of them.” ~ Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite
3. Offer Free Trials and Other Deals
“Service-based companies should be thinking about how they can get more people to try their services this holiday season. I suggest that you start offering a free trial so consumers can get a taste of what your business can do. Once you start publishing holiday sales, you’ll see many consumers who were trying your demo service will convert to regular customers.” ~ John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
4. Add Extra Perks to Your Traditional Offer
“Add extra perks or services on top of a traditional offer. You don’t want to discount your rates; however, you could instead introduce additional support, marketing services, an SEO review or a consulting call on top of your current plans.” ~ Mario Peshev, DevriX
5. Make Clients’ Holiday Experience Special
“As a service-based business, you can affect your clients or customers in ways products can’t. Use the holiday season to make their holiday experience special. Let your service packages be adapted to the season. It’s not very easy to replicate this with a product based-company. Products are mostly set and are therefore hard to customize to fit holiday seasons. Services are usually more flexible.” ~ Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS
6. Partner Up With a Product-Based Business
“Partner up with a product-based business and together create a bundle offer over the holiday season. Whether you are a service-based business that already carries your own products, or you have a product-based business in mind that you could partner with, take advantage of creating something unique together and target both of your customer audiences.” ~ Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.
7. Plan and Publish Holiday-Specific Content
“Service-based businesses can take advantage of the holiday season by planning and publishing holiday-specific content. Your emails, landing pages, website homepage and social media posts can all be used to increase sales around the holidays. With content, product-based businesses focus more on brand identification, whereas service-based businesses can focus on their reputation and quality of service.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
8. Market Holiday-Themed Services
“Service-based businesses should take advantage of the holiday season by using holiday themes in their marketing. For example, instead of just offering a regular cleaning service, a cleaning company can use its marketing to offer cleaning to help people prepare for the busy holiday season, ensuring a clean home for their guests and saving time for hosts so they can focus on other holiday tasks.” ~ Blair Williams, MemberPress
9. Have a Holiday Marketing Calendar
“Each year, every business tosses around ideas for the holiday season, but it’s easy for many of them to fall through the cracks as the hustle and bustle begins. One of the best ways to take advantage of the season is to create a holiday marketing calendar ahead of time and automate promotions. Whether your business is service-based or product-based, this will ensure you never miss an opportunity.” ~ Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
10. Leverage Any Intellectual Property You Own
“Leverage any intellectual property that your business owns and offer deals on service maintenance for your clients. Whether it’s a course on how to use a product, learn a new skill or another valuable asset, you have the potential to tackle everything. This is different from product-based businesses because you are selling an intangible benefit to your audience, which may come with upgrades.” ~ Duran Inci, Optimum7
11. Send Out a Holiday-Themed Newsletter
“Take advantage of your email subscribers by sending a holiday-themed newsletter showcasing popular services and discounts. People are ready to spend for the holidays, so simply sending an email about your holiday event or sale is enough to grab your audience’s attention.” ~ Jared Atchison, WPForms
12. Send Customers Holiday Cards
“Sending out holiday cards to your customers is a great way to take advantage of the coming holiday season. Service-based businesses are more likely to have face-to-face relationships with their customers than a product-based business, so you can really build meaningful relationships. Sending out a holiday card will show your customers that you care.” ~ Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
Image: Depositphotos.com
This article, "12 Ways Service-Based Businesses Can Take Advantage of the Holiday Season" was first published on Small Business Trends
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