The holidays are the busiest time of year for contractors. It’s a time to show off your work, add new clients and keep old ones happy. But with all of this going on, it can be difficult to find time to market your business as well as you’d like. That’s why we’ve gathered some simple ideas from top marketing experts that will help you make the most out of the holiday season!
The holidays are not just a time for family and friends, but a time for business as well. After all, December 25th is the biggest shopping day of the year! If you’re a contractor or construction company, this means that you’ll be hard at work trying to get clients into your office so that you can take advantage of all those extra sales opportunities—and it will be worth your while if you do. But how exactly do you go about marketing your brand during such an important and busy month? Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to spread the holiday cheer (and generate leads) without breaking the bank or putting in too much extra work:
Hire for the Holidays
Hiring seasonal or part-time help is a great way to get new business while cutting back on expenses. Consider hiring a full-time person if you have the cash flow and resources to do so, but remember that you’ll need someone to fill in when they’re out sick or on vacation. Alternatively, consider hiring a temp for specialized projects—like making sure your office is decorated for the holidays!
Make Time to Market
It’s important to remember that marketing is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing process that requires commitment and planning, and it must be treated as such if you want your business to grow.
Marketing is about building relationships with potential clients, which means that it involves more than just advertising or posting on social media. It also involves building trust and brand awareness by providing information about your company in every way possible: in person, through printed materials or online content like blogs or newsletters; through videos posted on YouTube; even by sending out handwritten thank you cards after meeting someone new at an industry event (yes! These still exist).
Send Sweet Treats
Contractor:
- Send holiday treats to your clients and prospects.
- Think about what your clients like, and send a gift basket that includes their favorite sweets or snacks. Include a note of appreciation or thank you card as well as your business card or brochure so they have something to remember you by while they enjoy their goodies! You can even include a coupon in the basket for an additional discount on their next project if they use your services within 12 months!
Send Holiday Cards
Holiday cards are the perfect way to say “thank you” to everyone who has helped you this year. If you’re a contractor, your clients have likely been a big part of your business success this year. Send them a holiday card and let them know how much they mean to you!
Send holiday cards to your vendors too. Your vendor relationships are an important part of running any business—they’re critical for getting work done on time and keeping costs under control. Make sure they know that their work is appreciated with a thoughtful note or card this season!
Don’t forget about the people in your own office either: send holiday greetings out to everyone at the office so that everyone feels appreciated for their hard work throughout the year (and not just during Christmas).
Market Big Sales Events
- Promote a big sale. A holiday is the perfect time to offer special deals and discounts. This can be done through your website, social media, email marketing campaigns and flyers or postcards in the mail (to customers who you know are likely to be interested in the deal).
- Give away something special on social media. On Facebook or Instagram, create an event page for your big sale which includes photos of all of the items that are being sold at a discounted price. Posting these items will get people excited about attending your event so they can take advantage of the special offers! You could also give away prizes like gift cards or coupons to encourage more people to attend.
- Invite customers to post photos on social media using #[your company name]sale
Give Gift Cards
- Give gift cards to your clients and customers.
- Include gift cards with your marketing materials, such as holiday cards.
- Include gift cards in your email newsletter.
Giving gift cards is an easy way to give back to your clients, customers, and even employees. Give a holiday gift card for the holidays by placing them in your marketing materials such as your holiday card or e-newsletter. You can also include them with your contractor’s referral program so that every time someone signs up for the program, they receive a free gift card. Gift cards are perfect for any occasion because everyone loves free money!
Host a Holiday Party
You’ve heard of networking events, but how about a holiday party? Hosting a holiday party is a great way to bring your team together and show appreciation for your clients. It also provides an opportunity for you to get to know them better and make yourself memorable in their minds.
If you want to turn the event into something more than just another networking event, consider these tips:
- Make sure everyone feels welcome by inviting all of your clients and prospects (even if they aren’t paying customers yet).
- Offer food and drinks as part of the event; this helps break the ice between people who may not know each other well yet.
