December is here and the holidays are upon us. It is still time to create a holiday promotion or two if you act now. Here are 15 holiday promotional ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
1. Food Drive
Food drives are a classic holiday promotion. Coordinate with a local food bank and give customers discounts based on the food donated. For example, give a dollar discount for each can of food up to ten cans. Contact local media when you deliver the collected food. Be sure to promote your efforts on social media.
2. Toy Drive
Similar to a food drive, work with the Marines or a local mission to collect toys. Publicize the fact that you will discount the cost of any toy donated, up to some set amount.
3. Affinity Marketing
A simpler promotion is to make a donation to a local charity for every service call, as long as the charity promotes your offer to all patrons. If you want to ensure the donation is coming from plus business, require the customer to mention the charity when presented with the invoice.
4. Go Caroling
Outfit your team in company shirts and go caroling one night in a target neighborhood.
5. Volunteering
Pick a local charity and schedule a day to volunteer as a company, wearing company apparel, of course. An excellent option is to ring a Salvation Army bell outside of a store or mall entrance.
6. Volunteer Discount
A spin on affinity marketing is to pass out discount coupons or gift certificates with your company to a favored charity. Gift certificates are effectively the same as a coupon, but are more likely to be retained.
7. Wrap Your Swag
Collect some useful company swag and giveaway trinkets and wrap it up as Christmas gifts. This could include company caps, magnets, jar openers, bottle openers, screw drivers, pens, etc. Make sure at least one of the items seems a little more substantial than something you would leave in a cloverleaf package. Leave these with customers following December service calls. If any are left over, deliver them to service agreement customers.
8. Video Christmas Card
Make a company video Christmas card. It can be everyone singing a carol. One person after another wishing “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukah,” etc. Get creative. Be corny. It’s the holidays. Share it on social media, your website, your YouTube channel, etc.
9. Christmas Logo
Tweak your logo for the holidays. Take a tip from the way Google adjusts their logo. Come up with a Christmas version that you use on your website and marketing for the month of December.
10. Gift of Heat
Many contractors work with local associations on “Heat the Town” promotions. Where there is no association, some contractors have taken it upon themselves to give away a heating system to a worthy person each year. They promote the giveaway in the media and to their customer base, soliciting nominations.
11. Truck Decorations
Decorate your trucks for the holidays. Give them a red nose and reindeer ears. Wire up lighted Christmas wreaths on the front grill. Create large holiday message magnets and stick them on the rear doors.
12. Give Gift Certificates
Mail Christmas cards with gift certificates for your company. Again, a gift certificate is little more than a coupon, but carries intrinsic value. People keep them and use them.
13. Holiday Survival Kit
Create holiday survival kits to pass out to customers on service calls. What should be included? Be creative. It could be various batteries, aspirin, bottle openers, corkscrews, bandages, etc.
14. Twelve Days of Comfort
Instead of the 12 days of Christmas, run a "12 Days of Comfort" promotion, with a unique offer on each day. Send these out over social media. Avoid email since an email a day might lead to a loss of subscriptions.
15. Favorite Holiday Recipes
Everyone loves recipes. Well, your customers probably love them. Collect your team’s favorite holiday recipes and distribute them to your customers on service calls and over service media. Even better, solicit your customers for their favorite recipes to share, which includes them as part of your company’s extended family.
For more marketing ideas, visit www.ServiceRoundtable.com and click on the Free Stuff tab.