Time to Prepare for the Q4 Holiday Rush
September 18, 2007The Q4 holiday rush may seem like a ways off from here, but for savvy website owners, now is the time to start preparing for it. A lot of work goes into preparing for the last quarter push in sales, and with good reason. Consumers get in a mindset of spending money, and those who are prepared reap the highest benefits.
Q4 has a slew of holidays that gradually build up to “the big one”. While most Internet businesses tend to focus most of their resources on the last week of December, forgetting the other holidays can be a big mistake. Getting your site prepared for each holiday keeps people coming back for more ensuring that your last week of December is as big as it can possibly be.
The “HOT” Holidays
Fourth quarter holidays that should not be ignored include:
Other lesser known Q4 holidays (likely to only be observed by Google, who updates their homepage to reflect virtually every holiday, and very few others) include:
Also included are National Disability Employment Awareness Month (October) and National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15).
Taking Advantage of Every Holiday
The fact that Google updates their homepage with a new theme to reflect virtually every holiday has created a lot of talk within the Internet community. Creating and updating your website with holiday themes can help create some chatter for your site as well.
Develop some thematic graphics that appear on your home page and throughout your site for each holiday, and run specials for these holidays to help drive sales. Here are a few ideas for specials you can run through each holiday:
For most folks, holidays are a way to remind them of something important. But for those of us in business, it’s an excuse to run a promotion that will boost our sales! Since consumers gravitate to promotions like bees to honey, you should never dismiss any chance to celebrate a holiday on your website.
Don’t be afraid to get creative! Offering free shipping on Human Rights Day is great, but offering to donate a portion of sales toward human rights groups is even better. Putting up a graphic that says, “Remember National Disability Employment Month” won’t create nearly as much buzz as offering a variety of disability-focused items free with purchases of a certain amount. Remember, though, that most of your customers won’t be disabled, so be sure to mix in some additional freebies.
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