Let’s be honest: a lot of businesses latch on to the positive messaging that floats around at Christmas, just so they can jack up sales numbers before the year runs out. That’s not what this article is about. Our aim here is to show how cheerful giving and the appreciation of your customers (and staff) can produce a win-win situation for everyone involved. It doesn’t have to be merely about raising your business’s bottom line to the roof.
Now that we’ve cleared this up, our next question follows naturally: how do you take your business and encourage your customers up the path to a mutually beneficial end this season? How can you boost profits while giving clients the impression that you care for more than just having their cash in your wallet?
And how is all of this goodwill gesturing going to raise your business’s public profile, and draw in more clients?
Here’s an answer. You do this by genuinely caring about your customer’s state, and by expressing this concern in ways that are both humane and business savvy. There’s really no philosopher stone strategy to getting this done. I would say this: it’s not easy, but it’s simple.
We will examine five ways to raise your business’s public profile this Christmas, not just by riding on the preponderance of virtue talk this season, but by actually reaching out and sharing real goodness. Here we go.
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Give to Charity
The gradual but certain rise of socially conscious business has probably made corporate giving to charity more fashionable. The world tends to regard brands just a bit less critically when those brands show that they can share their gains with the underprivileged.
But it isn’t always clear how businesses- especially smaller ones -should go about this. We have a few suggestions. You may set aside a fixed percentage (or better still, a lower limit) of your annual profits for charitable causes, such as stocking up groceries for orphanages, or clearing up environmental waste in the vicinity of your office’s location, or sponsoring the education of indigent children.
When you share pictures, videos and text about these activities, be sure to let your paying customers know that they’re a part of it. Build a narrative of communal caring and sharing which has your clients playing a leading role in making this possible. This sort of communication tends to attract socially conscious people more than most marketing strategies are able to.
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Reward Loyal Clients
Make your Christmas messaging big on customer appreciation. Tell it everywhere- to them in person, on your social media pages, your website or other channels -that you’re grateful for their patronage.
Go one step further and reward them with gifts. Branded souvenirs are a popular option; event tickets and gift baskets may be fine too. But you can go for something even grander if your business can afford it. Just remember to strike a balance between putting smiles on loyal buyers’ faces and maintaining the integrity of your financial position.
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Reach Out to Lost Customers
Christmas presents you with an opportunity to reestablish contacts with customers who have drifted off over the course of the year. Who knows, they might be in just the right mood to consider buying stuff from you. This seldom happens quickly; it usually takes a while to rebuild trust. But if your communication with them is done right, they could be willing to try you out again.
Before you put out an inviting arm to them, make sure you’ve dealt with whatever issues caused them to wander off (or walk out) in the first place. This, of course, assumes that they left because of some failing on your part. You may want to offer them an enticement, perhaps some special discount or other forms of a nice bargain, which could make them more receptive to using your product or service again.
Read more about this in our article, How to Win Back Customers You’ve Lost.
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Organize a Christmas Themed Social Event
This may be a Christmas party for children or a fanfare-filled contest for customers. Whatever your preferred option is, you could get valuable publicity for your business by spreading the word about your event on the right channels and targeting your ideal customer demographic with it.
But even if you aren’t able to put together a show on your own, you could partner with other businesses to fashion out a fine event that should satisfy people’s cravings for a happy time, and attract a fair amount of attention. Another way of going about the events thing would be to sponsor one organized by some other organization, instead of being the company that creates it.
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Encourage Generosity
The goodness of Christmas can be shown in more ways than giving gifts. How about encouraging people to give as well?
Here’s one good idea. Start a campaign for giving with a hashtag on social media (say, #SharingXmas or #GivingSeason); invite people to share their stories of giving around Christmas, and build momentum with it. You could eventually take it beyond the screens of your digital devices to the world around you, by asking customers to write their own personal stories and hand them in, perhaps in exchange for a little token.
There are a thousand and one ideas like the ones we’ve shared here. You could come up with even better ones if you give it some thought.