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Sale Day Essentials – 4 Things Your Business Needs To Make Your Post-Christmas Sales A Success

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The final event of the holiday shopping season is fast approaching. Having survived Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and Christmas Eve, the end of the year is the last chance for retailers to end up in the black.

Unfortunately, at this point, shoppers are weary and overburdened by the multitudes of marketing campaigns enticing them to part with the last of their hard-earned cash. To be truly successful after the crazy holiday season, you must employ some serious marketing skills to attract consumers. Below are several tactics that will help your business succeed in the post-Christmas season.

1. An Aggressive (and Unique) Marketing Campaign

By the time Christmas has come and gone, consumers have seen every marketing technique in the books. They are tired. To attract their attention yet again, your marketing campaign must be aggressive and unique.

Think outside the box with eye-catching fabric media wall banners, drastic discounts of 70% or more, and donations to a relevant (and reputable) charity every time a customer buys a specific product. It’s these types of things that will entice your customers to return to your store, despite their exhaustion.

2. A Good Plan (Made Well Ahead of Time)

It’s important that you plan ahead for the after-Christmas sales because you only have a limited timeframe in which to make them work. When the hectic holiday season comes to an end, most consumers have very little disposable cash left, so it’s vital you advertise effectively to bring them in.

While it’s difficult to know exactly what you’ll have left after the Christmas rush, don’t wait until the last minute to put together your after-Christmas sale campaign. Do your best to estimate your inventory, create your campaign ahead of time, and have backup items on hand just in case you over-estimated. By Christmas Eve, you should be fairly comfortable with the inventory you have left to really begin advertising your post-Christmas sales.

3. Social Media

People tend to use social media more often during the holidays than at other times of the year. They are keeping in touch with friends and family and discussing plans and gift ideas. This makes these platforms perfect for getting in on holiday conversations that are already taking place, allowing you to market to your target audience in a quick and easy manner.

Whether yours is a brick and mortar store or an online shop front, social media is always a good marketing tool. During the holidays, it’s more powerful than ever, and you should be using it (beginning as early as possible) to announce and advertise your after-Christmas sales.

4. A Solid Email Marketing Campaign

You can boost the success of your after-holiday sales by employing a solid email marketing campaign before they even begin. Not only is this an effective way to reach your customers, but it also helps you create a sense of urgency by pushing limited-time offers and hard-to-find items that may not be available with other retailers. To encourage people to take advantage of your sale, offer discounts to anyone who presents the code included in the email.

Although everyone is weary by the end of the year, having just survived the frantic three-month shopping season, there’s still the after-Christmas sales to think about. This is every business owner’s final push to come out in the black for the year. To make this mini shopping season a success, consider instituting one or all of the tactics listed above.

Financial Headaches Facing Small Business Owners

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Fierce and uneven competition in the market is often the downfall of small business operations. Unlike large enterprises where cashflow is continuously trickling in enabling the repayment of business expenses, SMEs will frequently struggle to pay off debts if they handle their finances in the same manner. For the small enterprise, generating income and having enough cash at hand to pay for bills and expenses is one of the most important and challenging tasks. So finding the right solution to keep cash levels flowing and the business moving is paramount to ensuring successful business growth.

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Keep the cash flowing

Cash flow is perhaps the heaviest issue for the small businessman. A profitable next quarter doesn’t mean anything if your workers won’t get their pay packets this quarter. Business owners must acquire an acute sense of timing and budgeting. Revenues must sustain the outflow of cash and replenish for the succeeding quarters in time before other expenses are due. With accurate calculation, the small business owner must be able to keep credit in check while predicting the times ahead, especially if there is significant seasonal variation in profits. If you do find yourself in some cash flow troubles due to bad debtors, you may wish to seek the aid of a debtor finance specialist to give you some help with unpaid invoices and get quick cash injection.

Expect the unexpected

The first few months in a business’s life can drive the small entrepreneur’s finances close to negative, with slim to none profits in the first few years. Businesses can generally handle the slow start as long as they aren’t hit with any sudden financial burdens. A large proportion of your profits may already be going towards office rent and maintenance but make sure you also have the correct insurance policies as the last thing you want to pay for is a large payout if a customer slips in your storefront.

Other like expenses such as government special charges and taxes on businesses and products even the price increase of supplies can also affect the small businessman’s finances. Keep a part of your income for these unexpected expenses. Better yet, anticipate these and keep into account when they are exactly due and how much they all amount to. Being fully aware of all potential costs will give you a much clearer picture of where the cash goes.

Prepare alternative plans when a disastrous event occurs.

In a huge business, the loss of an executive might not be as devastating as it is to a small company; they might just promote a person among subordinates that were groomed to follow and continue running the business. This is not so in a small business; if a small enterprise loses a key person, especially if he or she holds a number of responsibilities, the loss will affect the entire business—more so if the key person is the entrepreneur himself/herself. The business may temporarily stop for weeks, months or extended periods of time.

Natural disasters are also source of business interruption. If that happens, keep your cash on hand ready for any damages that need to be repaired. Also keep business policies in check to know when you can resume business the earliest time possible.

This guest post is brought to you by Scottish Pacific. For more information on business cash flow solutions and invoice discounting visit Scottish Pacific.