58: 18 out-of-the-box ways small businesses can drive sales with a year end promotion
September marks one of the busiest and most lucrative times of the year! Are you ready?
My goal with this episode is to inspire you to go out and sell yourself and your services with one of these 18 out-of-the-box ways to drive sales with a year-end promotion.
If you’re feeling a little behind because you don’t have any plans to run a sale or promotion for the end of the year, don’t worry! These ideas will help you take full advantage of the revenue potential for the rest of the year!
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
Why now is the perfect time to get started launching your new offers
My favorite tactic for finding a reason to run a flash sale or promotion
New and fresh ways to promote your programs or services
So there you have 18 out-of-the-box ways to drive sales with a year-end promotion! You can generate a lot of revenue in the last quarter of the year. But more importantly, you can deliver a lot of impact and transformation to the people who need your help and your services, so don’t hold back on promoting your gifts, your voice, and your offers.
For any business owner who feels a little behind, because maybe you’ve been slacking or procrastinating on getting your year-end sales copy written, I have a special pop-up event for you! I’m hosting a 1-week Sales Email Sprint at the end of September.
Learn more and get your ticket to the (non-sleazy) Sales Email Sprint for slackers and procrastinators at www.kimkiel.com/emailsprint!
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[00:00:03] Welcome to Ill Communication, Copywriting, Tips and sales strategies for small Business. I'm your host, Kim Keel. I'm a copy coach, sales strategist and direct response copywriter. It's my mission to help women leaders and change makers amplify their voices through copy. It's why I'm dishing out all the juicy tips, writing prompts and sales formulas to help you generate more leads, book more calls, and get more high value clients on repeat. Sounds pretty good. It's time to ditch the overwhelm you might be feeling and find confidence in your copywriting so you can get your message out there and attract more soulmate clients. Let's get started. Hello. Hello and welcome to episode 58 of the Ill Communication Podcast. Today my goal [00:01:00] is to inspire you to go out and sell yourself and your services with one of these 18 out-of-the-box ways to drive sales with a year end promotion. Now, if you're in the online space, whether you learn from or buy from other people online or you yourself sell and deliver services online, you probably already know this. September marks the beginning of one of the busiest and potentially most lucrative times of the year. My online business pal Brenna McGowan calls September launch a palooza because so many online course creators, coaches and consultants launch their online offers in September. So if you're curious about what's working in online marketing right now, pay attention to the ads. You're being served to the webinars and masterclasses you're being invited to and to the offers you're being sold.
[00:01:56] September and October are associated with back to school [00:02:00] skill development and transition, so it can be a great time to launch offers in the self-development, life coaching or career transition space. Of course, looking ahead in the calendar, November and December can also provide a huge revenue bump, especially for online retailers and for the rest of us who run service based businesses. Countless studies show that this final quarter of the year can make a big difference to your bottom line. An article I read by Meteor Space, which I'll link to in the show notes, shares the following stats. Five out of the ten most active online buying days are in November. Cyber Monday was the number one day, followed by Black Friday at number two. 40% of total sales occur in the fourth quarter of the year. And for some types of businesses, the fourth quarter can account for up to 75% of their annual sales. Now, these stats are [00:03:00] largely centered around e-commerce online retailers, so that makes a lot of sense. But the trends hold true for online service providers, coaches and consultants, too. Many of my coaching clients have some of their biggest revenue months in the last quarter, and I've experienced this in my own business as well. It's partially because as consumers we are already in a spending mode. We're buying all the back to school supplies for our kids. So we start thinking of what we might need to improve. Or maybe we could invest in a new business coach, a course or new gear for our own businesses.
[00:03:38] And in November and December, the same behaviors and principles apply. Some of us may be more likely to invest in our businesses or self-development because we're already in that holiday spending mode. Plus, there's the added urgency of OMG. The end of the year is here. The new year is right around the corner and I better get my shit together. So what I want you to hear is this [00:04:00] You can and you should be selling your services and products between now and the end of the year. And if you're feeling a little behind the eight ball because you don't have a big launch or promotion plan in this upcoming quarter, good news. I've got a bunch of ideas for when and how you can have a mini promotion, a pop up promotion or a flash sale to take advantage of the revenue potential for the rest of the year. Here are some traditional and nontraditional opportunities for you to have a fall or year end promotion. Now, let's start with the most obvious. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, which run November 24th to 27th this year. You can and you should run a promotion over that weekend. And you can also think outside the box. One of my charity clients hosts a free nature film festival over that weekend, so they use it for engagement, connection and a little list building in the lead up [00:05:00] to their year end fundraising campaigns.
