Fitness brands notwithstanding, January is a slow season for most businesses. Having just overspent on Christmas shopping, most consumers aren’t keen to keep opening their wallet. This is the challenge of New Year’s promotions. You’ve probably already carried out the annual marketing processes: optimized your SEO, refreshed your content, and given your site a new look. But a new year still offers a unique chance to engage and expand your customer base. Whether you’re selling paper products, car parts or pearls, you can keep your sales strong through the winter and beyond. Following are our best marketing tactics for your New Year’s campaigns.

Keep the Sales Coming

Avoid the post-Christmas sales slump by extending holiday sales into January. To do this, you must make your deals and discounts irresistible. To stand out from the competition, offer site-wide discounts. Have old inventory you’d really like to unload? A flash sale is ideal because it encourages impulse buys. Make the sale window very small, not more than a few days, to max out the ‘buy now’ clicks. Also, use clever tie-ins to the new year. Put on your thinking cap and brainstorm about any and every way your product or service relates to the holiday. For example, a machine shop could offer discounts on ball bearings while a jewelry vendor could tout drop earrings.

Spotlight New Year’s Resolutions

The concept of new year’s resolutions goes back thousands of years. The ancient Babylonians hold the title of First People to Make Resolutions, and, given that one of their promises was to repay debts, they were no doubt also the first ones to break them. For modern people, the top New Year’s resolution is to exercise more and lose weight. Also, high on the list are getting organized, learning a new skill, traveling, and living life to the fullest. If your brand helps people accomplish any of these goals, great. If not, make it sound like it does. ‘Living life to the fullest’ is a pretty broad category. Frame your product or service in terms of the benefits it confers on the user and watch your sales soar with this genius marketing tactic.

Share Your Brand’s Resolutions

A corollary to the previous tactic, telling customers about your business’s goals is a great way to make connections and up sales. Do a recap of the best things about last year and post a sneak peek or other teasers about a new product, service, or other big upcoming announcement to generate buzz and excitement to get more traffic on your site. You can do this via social media, a newsletter, or both. While you’re at it, include a special, limited-time discount to drive extra traffic to your site.

New Product Launch

This one may sound counterintuitive, but keep an open mind. While you might be thinking, “Why would I launch a new product AFTER the biggest sale period of the year?” - for the right item, a new product or service in the new year can be a very smart move. The most important part of any product launch is accumulating maximum exposure — without blowing your budget. A social media teaser campaign is perfect for accomplishing this goal. Also, look into influencer marketing. While not as cheap as social media blasts, influencer marketing significantly outperforms SEO and email marketing. Another smart product launch idea is pre-orders. These are especially effective for those who already have a loyal base who are likely to buy anything new you have to offer. Whether or not you already use storytelling for the rest of your brand, building a story for a new product is a great way to generate sales in the new year. Finally, as simple as a countdown timer is, it can be one of the most effective ways to create buzz and engagement. Countdowns create excitement, mystery, and urgency - all of which drive sales.

Explore Video & Live Stream

Video content marketing holds people’s interest for far longer than static images. Bite-sized chunks of video are a fantastic way to increase engagement among both Millennials and Gen Z consumers. If you have resisted TikTok thus far, it’s time to take the plunge. And if you’re not ready for that, there’s always Instagram. User-generated content (UGC) is the online version of word-of-mouth. Shoppers trust the endorsements coming from ‘ordinary’ folks much more so than slick, professional ads. This is great news for small businesses because through careful UGC curation, you can score great content and marketing for free! For best results, repost only the very best quality UGC, and use hashtags to make your brand easy to find. Also, be sure to thank your fans for their boost.

Giveaways

People love free stuff, and they especially love it at a time of year when money is tight. A giveaway is one of those great marketing tactics to increase brand awareness and grow your base as customers tag their friends so they too can get their hands on the freebies.

Go Eco

Eco-friendly products — Eco-friendly elements

We’re not suggesting you engage in false advertising, but earth-friendly products are hugely popular right now. So if you can manage a tie-in with sustainability, definitely do it and then market it aggressively. You don’t have to revamp your entire line in order to accomplish this. In fact, the product itself doesn’t have to change at all. You can do something as simple as reduce packaging materials, or replace them with eco-friendly versions. You can also make a donation to an ecological charity such as 1% for the Planet or One Tree Planted. One thing you absolutely don’t want to do is lie about your product or practices. This is known as greenwashing, and today’s customers are very savvy and willing to dig to find out the truth.

