Post Christmas Sales. Is there a Way To Make Yours More Impactful

Hello one and all and a very happy New Year to everyone as we enter the 2014 year. And of course one of the classic post Christmas events we have all come to expect from Businesses here in Australia, is the Boxing Day sales that people feel compelled to queue up for for hours and in many cases buy items that don't appear to be of great value just because they are being told things like:
'everything in the store reduced in price'.

Yes if a dollar is taken off everything in store than such a statement would certainly not be in breach of any advertising or business law anywhere. My other favourite is when you routinely hear stores proudly pronouncing up to 70% off store wide.

Great so if you want to buy something outdated, old fashioned, obsolete and usually ugly you get it 70% off the regular price. If you want something a little more modern, functional and aesthetically pleaseing you're lucky to be getting 10% off the price from two days earlier.

Now there are a couple of key points here that need to be considered. Firstly the need to provide true value to our customers during these sales where we know they already have a strong desire to spend, and put an offer together that provides real value not this mickey mouse stuff I have talked about in this post.

So be brave and put a compelling offer together such as:  '40% off everything in store'.

The reality is that most retailers have at least a 100% mark up on everything in store so this tactic will not only be seen as legitimate by the customers, but will still mean that you will more than cover your costs with each purchase made, whilst driving many sales that would otherwise probably not have been made had the powerful buying motivator not have been put up in the first place.

Once you have the right offer in place the next step of course is to promote it on all appropriate frequencies so that your target audience (both current customers and prospects), will know what  you are offering them. For this you will need to understand what they are listening, watching and reading and formulate a blended approach to promotion that will ensure a strong coverage with core mesages being repeated, understood and acted upon.

Naturally this will also mean you will need to set aside a specific budget to drive these promotional activities and given how tight the timelines are it goes without saying that the planning needs to be done well before Christmas to be effective.

Regardless of how well or other wise your business has done this year, start planning now for a spectacular close to 2014 and ensure that you take the lions share then with a combination of a great offer, a savvy promotional plan, a budget to facilitate the plan and the proactive implementation of the plan well before the event.

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Regards,
Daniele.