9 Ways to Sell More Products during the Holiday Season

We are about 4 weeks out from Christmas (if you’re reading this the same day that I post). While there isn’t a lot of time left, there’s still enough time to make plans to boost your holiday product sales AND there’s time to execute them. For the sake of time, I will keep this one pretty straight forward.

Here are 9 Ways to Sell More Products during the Holiday Season:

1. Professional Product Photography – It may seem like it is way too late for this, but trust me, it’s not… I know because I just finished taking some of these photos and editing them moments before writing this post. Some of my fellow photographer friends are also still scheduling product photography sessions for the holidays too. Since you’re selling products, you could benefit most from a styled product shoot plus some flat lay photos, and a lifestyle shoot with your products. (If you sell primarily on Amazon, I would stick with e-commerce product photos on a solid white backdrop, but if you’re selling online without photo restrictions styled photos will make your products stand out to your audience). With it being so late in the game, I recommend asking your photographer to style a specific list of products with a Christmas theme (be specific about the exact style such as a traditional Christmas with red and green or a white Christmas with all white everything, etc.), and ask for photos of products that you’ll be selling year-round to be taken in more of a neutral or winter-theme too. I am actually offering holiday photography sessions from now through December 8th via my special holiday promotion; we can get on a call to discuss your exact needs and get you scheduled. I will ask you for your inspo, what you plan to use your photos for, if you’d like to add on some videos; then I will create a shot list for you with a link to pay for and schedule your session within the next week or so.
2. Christmas Gift Guides – While you await your shoot, you can use a copy of your shot list for reference while you create your very own Christmas Gift Guide! These are super helpful for shoppers who just don’t know what to buy for someone for Christmas. We have all been there! You can create a gift guide in programs like Canva, Google Docs, MS Publisher, or Photoshop. Add your photos in when they’re ready, then distribute your finished product via email, social media, text, snail mail, etc. Keep in mind, your gift guide may consist of a mixture of products from your business and other businesses you love to support, or it can be exclusively for your own products. If you cater to one specific audience, such as babies, you may be able to break things down by age group and gender or other subcategories, or offer more than one recommendation for your specific audience. Nonetheless, your gift guide can be a 1-pager (or add a couple more if desired) of recommended gifts for the following people:
   • For that Special Someone (Husband/Wife/Boyfriend/Girlfriend)
   • For Mom
   • For Dad
   • For Kids
   • For Baby
   • For Dog/Cat
   • For Your Boss
   • For Your Bestie
   • For Him (Brother, Cousin, etc.)
   • For Her (Sister, Cousin, etc.)
3. Holiday Wrapping + Shipping – Think this through, because it can add a whole lot of work depending on the type of business you are running, but if you can fathom it, consider offering holiday gift wrap with shipping or pickup of the gifts you wrap. As a mother, there have been times where I wished I could just go online, fill my cart with all items from my list, checkout, and pay extra to have everything wrapped for me so I can pick it up when it’s ready. I wish I could forget about the stress of having to get it done myself when my not-so little one is fast asleep during late hours of the night when I would prefer to sleep too. Definitely charge accordingly for this service.
4. Social Media Management + Ads – Before I get into this, I want to make sure that you know that Social Media by itself is NOT a solid marketing plan; please get out and meet people at every opportunity! While I do offer this service for my photography clients, I know it isn’t always in everyone’s budget, especially so last minute. Professional Photography Sessions with Social Media Management Add-Ons usually require a booking at a minimum of 1-3 months out for proper planning and strategizing. There’s good news though. No one knows your business better than you do at this time, and you can get started on it IMMEDIATELY. Social Media is literally at your finger tips, and being able to manage it well involves creating a strategy that works for your specific audience. If you are not sure who you are talking to, that could be a problem… so determine that first (look at your followers + determine who your product is for… hopefully there’s an overlap). Get on your Meta stories everyday to show what you have in your inventory, talk about what’s new, what’s coming, your favorite gift ideas, etc. Post your photos and make some reels with purpose. Best tip I can give you for posting without a solid social media strategy this month: ensure all of your posts/reels/stories ideas surround the who, what, when, where, why, and how as they pertain to your audience and your product(s). Try to make your audience aware of all the ways your product benefits them. These same tips go for creating ads on social media… make sure you are targeting the right people with the right message delivered clearly & concisely. Last thing, which should be the very first thing you do on social media… set up your bio with a good description about your business, who you want to help, a way to reach you with questions, and a link to your website if you have one.