Old-School Marketing Tactics

The average person is bombarded with online ads, with estimates ranging from 4,000-10,000 per day. It’s so overwhelming that people largely tune them out. There’s so much emphasis on digital media these days that we sometimes forget about old-style print. If you run a small business with strong local ties or have a brick and mortar shop, a sustainable alternative to print media, such as digital flipbooks, can really capture people’s attention. Success in business is all about building good relationships. People want to engage with their local community. Creating meaningful connections in your immediate area can really boost business without a lot of work on your part.

Sponsor an Event

People love to get out and about all the time, but it’s especially true at this time of year. Boost your brand’s visibility and broaden your audience by hosting or sponsoring a New Year’s event. Successful promotion means picking the right audience and event. Be sure you’re offering real value to the event itself, not just creating a thinly-veiled personal promotion. The value should of course be specific and relevant to the event. For example, a vintner could provide branded glasses along with the wine. For service-based brands, you can certainly offer your expertise. There’s a lot of planning that goes into events, so think creatively. Also, consider partnering with other brands to increase your audience.

Host a Contest

Keep engagement high in the new year by holding a contest with a fun prize. Keeping to the new year theme, you could ask your customer base to contribute their favorite inspirational quote. Another idea to drive engagement is to conduct quizzes about your brand. Hashtags are important to make the contest and your brand easier to find. Have people vote, share and comment to determine winners, and simultaneously up your visibility and website traffic.

Hone in on Needs

Because the holidays tend to be other-focused, many people want and need to turn their attention inward to recuperate. Create content that fulfills this need and watch your site traffic increase. Body positivity, self-care tips, and mental health resources make your customers feel good about themselves, and more likely to stay loyal to your brand.

Send a Survey

The new year is a great time to get feedback on how your company is doing. You can stack this idea with other ones, such as a contest or newsletter about resolutions, and explain that you want to provide the very best customer experience. Offering a discount for giving feedback will boost sales and provide valuable insights into your business’s performance. An easy way to share a survey is by sending out your brand’s flipbook which can easily have an iframe survey widget embedded into it, along with many other interactive features to keep your readers’ attention.

Gamify

Another thing people love is gaming. Making the experience of visiting your site pleasurable is a sure-fire way to gain traffic. Take a cue from the $300 billion gaming industry and gamify your website. A fun, exciting, and memorable experience will keep people coming back again and again. Further incentivize this by offering points or discounts as customers level up in your game. Interactive content also allows you to collect valuable data about your customer base and what they want. Apps make game creation easier than ever before, but if coding isn’t your thing, you’ll need to hire a programmer. This can cost a little bit more than some other marketing tactics, but with huge (1000+%) increases in traffic to your site, the investment is absolutely worthwhile. A related alternative to gaming is augmented reality and virtual reality. This allows customers to try before they buy, customize, and personalize - all of which improve customer experience.

Refresh Your Referrals

Loyal customers are worth their weight in gold, and referral marketing is one of the very best ways to maximize your return on investment. Referrals are an all-around winner: the refer-ee gets a recommendation they can trust, the refer-er gets a gift, and you get free marketing. If you’ve never used referral marketing before, start off easy. Offer a simple referral fee and a discount for the new customer. Then, when that new customer buys from you, offer them the same deal. This technique is especially effective with new businesses, but it is always worth showing your customers how much you appreciate their loyalty. As your customer base grows, you can ask what types of referral bonuses they might like, to change things up.

Bump Up the Bonuses

Even when you’re broke, it’s hard to say no to a freebie. When you offer hard-to-pass-up extras like free shipping, free mystery gifts, or even some exclusive stickers, customers will find it easier to open their wallets.

Send Thank-Yous

Thank you notes are simple but effective and often-neglected segments. A sincere message of thanks along with a discount code can really boost sales and strengthen the bond your customers feel for your business. If you have a small business, consider sending handwritten notes for an extra-personal touch.

The New Year is the perfect time to refresh your marketing tactics. With a little sweat equity and some creative thinking, any brand can survive and even thrive in a slow season.

Marketing Tactics For Your New Year's Campaign