The holidays at the end of the year are the most exciting times for both consumers and businesses. You can get a better market share during the holiday season when you adequately prepare your business at least a few months in advance. Here are tried-and-tested strategies to gear up your business for this most wonderful time of the year.
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Prepare Your Supplies and Inventory
Check your last year’s activities and see how many supplies you need to get your business going for the holidays. You can also estimate the possible sales you’ll have this year by checking last year’s sales. How much inventory should you buy to anticipate this year’s holiday rush? The key here is that you don’t buy too little that you might be missing out on potential sales, but not too many that some stocks may be left unsold.
To further prepare for holiday sales, check out last year’s statistics of sales in your niche. How can you get more market share this year, given the operational and marketing budget that you have? Keep your sales target in mind and prepare the stocks needed for it.
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Foresee Everything Beforehand
If your business has been running for at least 2 years, you may already know what to expect for this year’s holiday season. What marketing campaigns worked before? You can also try out new tactics this year by preparing at least 2 months beforehand. October is the best time to A/B test your email marketing, social media engagement, SEO, and paid campaigns. Check which content would attract more eyes. Come up with content and budgeted campaigns that will make a substantial impact to your online and offline audience.
But if your business is still new, and this is your first year of experiencing what holiday sales would be like, you can create strategies that will anticipate a busy season. Work around the available time, energy, and resources you have to attract as many customers as you can. Which main products would you like to promote more? What would customers want to buy for Christmas? Set aside time to do more market research in your niche and how you can cater to the holiday demand.
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Check Your Website and Plan Your Digital Marketing
There’s a big portion of holiday sales that would come from online shopping. Be ready for the uptick in traffic – whether you have a store in an online marketplace or your own store website. Make sure that your website is optimised for all devices so that more customers can conveniently buy from you. Do separate the inventory for online and offline sales for you to get control of available stocks.
As for digital marketing, it will all be rooted in your budget. Schedule your content, social media, and SEO activities so that you can build up momentum. Paid campaigns will give your products more exposure, but setting a budget will ensure that advertising expenses won’t go out of hand. As with the tip in #1, you would want to set a budget that will give your holiday offerings maximum exposure, but not too much that would make you lose money.
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Prepare Your Decorations
Give your business location that much needed holiday vibe to attract more customers. If you don’t have a physical store, you can give that updated holiday feel through fun and creative graphics. Providing that happy holiday vibes through your shop and digital media will entice customers to reward themselves this season through what your business offers.
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Create a Gift Guide
Showcase your best product or service offerings by providing gift guides to existing customers as well as potential customers. Gift guides can be as simple as pamphlets or social media images featuring your holiday deals. You can also make printed or digital brochures which can attract more people to buy it now.
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Engage Your Audience Through Social Media
Social media is where you connect to your customers in real-time. Try social media live videos to show potential customers your products or services in real-time. You’ll be surprised as to how social media can influence more people to buy from you if you keep updating your pages. There are also advertising tools on Facebook and Instagram that you can take advantage of to reach your target audience more efficiently.
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Train Your Staff
You might hire additional staff during the holidays, so it’s best to train them at least a month in advance to prepare for any situation. Anticipate all scenarios that can happen during the busy season, and train your staff on what to do. Don’t forget to ask your team regarding which of them will be taking day-offs and schedule a rotation that will ensure there’s staff available all the time.
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Stay on Top of Your Cash Flow
It may be difficult to track the money coming in and going out during the busy holiday season. You can use cash flow tools from this guide to help you track your daily sales and expenses. Take time at the end of each day or week to evaluate the state of your cash flow. Make adjustments to lessen unnecessary costs and gain more revenues.
Get the Financing You Need to Prepare for the Best Season in Business
The holiday season can be the best time for you to maximise sales and get a boost in profits. Be fully prepared for the busiest time of the year by getting the financing you need for any business purpose. An unsecured loan or line of credit can help you get the stocks, supplies, equipment, labor, and marketing budget you need for the holidays. Comparing lenders to get that ultimate business loan won’t affect your credit score. Get a free quote below to access funds within 24 hours.
