The holiday season has swiftly arrived and the excitement has already started. It’s time to buy gifts, make plans, and make the most of the pre-holiday time to get work done before we settle down to focus on the fun and festivities with our friends and family.

As a small business owner, you hardly allow yourself the privilege of a vacation, working ’round the clock and through the year. YOU definitely deserve a good holiday! But can you imagine a holiday without family? The very people who support you, help you grow and make you who you are?

Small business owners are the luckiest of us all for they have two families to share the love and celebrations with — the one at home and the one they build through their business.

The customers we build over the years are nothing less than family, and it’s only fair to take this time to be grateful for them and celebrate them (and celebrate with them).

So it’s time to pull up your socks and put in that extra effort to make this holiday season the best ever, with a great holiday email marketing plan. Use this time to share your story, appreciate your customers, and show them how much they mean to you and your business. Email marketing helps you do all this and much more.

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Here are some fantastic ways to celebrate this holiday season with your customers:

Send some Holiday emails

Let’s start with the most obvious one. Create and send beautiful emails to your customers, with holiday themes and design elements. You can use this opportunity to direct your email subscribers to your ‘Holiday Sale’, ‘Gift Guide’ or simply to your website. Everyone loves receiving holiday greeting messages, and your customers will appreciate you thinking about them.

Tip: Constant Contact has some great holiday theme templates that can give your emails that extra ‘Wow’ factor for the holiday season.

Say thank you

Every holiday season reminds me of how grateful I am for my family and friends. This holiday season, say ‘Thank you’ to your customers, for supporting you, for helping your business grow, and for being your biggest motivators. A simple ‘Thank you’ email with a small token of appreciation like a discount coupon will go a long way in further cementing your relationship.

Offer holiday sales and discounts

Email marketing campaigns are futile unless you are giving something worth the readers time, and what’s better than sales and discounts? A study by Merkle reported that one-third of the shoppers said it is promotions that drive them to make holiday season purchases. Holidays bring in the joy of giving and it’s time you give your customers some enticing discounts and brilliant sales to celebrate with you. Make sure your subject line and call-to-action clearly tells them what they are in for.

Host an event

Event marketing holds huge potential and email marketing happens to be the best way to drive people towards your event. Host a holiday-themed event like a pop-up sale, a flea market, or just a mini carnival to bring in the holiday spirit. You can use this opportunity to sell your products, raise brand awareness, connect with leads and celebrate with existing customers. You could also partner with other businesses to make it an even bigger event that offers multiple things to entice people to join in the fun.

Provide added incentives

I’m a huge believer that it’s the simple things that make a big difference. Even if you are not going all-out with events and big sales, you can always add small things that make the customer’s experience better. Free shipping, free gift wrapping, coupon codes, and holiday shopping guides are all small but impactful ways to let your customers know that you are willing to do everything it takes to make their holidays better.

Suggest gifting ideas

Sometimes the biggest thing you can give is your knowledge and experience. Curate a gifting guide, send out gift ideas, write a blog to help people make gifting decisions, and show your readers that you are there to help them through the process. This could also be a great way to encourage people to subscribe to your blog.

Quick tips to create cheerful holiday season emails:

Subject lines

Pay great attention to the subject lines of the emails you send out. They need to have the holiday feel as well as tell the reader what’s in the message. For example, say you’re running a 20% discount on Halloween costumes, the subject line could be something like, ‘Get 20% off and be the Hallow-Queen’.

Holiday themes

The moment your email is opened it should speak “holiday!” Use a holiday theme that pops up the call-to-action button, and looks holiday-worthy.

Holiday design elements

Just like you may decorate your storefront, you can also get creative with your emails. Add videos, pictures, clipart, GIFs and any other design element that makes it loud and clear that you are celebrating the holiday season. Brighter colors, festive templates, and holiday-inspired design motifs are a great way to give your emails a makeover.

Bring the ‘happy’ to ‘holidays’ for your customers

This is so exciting, right? Everyone loves holidays and the best part is that you get to share this love and excitement. It’s time to start prepping and gear up for a wonderful holiday season. Your customers will be thrilled to receive all the ‘goodies’ that come their way and celebrate with you.

This is a great time to ramp up your regular email marketing and let your customers know that you have something worth their time up your sleeves.

Log in to your Constant Contact account and start planning, creating and celebrating, today!

Still not using email to market your business? Give Constant Contact a try for FREE!

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