Only 22 percent of small businesses in the U.S survive their first year.
Are you aware of common missteps businesses face during the holiday season? Here are the five crucial mistakes to avoid.
1. Blasting Promotions During Holidays
How a business advertises affects its customers’ purchasing decisions. The holidays are not a time to overwhelm your customers with irrelevant posts. Many companies use the holidays as a time to ramp up the quantity of their ads, ignoring the fact that consumers are often already fatigued from an onslaught of similar content. This can cause customers to unfollow business pages that they think show up in their feeds too often, decreasing both audience and sales.
A good advertising strategy that promotes quality over quantity is necessary for enticing customers on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. This prevents customer boredom and keeps them interested in your content and products.
Show your customers what they want to see. Encourage engagement by posting regular photos and videos of your products and services on your Facebook and Instagram pages. Share promotions that will build a strong audience for your business. Keep your customers’ interest by avoiding fluff content and posts that don’t teach them anything new about your company or your products. Make sure your LinkedIn page has clear and accurate information.
2. Failing to Hire Experts
No matter how skilled you are, you cannot do everything on your own. Without consulting professional help, problems can arise that jeopardize profits or even your business itself. It’s natural to want to save every penny to ensure you always have resources available, but failure to reinvest in your business can do more harm than good. Experts can teach you to run your business more efficiently or direct you to resources that fit your unique needs.
During the holidays, many companies experience an influx of business. If you offer Black Friday or other holiday discounts, your small business can be overwhelmed by the sudden rush. Hiring seasonal help or a knowledgeable manager to help with surging sales can improve your customers’ experience and overall satisfaction.
If you are thinking of getting a business loan this holiday season, be sure to high a knowledgeable professional financial planner to guide you through the loan application process. Hiring an expert ensures you get the best business loans, including low-interest business loans, lines of credit, and more.
Don’t make the mistake of hiring the wrong specialist for your business. Always ensure the experts you hire are reputable and qualified.
3. Pausing Marketing or Hiring
Individuals and businesses alike can crash after the excitement of the holidays. Don’t allow your business to experience a sluggish January.
While overwhelming your audience can lead to decreased engagement and sales, slowing down marketing too much can also lose you customers. Without proper marketing, your company’s online presence declines. Your customers may end up choosing other businesses that they find more accessible.
Keep your marketing pumps running at a steady pace. Use social media marketing, internet marketing, and more to reach new and existing customers.
The holidays are not a reason to stop hiring. If your revenues dip around the holidays, take the opportunity to hire and train new talent. Your business will be ready to begin 2021 with fresh employees equipped to face the New Year spike.
Now is the perfect time to expand your business team and prepare for a successful 2021.
4. Not Appreciating Workers
When your employees fail, your business fails. During the holiday season, keep your workers motivated by keeping them happy. Failing to appreciate workers is a costly mistake that makes many businesses lose great talent. The holiday season is the perfect time to surprise your employees with gifts and bonuses, reward them with parties or down time, and remind them how important they are.
Searching for, vetting, and training new talent is costly and takes time and energy away from running your business. Compared to past years, the hiring climate has greatly changed: companies are now struggling to fill vacancies with new and reliable employees.
Don’t let your staff to get tired of your company and risk losing them to a competitor! There are so many different ways to reward your employees this holiday season. Reminding your workers that you appreciate them will brighten their holiday season and boost morale. Satisfied, proud employees make the best brand ambassadors.
5. Not Knowing Your Competition
Avoid being in the dark – look at what other successful businesses are doing this holiday season.
Search for various holiday discounts and rewards that big companies are offering their customers. You can even look up what holiday campaign strategies that have worked for them in the past.
Once you know which tactics have worked for others, assess which ones can be applied to your business and implement them! Boost your revenue this season by doing what other industry leaders have found successful.
If you find some strategies require more time or planning, save them for the next holiday season or adapt them for use at a different time.
6.Avoid Common Business Mistakes This Holiday Season
The holiday season is not the time for businesses to rest.
Avoiding these mistakes will keep your business flourishing long after the festivities end. If you need financing to achieve your goals, there are many business loans available.
Are you looking for a business loan? Cheddar Capital will give you the best Business Lines of Credit, Term Loans, Equipment Financing, Invoice Factoring, and SBA Loans.
Contact us today for more information.