No Security Necessary
The main thing that makes unsecured loans more attractive than secured loans is the fact that they’re no security. It might be an obvious thing to highlight but it clearly matters. You won’t be weighed down by the pressure and worry associated with having collateral hanging over you and potentially being lost to the lender if you fail to make repayments. If you don’t want to take the risk of losing your collateral, you just need to opt for an unsecured loan instead. It’ll allow you to avoid any risks associated with secured loans.
Build Up Your Future Credit Score
By taking out a loan and then paying it off on time, you will help to build or repair your credit score. Many companies are dealing with poor credit, but by taking out an unsecured loan with a lender that is happy to lend to companies with poor credit, you can start to turn the situation around. Meeting regular repayment deadlines shows the world that you are able to stay on top of your financial obligations and pay off the money you owe, and that will only help your business going forward.
Why Your Business Might Want to Take Out an Unsecured Loan
There are lots of reasons why your business might take out a loan, as well as reasons not to. You shouldn’t take out a loan to cover running costs, but if you want to do other things, such as the things we’re going to discuss below, an unsecured business loan can be ideal.
Grow and Expand
Most entrepreneurs have big plans for their businesses. They want to ensure that their business is one that’s got a bright future. So if the time has come for you to grow and expand your business, you should think about whether taking out an unsecured business loan might help you to do that. It could be exactly what you need to get your business moving in the right kind of direction. It takes money and investment to grow your business and a loan might just be the ideal solution.
Take on More Clients and Customers
If your business doesn’t currently have the resources to deal with more customers and clients, it could be time to scale things up. However, that’s something that costs money, whether you like or not. Taking out an unsecured business loan could help improve the resources your business has available. It could mean hiring more people so that you have the human resources needed to take on more clients and make more customers happy. The loan will cover the costs associated with doing that and it’ll pay for itself if you’re able to improve your profits as a result.
Fund a New Marketing Campaign
Maybe it’s the case that attracting new customers to your business is where your problems lie. It’s not always easy to get your voice heard and make people aware of why they should be taking notice of your business. An unsecured loan could be used to fund a new marketing campaign that gets your message out there and makes more people interested in your business and what it’s offering. So if you have an idea for a marketing campaign that you think might work but you don’t have the financing for it, consider a loan.
Improve with Fewer Risks
The chance to improve your business in the many ways mentioned above offers you a real opportunity that you might want to grasp. Secured loans can offer the same access to financing but come with more risks to your business. With an unsecured loan, you can reap all the rewards that come with having the cash to invest in your business without having to worry about the risks adversely affecting the business in the future. The chance to improve with fewer risks attached to that chance should not be ignored or dismissed.
The Requirements for Getting an Unsecured Business Loan
There are some requirements you’ll need to be aware of before you take out an unsecured business loan. These aren’t too harsh or restrictive at all, but they are important.
24 Month Limit
When you take out an unsecured loan from Bizzloans, you have to pay the loan back within 24 months. That’s the maximum repayment term that’s on offer. Of course, that won’t be a problem for the vast majority of businesses out there. It’s important that you look at the finances closely and decide for sure that this is something your business is going to be able to do. You’ll have a chance to do this when you get a quote from us, so you’ll know exactly what you’re signing up to.
Business Bank Statements
To ensure your business is in a financial position to take on a loan of the size you’ve applied for, you’ll need to simply submit your business’s bank statements. This allows us to ensure that we lend responsibly and don’t burden you with a debt that is too much for you to take on. It’s in both your best interests and ours that you’re able to handle the loan that you take on.
Photo ID
To ensure everything is correct and proper, and you are who you say you are, you have to submit a photo ID. This is common practice and ensures that all financial transactions are above board and in order. It’s very easy to do and needn’t be a headache for you. Once we are satisfied with your application, you’ve provided the bank statements and we’ve checked your ID, it won’t be long before you have access to the loan you applied for.
Getting an unsecured business loan for your company could be just what it needs right now. It’s a much safer option than taking out a secured loan and you’ll be accepted much faster. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here at Bizzloans if you’re thinking of taking out an unsecured business loan.
