Boosting Your Sales this Holiday Season

If you’re a small business owner or individual seller, the one thing on everyone’s mind is Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We know that optimizing sales during this time is crucial, and online sales are becoming more of a staple. MasterCard reported that online retail sales accounted for 19.7 percent of overall sales last holiday season. Coupled with the fact that retail sales during last year’s holiday season increased 8.3% from 2019 (according to the National Retail Federation), this is a huge time for online sellers.

So, the question is, how do small businesses increase their sales this holiday season, make the most of Black Friday, and meet customer demands? Here’s a few tips we have!

Join the Cause Mall

The Cause Mall is the meaningful marketplace where people can purchase with a purpose by supporting small businesses whose brand identity and values they love. People are looking to get more intentional about the brands they support, and joining The Cause Mall allows them to search and support BIPOC, woman-owned, veteran, LGBTQ+ and many more types of businesses, while also searching for products that are handmade, cruelty-free, sustainable, and eco-friendly.

Ramp up your advertising now

The cost of advertising on social media sites like Facebook (Meta), Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are going to increase on Black Friday because more brands will be fighting for advertising space. Rather than spending your ad dollars later on, work on ramping up your advertising now. This will not only allow you to make sales, but you’ll be able to increase your email lists to have a greater organic reach when Black Friday and Cyber Monday roll around.

Know what your customers want

Look at your sales data to understand which products are your bestsellers. These are the products that people want to buy and have a proven track record of success within your niche. By understanding this metric you can create promotions that are meaningful to your customers.

Keep it simple

Make your promotions simple: easy to understand and easy to access. Customers prefer to have an easy and seamless shopping experience, and this extends to the types of promotions you offer. The easier it is to understand what you’re offering them, the more likely they’ll be to buy.

Leverage word-of-mouth marketing

Your existing customers want to support you. Reward them for sharing the good news about your products and services by offering them referral discounts (e.g. giving them $5 off for every friend they refer that makes a purchase). This not only allows you to engage and show appreciation to your customers, but it is a marketing tactic that doesn’t cost you anything upfront.

Optimize your use of social media

Get creative about how you outreach to your audience, and in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, get creative and intentional about the way that you post to increase your following. For example, on Instagram, you’ll want to focus on creating Reels, as this will allow you to show up on Explore pages and enable your business to be seen in front of new audiences.

Use keywords

Keywords are ideas and topics that define what your products are about. As it relates to search engine optimization (SEO), keywords are useful tools to help drive organic traffic to your website. At The Cause Mall, we use keywords to promote our sellers’ products, but you can use them on your personal website as well. How? Think of key terms that people would search for or associate with the products you sell. Embed these on your website and on your product pages so that you show up higher in search results.

We hope you find these tips helpful! Wishing you all the success this holiday season.