The retail forecast looks cheery and bright for 2017, with a predicted 3.7 percent growth in retail sales, according to Kiplinger. That’s after a strong holiday season where the average consumer spent $935 on holiday goodies.
Since consumers are in the spending spirit, why not encourage them to do that spending with your business? Here are five promotion and marketing ideas any business can use to ring in the New Year.
1. Inspiring Quotes Contest
People often consider the new year a time to refresh, restart, and get motivated. In fact, 45% of Americans make resolutions to kick off the new year. Tell customers that you’re holding a contest in which you’d like them to share their favorite quotes, ones that inspire them the most.
Host a contest on social media that asks customers to share that quote, whether it be in-store, on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Get fans involved by asking them to vote (Like or heart) their favorite quotes, and use that as a measure for choosing winners. It’s a fun way to get your social audience engaged. Here’s an example of a quote posted on Instagram:
Choose the top 5 most popular quotes based on Likes, shares and/or reactions, share each quote on all of your social channels, and offer cool prizes for the winners, like an in-store gift card. Then, compile as many of the quotes you enjoyed as possible into a blog post or social post, and share the entire collection with your audience – People will refer back to over and over again.
2. New Year, New Product Promotion
The New Year is a great time to encourage customers to try something new. Whether your business has a new product coming out in 2017, or you just want to promote a staple product, you can do both with this promotion.
Just use the tagline, “New Year, New [Name of Product or Service]. For instance, a hair salon could say, “New Year, New Look” and offer a discount on a new cut and color. A coffee shop could introduce customers to a new blend that’s coming out with a “New Year, New Coffee” promotion. The promotion should explain the new blend and offer a deal on a customer’s first purchase.
If your business offers services, you might consider offering a new bundle of services. For instance, a spa might add manicures or pedicures to its main offerings. The promotion could read, “New Year, New Service” and explain what customers get out of the new package.
Send the promotion via text and/or email. Reebok ran a “New Year, New Gear” promotion via email, promoting must-have workout gear.
3. Body Positive Promotion
What’s one of the most common New Year’s resolutions? You guessed it, weight loss. Research shows 38% of resolutions are weight related. While weight is on the minds of many, create a promotion that helps and empowers customers love and appreciate the body they already have, while promoting a healthy lifestyle simultaneously.
Take a look at your inventory and find items that promote both health and indulgence, because, hey, you’ve got to love and treat yourself in multiple ways. If you sell clothing, run a promotion on both workout outfits and fabulous dresses of all sizes. Be sure to use models in your imagery of all shapes and sizes, as vintage-inspired retailer, ModCloth, is known to do, as seen in the swimsuit campaign below:
If you sell kitchenware, promote a smoothie maker that can help customers start their day off right, and cookie sheets to bake the most scrumptious of desserts. If you run a restaurant, promote both a meal that lets customers eat out without calorie-guilt, and highlight your most popular and delicious appetizer, despite the fat grams.
Share the promotion via text or email. Make sure the promotion is for a specific product, highlights its benefits and offers an incentive, like a discount, for customers to take action.
4. ‘Help Us Have an Amazing 2017’ Promotion
Collecting feedback is vital for every business, but it can be tough to get customers to participate. Well, this promotion gives customers a reason to fill out a survey or comment card.
Ask your customers to provide feedback in a ‘Help Us Have an Amazing 2017’ promotion. Tell customers that your business wants to do everything it can to make the customer experience exceptional this year, and ask them to provide feedback.
You could offer customers a five percent discount at the register if they fill out a comment card before completing their purchase. You could also offer a coupon or a gift to customers that complete a survey via email.
The New Year theme gives you a reason to collect feedback, and gives customers a reason to participate.
5. Post-New Year Promotion
Keep the holiday spending rolling by offering a sale or discount well into the New Year. Often, sales taper off after Christmas, but that doesn’t mean you have to go with the flow. To keep things simple, you can just offer customers a standard 10 percent off one item in your store. Send the promotion out via text, and promote it on your social channels.
If you have a little extra time, take a cue from Rifle Paper Company. Rather than the traditional holiday gift guide, the company waited until after holidays and created a New Year Gift Guide that offered items to get organized in 2017. The company promoted the guide with this email and discount below. Consider creating a similar guide for customers on your website, Instagram or Facebook.
What kind of promotions are you planning to celebrate 2017? Tell us what’s worked for you in the past in comment section below.
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