Holiday Business Preparedness
by Greta Perry

Already bought and wrapped your holiday gifts in eager anticipation of the upcoming 2016 holiday season?  Made that list and checked it twice?  Hats off to you!

For the rest of us, swamped with work and life in general, nothing can be worse, especially in the business world, than that last minute epiphany of “OMG, I'm not ready for the holidays!!” It's bad enough if you forgot to buy that gift for Aunt Jane, but what are you going to do to prepare your business?

Check out these Holiday Helper Hints and don't delay:

• Holiday Cards: Not only is a “real” card a most-thoughtful recognition for your clients to receive in the mail, but when they are designed with your brand logo and a special holiday greeting, they become an extra special reminder of your business! Custom-made cards go a long way in developing client connections and they are an easily justified business expense! Want to save a little money on printing and mailing? Consider creating a custom postcard as an excellent savings option.

• Facebook: Though Facebook continues to modify the parameter of their graphic sizes, a custom Facebook cover for the holiday season can generally be recycled yearly (sometimes with moderate tweaks). You can also add an extra twist to your business profile picture by dressing up your logo for the holidays.

• Vacation Responders: “Reasonable people” will understand that balancing personal time and business is part of life. Have a little fun with your out of office email responder by adding a fun holiday message, too.

• Holiday Deals: Depending on your business, it is almost never too early to offer some type of promotion or gift certificate option for the holidays. Be sure to send out a reminder or two about the promotion before it ends.  Others are shopping and busy with the holiday season and will appreciate the extra prompt.

• Newsletter Template: “Holiday”-up your newsletter template for that extra touch of the season's magic.

• ECommerce: If you have a store, now is the time to get your pages and products ready for holiday preparation. New pages on a website with text regarding “holiday products,” will trigger Google to recognize your site for the season.  

• Ads: If you run Facebook, Google or even print ads, time to get this house in order to be ready for the holidays.

Note: This Louisiana-based company, we've been known to skip the December holidays and opt for a Mardi Gras greeting at times.

With these crucial holiday tips and early action on your part, your business...and Aunt Jane...can conquer the holidays early, so even you can have time to enjoy the reasons for the seasons.

Greta Perry, owner of Kickify, "Pumping Up Your Web Presence," has branded herself both on and off-line with her positive energy, intuitive use of technology, and  networking successes. She is available for consulting or speaking for businesses and brands of all sizes. Greta is never far from the internet and can be contacted at [email protected], Facebook, Twitter @kissmygumbo @kickify @freetweetadvice, LinkedIn, Google + or www.kickify.com.

 

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