- Have fun themes that incorporate elements from each season—for example, have an “Ugly Sweater” contest or decorate cookies shaped like snowflakes!
- If possible, offer prizes such as gift cards or other small items that can be given away at random throughout the course of the evening. This gives people something to look forward too instead of just mingling with other guests all night long without anything else going on besides talking about work projects or sports scores every so often when someone mentions them by accident while having small talk conversations with others around us who were also brought there tonight because they wanted something different from what we usually do during these types
Be Generous With Your Time And Resources
Give back to the community. It’s not just about you, it’s about all of us. Be generous with your time and resources. Volunteer at a local organization, donate money or materials to charities that are important to you, or simply take time out of your busy schedule to help a friend or neighbor in need.
Create a Holiday Logo
It’s important to use your logo during the holiday season. It’s an opportunity to have a little fun with it and show customers that you’re invested in the holidays.
For example, you could create a special holiday-themed logo design that you can use on social media and printed marketing materials. Create something unique for each customer, employee or family member for whom you want to give a gift. For example:
- A mug with your company name on it
- A shirt with “Happy Holidays,” followed by your company name
- A coffee table book about your company
Host a holiday themed contest
Hosting a holiday themed contest is a great way to get your customers involved and have some fun. You can be as creative and festive with this as you want, but here’s what we recommend:
- Choose the perfect theme, whether it’s building or decorating an all-new Christmas tree with lights and ornaments, or something more specific like baking gingerbread houses.
- Have participants submit photos of their creations
- Ask them to include their contact information so you can notify them when they’ve won!
Contests are always fun for both participants and sponsors because everyone has a chance at winning something great. Additionally, running contests creates opportunities for more people to learn about your company’s services through social media posts from contest winners promoting how professional contractors helped them win the contest!
Host a holiday open house
Hosting a holiday open house is one of the best ways to get your business noticed. This type of event is fun, it brings in new leads, and it can help you create long-lasting relationships with clients and potential customers.
To host a successful holiday open house:
- Make sure that the date you choose isn’t already being used by another business in your area. If there are any other businesses hosting similar events on the same day as yours, make sure theirs is not more well-known than yours so that people don’t know where to go!
- Set up a fun theme for your event. For example, if you provide services for construction projects, maybe have some building blocks around or dress up in construction gear! Or if you provide home renovations or landscaping services, maybe have some fake snow around and have Santa Claus come visit (or maybe even hire him)! You could also set up food stations where people can sample different dishes from different restaurants or caterers instead of just serving hotdogs at a buffet table.
- Invite local businesses to participate by donating items such as gift certificates/cards/gift baskets full of goodies from their own companies which attendees will be able to take home with them after they leave – this helps spread awareness about who else does what kind things besides yourself :)
Share your favorite holiday traditions with your clients on social media
- Connect with your customers.
- Share the holiday traditions you’re excited about this year, and ask your customers what they are looking forward to most.
- Share your favorite holiday movies, music and songs (and anything else).
- Ask for recommendations of their favorite TV shows or music/song lyrics that make them think of Christmas. You can then share these on social media, too!
- Ask if they have any great recipes they want to share with you — especially if they are gluten-free or vegan options that could be appealing to a wider audience of potential clients who may not have thought about it before but now realize the need! You can also try out some new dishes yourself and post a photo on Instagram or Facebook as well as tag them in it so people know where it came from!
Send out a holiday newsletter to your best customers
- Send out a holiday newsletter to your best customers.
- Include a discount or promotion for your best customers.
- Include a holiday greeting from the company.
- Include a company holiday message that is personalized to each person on the list, because they are your best customers! (Learn more about using personalized marketing)
- Update them on what progress has been made on their projects and/or how much money you’ve saved them this year by helping them avoid having to hire other contractors or pay for expensive home repairs themselves! This will build trust in your business, which means more referrals and repeat business in the future!
- Give everyone an idea of what kind of gift they should get for their loved ones so that they can show off how thoughtful they are without having spent a fortune on Christmas presents every year (just like us!).
