Last Minute Holiday MarketingSo you waited until after Thanksgiving to think about holiday promotions and marketing.  But the marketing world has been bustling on holiday ideas for at least 2 months now. The good news is that it is not too late to still put together some crafty, thoughtful marketing ideas and promotions.

You don't have to overthink marketing during the holidays. Just think about what the holidays mean to you:

Giving

There is still time to put together a feasible coupon offering to your customers. With the ease of email marketing today, calculate a good deal for both sides and send it off with some holiday design. Or, if you have a storefront where customers can walk in, offer flyers or hang posters for promotions. If you don't have a graphic designer standing by, I highly recommend Canva. You can put together a professional-wow-who-is-your-graphic-designer looking flyer in minutes. Realistically, a bit more like an hour.

Fun

Yes, holidays are actually supposed to be fun. Let's remind people of that. Remind that handy email list you have?  Or the social media base you've been building this year!? Have some fun. Send jokes. Check out PlayBuzz for some really fun lists and polls that you can send to your fans

Nostalgia

You can't help but pull up warm memories of holidays past. It makes people feel happy. And you want to make people feel happy, right! Dig up some oldies but goodies like movies and songs and "hot" gifts from years (decades) ago!  Encourage engagement by asking social media customers what their favorite gift of all time is or what their holiday traditions are. (Takes some notes for next year!)

Warmth

No matter how you marketing during the holidays, be sure to add warmth and sincerity.  You can always stick with traditional methods of sending cards. But based on even my personal experiences, try to avoid sending machine-printed cards. If you do have a machine print the messages and names, take some time while watching TV to write a handwritten one-liner in the card so the recipient knows that you truly are thinking of them and are grateful for their patronage.  You can do the same with emails. Many of the email marketing services provide customization options for emails. Whether it's just using their first names or adding something personal for them, it's doable. And in a reasonable amount of time.

Everyone is in crunch time now with the holidays...work goals to meet, year-end budgets, shopping, decorating, baking...it's overwhelming. It's so important to take the time to appreciate customers. If the holiday season has you completely buried, then consider a New Year promotion.