[00:05:02] Other calendar holidays that could work for a pop up or flash sale. Thanksgiving. Halloween because you could have a scary good sale. You could also mark the transition of the seasons with a fall equinox or winter solstice sale. Of course, there are the 12 days of Christmas, the eight nights of Hanukkah Boxing Day, which is December 26th. This is a popular shopping day in Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. So you could test a promotion on that day. Of course, December is a perfect time to have a new year, new you, new gear, new business campaign and depending on your brand, maybe it would make sense for you to have a new moon or a full moon promotion. One of my favorite tactics for finding a unique or fun reason to have a sale or promotion is to look at the days of the year.com, look through the calendar and find theme days that match with your services or offers [00:06:00] World gratitude. Day, for example, is September 21st. You could package and sell a bundle of your most effective gratitude practices if you're involved in the podcasting space. September. 30th is International Podcast Day. Maybe you offer a flash sale or promo on one of your podcast offers. October is Mental Health Month, which could be a great time to promote therapy, mindset or trauma informed coaching or wellness programs. You get the idea. Today, in fact, is National Procrastinators Day, and I do have an offer for you, so stick around to the end and I'll tell you about it.
[00:06:38] You can also create a promotion for something you're discontinuing, kind of like a year end clearance sale. A lot of people promote their offers as a last chance to buy before the price increases. And of course it might seem obvious, but you can have a promotion around your actual birthday or around your business birthday, like an anniversary promotion. I [00:07:00] also think it's important to think about the time of year and what people are struggling with. For example, the holidays can be stressful, lonely and expensive. Can you create a promotion around your offer or services that gives your audience the tools to solve those problems but package it as a holiday survival tool kit or a coaching package? Now, I want to stress you actually don't need to create anything new for these year end promotions. Ideally, you're selling something you've already been selling or you already have. You just market it a little differently and promote it for this limited time. You could potentially carve off a smaller chunk of a bigger offer and sell that in your pop up promotion. So maybe you sell 2 to 3 modules as a mini course instead of selling the full meal deal. I also want to highlight you absolutely do not need to discount your prices during these promotions. I do [00:08:00] not want you to devalue your offer or generate less revenue. You're simply promoting it in a new, fresh way.
[00:08:08] You're generating excitement and a little urgency to encourage people during a limited window of time. Of course, there's no false scarcity or fake urgency. If people can buy or join your program outside of the promotional window. Be transparent and honest about that. But instead, think of creative bonuses. You could include a bonus coaching call, a live group coaching session, a bonus audio meditation or a bonus PDF workbook, or even an eBook. You want to include something that will have perceived value, will deliver value and not be too much extra work for you. Just something that you can include in this limited time pop up promotion offer. So friend, there you have 18 out of the box ways to drive sales with a year end promotion. Now after you decide [00:09:00] what you're going to sell and when you're going to sell and promote it, you need to get your marketing and messaging written ASAP. And my friend, if you're thinking of having a year end sale, a Black Friday Cyber Monday promotion or any kind of promo within the next 2 to 3 months, the time is going to go lightning fast. If you don't have your copy written, you need to start now. But there's no need to stress because I've got you covered. For any business owner who feels a little behind, maybe you've been slacking or procrastinating on getting your year end sales copy written. And I say this with 100% zero judgment and only love because most of my life and business operate on this last minute basis to this special pop up event is for you.
[00:09:47] I'm hosting a one week non sleazy sales email sprint at the end of September. You'll get high converting and effective templates for the five most important sales emails to send [00:10:00] during your next promo. You'll get time to write those five emails and get live feedback from me on how to improve the copy. You'll have specific actions you can take to boost open rates and click rates on those emails so you can drive more sales and boost your year end revenue in just an hour a day. Over those five days, you'll have written five powerful sales emails to sell and promote your year end sale. This training is something that's only typically offered inside the Joy of Copy Club, but I'm pulling it out and offering it now because I know so many Gen-X business owners are like me. You're juggling a million balls in your life and your business, and we tend to leave things to the last minute. It's also National Procrastination Day. So I think it's really timely to be making this offer by coming together during this five day sales email sprint, [00:11:00] you'll get training, coaching and templates to write a full sales promo sequence that will help you generate more revenue during the last quarter of the year. We start on September 25th and registration closes September 23rd. I just want you to imagine how amazing it will feel to have at least five powerful on brand and sleaze free sales emails locked and loaded and ready to go in just five days.
[00:11:28] So head over to Kim keil.com/email sprint to grab your ticket. There are two levels of support available so you can choose the one that works best for you, my friend. You can generate a lot of revenue in the last quarter of the year, but more importantly, you can deliver a lot of impact and transformation to the people who need your help and services. So don't hold back on promoting your gifts, your voice and your offers. Host a pop up promotion or flash sale [00:12:00] to give your clients and customers a chance to work with you and improve their lives, their business or their wellbeing. Because that is what I believe is most important. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'll catch you next week. Hey, thanks for joining me for today's episode, but before you go, I want to make sure you've grabbed a new tool to help you assess the effectiveness of your sales copy. It's an easy to use tool that will help you identify what's working well and what could. We improved among all of the copy assets you have in your business? Grab the sales copy scorecard right now to find quick and easy ways to improve your sales copy and boost sales. Get your free scorecard over at Kim Kilcommons Scorecard. I'll be back next week with another quick tip writing prompt or sales hack for you.
[00:12:53] See you then.
Resources Mentioned
Get your ticket to the Sales Email Sprint
Check out the Days of the Year website
Additional Resources
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