5. Holiday Landing Page – Did you know that if you have a Canva Pro account, it allows you to create a free landing page to link in your bio on social media or wherever you want? It’s true. This isn’t necessary if you already have a website, but this tip applies to every product-based business looking to increase sales over the holidays. Use your professional photos to create a holiday-themed landing page during this season. The goal should be to attract your viewers to the products you want to sell more of. Organize this page so it flows well and generates sales. Make it about your shoppers, not you! Don’t forget to link it on social media.
6. Email Marketing – Get personal when you can by sending emails tailored to each individual on your email list. There are programs that do this for you, but I am not here to teach you about those. I personally find that a personalized email works wonders for getting responses from my clients and prospective clients; this has a way of making people feel a little bit warm & fuzzy on the inside (especially when compared to the annoying spammy sales pitch emails that fill my inbox everyday), it’s sort of like sending a hand-written note. If you don’t have an email list, it’s never too late to start one, but for now, just start by connecting with your friends and family. You’d be surprised by how many purchases you are missing out on from family and friends because you haven’t asked them personally to support your small business yet. Do it! It feels weird at first, but the ones who want to support you will absolutely love hearing from you and will jump to the opportunity to shop your brand.
7. Collaborations – We have all heard about how collaborating is better than competing, but have you considered who you would love to collaborate with and why? I am not talking about giveaways here, like at all! (I will save that topic for another time though). Figure out what other businesses and specific products or services complement your own products. Make a short list, check it twice, and brainstorm some ideas on how you could potentially collaborate with them to serve the same or similar target audience. I love using peanut butter and jelly to explain this concept! Imagine your product line consisted of homemade peanut butters and spreads made from all natural ingredients. Sure, people will buy these products alone, but to drive sales further, you decide to collaborate with a local bread baker. You and the baker team up to determine which breads go best with each spread, and then you create an offer to sell them together in a bundle. Both businesses end up with more sales than they would’ve had on their own. Another example that I actually offer through my business is photography sessions with professional hair and makeup artistry; I collaborate with my friend, Frances who has been a professional hair and makeup artist for years! THINK: How can you apply this concept to collaborate with the right business for the products you offer? Don’t be afraid to reach out to people on social media; that’s how I met Frances!
8. Markets & Pop Ups – I would argue that you should never plan to do a market or pop up event with the expectation to do anything more than network and get out into the community… but when done the right way, markets and pop up events give entrepreneurs the opportunity to sell out of products, especially during the holiday season. Do a simple search to find out if there are any you can still apply to be a vendor at, and I highly recommend that you find one with a Santa Claus because we know that people flock to places where kids can get a picture with him. You need people! Instagram hashtag searches are incredibly useful for finding markets. I would search the name of your city with the word “market” or even “holiday market” after it. For pop ups, you can find a local brick and mortar business where your target audience frequents and ask if you can do a pop up at their location; speak up about how your products complement their products or services and how this could boost sales for both of you. Use my peanut butter and jelly example to get your point across! You both should absolutely market this on social media and talk about it everyday leading up to your event to tell your audience where and when they can shop. Send a personal invite to friends and family via email too while you’re at it.
9. Get Started! – This is absolutely a tip because you don’t have time to waste. Go back to step one and start executing these tips in order to increase sales this holiday season! Fill out my contact form here if you need my help.

Posted By: juliafredricksen · In: Branding, Business