While the holidays are often filled with joy and festivities, it can be a make-or-break season for small businesses. Even though inflation has cooled from its record highs, the long-term impacts of the shifting economy are putting pressure on small business owners as they aim to tackle the year’s final quarter.
Constant Contract, a digital marketing and automation platform, announced the results of its latest Small Business Now report, and it’s likely no surprise that 90% of Canadian small businesses surveyed have been impacted by inflation this year.
However, nearly a third reported that October through December, AKA the holiday season, is when they strive to drive the most revenue for their businesses, underscoring the importance of these months for the group. Fortunately, there are tweaks that small business owners can make to inflation-proof their businesses and take advantage of increased Q4 sales, despite challenges.
New ways to market for success
Brad McInerney, Working Director at Wellington Brewery in Ontario, has found success by leaning into the e-commerce side of his business.
“The beer industry shifted during the pandemic to a lot of people ordering online,” McInerney tells Daily Hive. “We’ve had email lists with our customers for over a decade, sending weekly email campaigns, where we discuss new products, the beer industry, recipes, and other things related to beer.”
Brad has been using Constant Contact to engage with e-commerce customers, which has helped him boost his return on investment by 50 times. While the platform excels at sending out email campaigns, Brad especially likes the advanced functions, like segmented customer lists, which allow him to import data from Wellington Brewery’s Shopify account to see both lapsed and frequent customers.
“We can use those lists to target those customers with specialized offers or incentives to get them to engage with our products, so Constant Contact has been a great resource for keeping in touch with customers thanks to those more advanced functions.”
‘Tis the season
Like many small businesses, Wellington Brewery is preparing for that last push for sales into the holidays. The opportunity is significant, too, as Constant Contact’s research shows that 77% of Canadians plan to buy from a new small business this holiday season.
“As a business, we focus on driving unique, seasonal beer recipes,” says Brad. “We’ll also try things where we package different products together, like food with beer, or art bundles, so that they’re easy-to-purchase gifts.”
Brad uses the e-commerce channel to send out a gift guide, for example, where customers can get beer recommendations for friends and colleagues, as well as options across various price points. An email goes out driving customers to the Wellington Brewery website, where the entire list is available as a blog post.
“It builds upon personal relationships with our customers,” Brad explains. “We get personal emails back from customers where they tell us what they think.”
Beating the holiday rush
The time to start preparing for Q4 is now. Constant Contact’s report finds that October is when the largest percentage of Canadian small businesses begin their holiday preparations.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to marketing — holiday-themed email campaigns, targeted promotions, and product bundles are practical, minor tweaks to existing strategies that can make a significant impact during Q4.
Over half of respondents plan on prioritizing email marketing and social media marketing as the top areas of impact to reach their end-of-year goals. Brad has found the most success in the former.
“Email is great, because people aren’t in the act of scrolling the same as they are on socials, so they’re more likely to engage with longer-form content. Constant Contact is a great digital platform to take your email marketing and messaging to the next level.”
Learn more about Constant Contact online, and sign up for a free trial today. The holidays await!