Design and sell holiday merchandise with your logo
If you are a contractor or construction company, one of the best ways to increase your brand recognition is to sell holiday merchandise. This can be anything from stickers to t-shirts, as long as it has your logo on it.
When selling holiday merchandise, make sure that the quality of the product is high and that it’s useful. For example, if you create doormats with your logo on them, make sure they’re durable and will last for years without needing any maintenance or cleaning.
Another thing to keep in mind when selling holiday items with your brand name on them is affordability. Customers want affordable products they can buy easily while also being unique enough so that other people won’t have something exactly like theirs at home already!
Donate money or time to a local charity or foundation over the holidays
Donating money is a great way to give back to the community, and it’s an excellent way for your business to get involved in local events and help others out. However, donating time—whether you are working with or volunteering for a charity—is also important. Simply spending an afternoon working on a community project shows that you care about what’s happening around you and that it matters to you.
Donating both money and time allows you to have an even greater impact than if you were only donating one or the other. When people see how much effort goes into helping others, they’ll be more likely to come back when they need something done themselves because they know they’re getting quality workmanship from someone who cares about helping others succeed.
Sponsor a toy drive or food drive
You can also be a good corporate citizen by sponsoring a toy drive or food drive. When you donate toys and food to needy children, it is an excellent way for your company to give back to local communities. Another option is to donate time or money directly to the charity of your choice, whether that be a foundation or nonprofit organization.
For instance, if you want to get involved in your community’s annual holiday parade and festival as well as its Fourth of July celebration, consider donating funds towards these events instead of just buying tickets yourself.
Offer free estimates during the holidays
- Offer free estimates during the holidays.
- Offer free estimates to new customers.
- Offer free estimates to existing customers.
- Offer free estimates to people who refer a friend.
- Use free estimates as a way to get more reviews on Google, Yelp and other sites
Offer 10% off coupons with every estimate given before Christmas day.
You can offer a 10% discount on the estimate if it is given before Christmas day. This can be a great way to get more business and boost sales during this time of year. The best part about this idea is that you don’t need to do any extra work for it, but it still gives your customers something extra for their money.
You just need to consider whether or not you have enough time to give out estimates before Christmas arrives. If so, then this could be a great way to attract more business while helping out your bottom line at the same time!
Create discount cards for loyal customers to hand out to friends and family. Limit one per family member, and one per friend.
Create discount cards for loyal customers to hand out to friends and family. Limit one per family member, and one per friend.
You can have your contractors create discount cards with a specific value—say, 20% off their next project—and distribute them at your holiday party. Alternatively, you could make it so that they’ll receive savings on future projects by giving out their own discount cards this year. If you want them to promote the card on social media, then there’s an added incentive for them! Just be sure that these customers are not paying cash for services; otherwise, it will defeat the purpose of having a coupon in the first place!
Apply these marketing ideas and watch your business grow!
These marketing ideas will help you grow your business, no matter what the season.
- Make a list of important events in your area and plan to attend them. You can use these opportunities to network with other contractors, meet new people and make connections that will be helpful down the line.
- Start planning for holiday parties or holiday gatherings for clients and friends of your company immediately; this way, you’ll have plenty of time to gather supplies, prepare food, decorate appropriately and get everything ready well before December 23 rolls around!
- Consider adding some fun touches like party hats or festive tablecloths if you’re hosting an event at home; this could help give guests something fun to remember about their experience with your company after they leave (or even make them think about it later on).
Conclusion
With all of the holiday marketing ideas we’ve shared here, your business should be in good shape. We know that running a business can be tricky, but with these tips, you’ll be able to get through it with flying colors.
Hopefully, we’ve helped you to get your holiday marketing in order and make it a bit more fun. We know that the holidays can be stressful, so we wanted to give you some ideas that will help create positive vibes around your business and make it easier for people who are looking for contractors during this time of year. If you keep these tips in mind when planning your marketing strategy, then hopefully, all your customers will have a great experience working with you or buying from your company!