Whenever you hear people mention Christmas in July, they’re frequently referring to having a big sale in the summer to buy or sell some Christmas items at a great price. It’s hard for people to think that far ahead; let alone fork over money even if it is a good bargain. It’s vacation season and close to back to school time.
Instead of thinking of sales in July, think of planning in July.
To have a successful Christmas Holiday season can take months of planning. The truth is you should have started planning for Christmas 2013 before Christmas 2012 ended. January would have also been a good time to have started planning. Specials sales and promotions come along and while you can’t take them up every time you will find out how well they fit in your marketing plan if you actually have a real “on paper” marketing plan.
Each season or holiday is an opportunity for your business to stand out from the rest. Proper planning is the second step in any event or promotion. The first step, you ask??? That is coming up with the great new marketing idea.
This doesn’t apply to all businesses. But if you sell retail goods you are behind the curve already. Even restaurants can benefit from planning their Christmas or Holiday season(s) months in advance.
First decide the “What” and then find out all the parts and pieces you need to support the “What”. Each sale or event will go more smoothly if you plan it well in advance.
If you are planning any type of advertising you need to know the lead time needed for each different advertising medium. Keep in mind the closer you get to the Christmas holidays the busier all the vendors and advertisers get. So what may have been days of lead time in June can stretch into a week or weeks in November and December.
Have you ever had the perfect gift picked and then found when you went to make your purchase the store was sold-out. The same can happen to ad slots and even worse merchandise stock you need to fill your shelves.
Careful planning is the key to successful retail when it comes to Holiday sales numbers. If you are one of those people who like to keep track of the number of days till Christmas here is a great web site for you: http://www.xmasclock.com/
If you are looking for someplace to have your Gift Certificates and Coupons printed give us a call here at MI Printing 623.582.1302.
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MI Printing, LLC
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email: sales@printinginaz.com
http://printinginaz.com
