10 Advertising Tips for Your Holiday Sale
The end-of-the-year holiday rush is one of the most lucrative seasons for businesses – if you are able to create a successful marketing campaign. But if you’re running a small business, the odds are you either have a very small team or are running things yourself. So how can you simplify the design process, cut down on advertising expenses, and still create effective marketing?
The secret lies in the Graphic Designer. With the Graphic Designer, you can implement your holiday campaign at a fraction of the cost of hiring an agency or designer. Ready-made templates and an intuitive interface make creating ads, email headers, and social media posts as easy as a few clicks.
Of course, while design is an enormous part of marketing, there’s much more to it than that. Here are our best advertising tips and inspirational ideas for your small business’s next holiday sale.
1. Start Early
While the holiday season starts in November, it’s best to start planning in October or even September. This is because you’ll have a lot to think about: Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s, and a host of other holidays all occur in quick succession (or at the same time!). You’ll often need different messaging around each of these holidays. Start by planning your deals and discounts, then messaging and copy, and finally your ad designs.
2. Emphasize Limited Deals
Sales that last only a few days create a sense of urgency for your customer, especially when it comes to the holidays. Using terms like “last chance” and “limited deal” will garner more attention than a generic ad – just make sure the deals actually are limited. Offering too many sales too often will make your product seem less valuable. Here we’ve edited a template from the Graphic Designer to stress the limited nature of the sale:
3. Remember That Less Is More
When it comes to writing your holiday advertising campaign, focus on short, catchy bits of copy rather than lengthy descriptions. There is so much content online that it’s easy to scroll right by long posts. Conversely, a snappy slogan or memorable quote will quickly catch a prospect’s attention.
4. Create Social Media Ads
Social media posts are great for advertising sales to your existing followers, but targeted holiday ads can bring in valuable new customers. The biggest social media advertising channels are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. The Graphic Designer offers dozens of social media templates that you can use as a starting point for your holiday ads. Here’s an ad we’ve created by making just a few changes to one of these templates:
Struggling with where to start with your social media ads? Here’s an in-depth guide on how to make effective Instagram ads. You can also create a Facebook ad or shoppable Pinterest pins – with the Graphic Designer, reformatting your designs for different platforms is a cinch.
5. Post Sales to Stories
It’s easy to get lost in the algorithm, especially as a small business. Make sure your followers actually find out about your holiday sale by posting to your Instagram and Facebook Stories. These will make sure your existing customers know about your latest deal. Here are our top tips on using Instagram stories to promote your brand!
6. Encourage Shopping Small
People want to feel good about their purchases. It’s okay to show off that you are a small business! Rather than making your products seem lesser than the “big” brands, it makes your business stand out as a more unique and ethical option. Think about including this positioning in your holiday marketing campaign.
7. Use Reviews and Testimonials
New brands pop up all the time, and it’s hard to know what businesses to trust. You can inspire confidence in prospects by using testimonials from existing customers. 72% of consumers say that positive reviews increase their trust in a business. Improve the efficacy of your holiday campaign by combining product pictures, testimonials, and a great design all into one ad. Here we’ve revamped an existing BeFunky template for our brand and added a testimonial.
8. Update Your Website
Theming your website for the holidays indicates that this is a special time to shop from your business. As with limited-time promotions, it compels a customer to shop now, rather than later. Advertising a holiday promo code at the top of your website will help drive sales even further.
9. Host a Holiday Giveaway
Instagram and other social media giveaways encourage your followers to share your brand, creating organic traffic and increasing your reach. You can learn how to host an Instagram giveaway and create related social media graphics right here.
10. Make An Email Campaign
Email is an extremely effective marketing tool if you can create a well-designed campaign. The Graphic Designer allows you to create email headers for all your holiday sales and promotions. Following the “less is more” rule, try not to write any big blocks of text. Let your photos, designs, and short descriptions speak for themselves.
Improve Your Advertising This Holiday Season
To take advantage of those end-of-the-year shopping sprees, you’ll need to market your small business with high-quality campaigns. There’s no need to drop tons of money or spend hours trying to figure out complicated software: You can create better advertising on your own with the help of the free Graphic Designer. With hundreds of professionally-designed templates, you can create amazing marketing campaigns in just a few clicks. Try out the Graphic Designer for your holiday advertising needs today!
