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Happy Holidays! I hope you’ve been nice this year and that you get everything that was on your list.

Maybe you’ve been a bit naughty and decided to wait until the last minute to start planning your small business’s holiday promotion? Don’t fret. You’re not alone. You still have some time, but you’ll have to get started right away.

To help, I’m going to share three effective holiday promotion ideas for your small business that won’t take you too long to implement.

I know this is a busy time of year for you so I’m going to keep this post short and sweet so you can take action immediately!

1. Create a Landing Page and Provide Something Valuable

The holidays represent a great opportunity to deploy custom landing pages to build your customer/user/subscriber base. The page shouldn’t be extremely complicated. Don’t include superfluous info or clutter. It should simply describe the offer and contain a short contact form for visitors to submit.

I say “short” because the more information you ask for, the lower the likelihood your visitors will submit the form. Only ask for the information you need to get them in the door. Landing pages can combine lead forms with incentives like special deals, coupons and downloads. This makes them an ideal fit for the holidays, where consumers are intrigued by offers and willing to interact with you to get something extra.

Be sure to set up a redirect to a thank-you page where you thank them for their information and include social sharing features. Ask these new converts to like the page or tweet it using your special holiday promotion hashtag to alert other similar people.

2. Launch a Loyalty Program

This time of year is a great opportunity to get customer information and build loyalty amongst your customers. Don’t make things about your company, make it about your customers. Give them as many loyalty options as possible.

Each customer is different. Some don’t want to be called, some don’t want to be emailed, some would rather interact via social media outlets. You have to understand your customers and communicate with them on their terms. I recommend a free gift with purchase over a discount, since you’re not setting your goods at a lower price in people’s minds. Try offering something for signing up and just being in your club.

The Starbucks Card app encourages repeat buying; it allows people with 24 drink purchases to achieve Gold level. But anyone using the app benefits from free downloads and a free drink on their birthday.

3. Run a Contest on Social Media

One of my favorite forms of the social media contest is the caption contest. Post a funny picture of someone/something at your office then ask followers to write the best caption for your photo and offer some sort of reward for the winner.

This is a super-easy one, as the winner doesn’t actually have to be chosen by you. You can leave it up to your audience to choose the winner through likes or retweets!

Additionally, contests can drive users to “Like” your page, setting up an additional communication channel to reach them in the future. People who like your page will see your content via paid or organic posts, and you can reach friends of people who like your page with ad targeting.

Get Started Creating Your Holiday Promotion Today!

You still have a couple weeks to take advantage of the holiday buying spirit. Don’t let your competitors steal all of your holiday prospects and business! Be a busy little elf and build your promotion strong for maximum effectiveness.

Try offering something valuable with a custom landing page, running a loyalty program, or sponsoring a social media contest. Have you done any of these in the past? What was your experience with them?

Do you have any other holiday promotion ideas that small businesses can easily implement? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments!

Ryan Kettler is Director of Communications for BoostSuite. Ryan is an internet marketing zealot, sports fanatic, devoted runner, avid golfer, beer connoisseur, and live music enthusiast. When he’s not helping BoostSuite customers he can be found running 5ks, sampling IPAs, and cheering on his North Carolina State Wolfpack.

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