Weclome to Q4 which means the holidays are right around the corner!!

If you’ve walked into a store of any kind in the past week, you’ve likely been hit in the face with all sorts of Holiday extravaganza as, once October hits, stores are in Christmas mode.

I swear it gets earlier and earlier every year, but maybe it’s just me getting older and overwhelmed by it all… but  I digress.

The holidays are a time that many businesses bank on for hitting their goals at the end of the year. When you have a product based business, this season is a crazy busy one, but what if you are a service based biz?

As a service provider, are there things that you can do to incentivize people to spend money with you in the holidays?

I thought I’d share some idea that you can implement for getting more customers as a service based business during this holiday season.

Just make sure you track where you are before the promotion, and where you end up afterwards so you know if it worked and if you should do it again!

11 Ideas for Promoting your Service Business in the Holidays

Gift Certificates

Offer a gift certificate for your service can work as a great gift during the holidays. I always try to make sure that whatever the minimum value of the certificate is, it lets the person who’s redeeming the certificate get something of value without having to pay extra. For example in photography, my gift certificates include the session and a couple of digital images. That way, when the certificate is redeemed, they don’t feel like they have to purchase more to get something from the gift. Does that make sense?

Put on an Event

You can host a holiday party or collaborate with another service provider to host an event. While this may not directly bring money into the business, it will keep you top of mind to a large group of people. And when you are top of mind, you will be talked about more often and your business can grow from those types of referrals.

Send out Holiday Cards

This is a super simple way of acknowledging past clients that worked with you at the end of the year and say thank you for their business. This brings you top of mind as well and is a great time to mention working with them again, as well as any “loyal client” discount or promotion you want to mention.

Decorate your Store Front

While most creative service businesses won’t have a store front, this is a fun and simple way to encourage the cheer of the season for those who do have a storefront. You can even spruce up your website with more holiday style images if you want to go the extra mile and don’t have that store front.

Collaborate with a Retail Store

Do you have a store in the area that has a complementary client base that you could collaborate with? Maybe you offer each other’s clients exclusive discounts to each others stores. Or create a fun event in their store that you can showcase your work.

Add Value vs Discounting

Instead of discounting your services, you could try adding value to those who book you during this season. If you usually work hourly, maybe the client gets 3 hours for the price of 2.

Donate to Charity

If you donate to charity, it’s a great marketing tactic to share this with your clients. They may choose to work with you because you are paying it forward and they know that their dollar is going to help more people if they spend it with you

“12 Days of” Sale

The 12 days of Christmas is always a great way to put a spin on sales or special offerings. If you have a large email list, send out an email each day for 12 days that offers some different type of promotion for 1 day only, each of the 12 days. It’s good to end the 12th day with the best promotion as you’ve worked people’s excitement up through the 12 days.

Small Biz Saturday

People love to support local and small businesses, and the Saturday after Black Friday is that perfect day people search out for what small businesses they want to spend their money with. Plan ahead so that  you have your Small Biz Saturday promotion planned and emailed out to your list in the week before. If you inform folks of what’s coming and then let them know how to buy from you that day, then you’ll have a lot more success.

Put a Holiday Spin on Services

How can you put a spin on your services to make it holiday focused. Maybe youre a graphic designer, and you can promote a “family crest” logo for someone to create for their wife for the holidays.

Or if you are a florist, you could create a custom line of wreaths. As a photographer, you could do Santa themed photos. Creating special options that entice people to spend money right now is the key!

Focus on B2B Connections

While it is easy to think about consumers and what they will be wanting to put under the tree for Christmas morning, don’t forget your other business friends and how they may be wanting to spend some of their money before the year is up (and it’s a new tax year). Offer a promotion for your service that entices people to book you and pay before January 1 as they can then use it as an end of year tax deduction!