In this article, we’re sharing how to prepare your business for the holidays, in 4 steps.
Getting ready for the holidays: a guide for businesses
1. Take stock of where you currently are in your business
Before you start implementing any changes, campaigns or holiday marketing strategies, it’s important you know where you’re starting from.
For most businesses, this time of year isn’t only about marketing efforts and seasonal sales. The end of the year also means targets, analysis and organization for another year ahead.
Here are some things to assess at this stage:
- What do you still need to action before year-end?
- What holiday marketing campaigns are about to launch? Do you have all of the necessary assets ready to go?
- Do you have structures, budgets, timelines and logistics in place?
- Are there areas that you need additional support with?
- Are you on track to hitting your financial, sales and marketing goals for Q4 (quarter four)?
Q4 is an extremely busy time for both brands and agencies. Jumping into the season blind will cause unnecessary frustrations and lacklustre work.
Here’s an example. For your holiday campaign, assess where your ideal audience is at this time of year to ensure your business shows up in the right place at the right time. You don’t want to waste hours creating a TikTok series when your ideal audience is looking for Christmas inspiration on Instagram.
Dive into those analytics and assess the data to give you a solid starting point, with no surprises.
2. Get organized
Now that you’ve zoomed out on your business, you can zoom in. Organize any actions that need to be taken for a successful year-end, and plan accordingly using a project management system.
There are 3 things to do at this stage:
- Plan
Essential to help you reduce stress and keep costs in check, so you can ultimately boost your end-of-year profits. Mark all holiday marketing campaigns on a shared calendar, add timelines and asset requirements, as well as deadlines
- Delegate
Assign tasks to appropriate team members and clearly communicate expectations
- Action
Get to work, there’s no time to waste!
When getting ready for the holidays, your Christmas marketing campaign is often one of the most consuming parts of your year-end workload, but it’s also the area that needs the most attention. According to Google, consumers are shopping earlier each year, so it pays to be organized if you want to capture the increase in consumer spend.
Successful holiday marketing strategies know that consistency and cohesion are the keys to increasing brand awareness, trust, and loyalty.
Consider setting a date to make the ‘season switch’, and update internal and external touchpoints for the holiday season – that includes social media banners, email headers, website banners etc.
TIP: Any new visuals need to remain on brand, but can be modified for the season.
3. Outsource support
Business and creative output go into overdrive at this time of year.
The working pace your team has been operating at until now is no longer sufficient. You’ve assessed and planned your holiday needs, and now realize you need more people power if you’re to reach your goals.
Don’t panic. Outsource.
It’s the secret weapon of brands and agencies the world over, thanks to its ability to double, triple, or even quadruple your output during the time you need it most.
Reasons to outsource work for the holiday season:
- Cut costs overall
It may seem counterintuitive that spending on resources will reduce your costs. But in reality, the efficiency per dollar is much greater than hiring a full-time, or even temporary individual, as you’re often able to access an entire team for one fee.
- Free up time to focus on the things that move the needle forward
Hand off tasks to experienced professionals so that you can do what you do best.
- Increase capacity
Outsourcing is a fast and effective way of multiplying the work you’re able to produce in a concentrated period of time.
- Enhance the quality of your output
Offload some of the pressure from your internal teams so that work can be given the attention it deserves.
Let’s look at your upcoming holiday marketing campaign once more.
Insider Intelligence noted that last year’s holiday season had the strongest retail growth in 20 years, and we can bet this year won’t be much different. If you want a slice of the market pie, you’ve got to show up in your best light.
Let’s say you’ve got a multi-layered campaign with social media banners, animations, graphics and website assets to produce. Onboarding a team like Design Force is a risk-free way of drastically upping your output – and chances of a successful holiday campaign overall.
We’ve got a vetted team of designers from around the globe, each with their own specialist and expert skills, ready and waiting to design what you need to cut through the noise and reach your ideal market.
4. Keep the joy high
‘Tis the season, after all! The holiday season needn’t be all stress and no time to spend with loved ones.
If you plan ahead, bring in support and stick to your plan, you can have an enjoyable and rewarding end to 2022.
The holidays are a time of excitement, togetherness and giving back. Make sure to reward and recognize your teams for their hard work throughout the year so that you enter 2023 feeling refreshed and motivated to smash your goals.
A successful holiday season starts with Design Force
Remember, there’s no need to stretch yourself and your teams as thin as a snowflake to meet your holiday targets.
Talk with our team today to take on any additional design work you might need, from social media graphics to video animation to seasonal newsletter templates and beyond.
We’ll assign you one Project Manager to oversee everything, so you can focus on doing what you do best.
Let us support you in your most enjoyable holiday season yet.
