Yes the end of the year is near and when someone reminds me of this and the approaching holidays I usually jokingly ask…” Got your tree up yet?” In our small business world, aside from getting a laugh, this usually means are you prepared for the holidays and the end of the year. This means different things to different people. Since we’re all not Amazon or Walmart it doesn’t mean that much in retail senses. Although if you take a little time and give it some clever thought, you as a small business owner can find effective ways to still attract customers before December 31st. For some service businesses, this also means wrapping up activities for the year. If you prepare taxes or sell health insurance, you might know what I mean. Let’s spend some time on ways to finish strong in 2021 as we collectively come back to life.
As we have discussed many times, ensuring that your Google My Business page is current with proper hours, services offered, and even a promotion is a great place to start…and it’s free. Now is also a good time to clean up any bad reviews you might have received by reaching out to those folks and offering solutions. Even if they don’t respond a reply posted to your review site addressing their issue for others shows you are interested in your customers’ experience with you. This too is free though I do have services which can make it more beneficial.
A final option might be to consider a “message marketing” campaign to let people know you are still there. This could take two forms. First, consider your existing list of customers which you should have, in some form, in your accounting system at least. Reaching out to these people with a new offer or discounted service especially for them will bring some business back your way if they trusted you once. If you don’t have that list, or you want to attract new folks, post signs, sponsor events or teams, or post on the afore mentioned Google My Business and social media. Come up with a special “campaign” to bring folks in for a special trial offer to show them who you are and what you do then make it worth their while to stay.
All of these solutions are free except the sponsorship of course. If you are willing to spend a little money though a world of possibilities open up to you. Think about how much one customer is worth to you and leverage that against the services available to spread the word. If you need some help or ideas then reach out and let’s talk about options. 2021 was a year to get back on our feet and there is still time to finish strong and enjoy these holidays.
