Ad Ideas for December: Small Business Tactics

As a media sales rep, you know local businesses are an important clientele. So what are you doing to help them lure shoppers and have a fruitful holiday season? Here are some advertising ideas you can use to get local shops advertising and driving sales.

• Coupons—everything from single items to store wide offers
• Shop with a friend deals—the store offers a discount when a customer brings a friend (and both make purchases)
• Partnerships—encourage two businesses with a similar audience and complimentary products/services to split the cost of a joint ad. You’ll have to be creative with messaging, but it will allow them to achieve a larger ad than they would on their own and build off each other’s customer base too
• Holiday gift guides—either a store can advertise several products in a single ad, or you can do a signature page where each advertiser gets one product targeting people like moms, dads, gadget lovers, cooks, sports fans, grill masters, etc.
• Special advertising sections—use either editorial or paid advertorial from your advertisers where you give them article space equal to their ad size to profile hot gifts for the holidays
• Fundraisers—encourage stores to host special fundraiser nights they give a percentage of sales to a local nonprofit. Or where shoppers donate coats, toys, food, gently used items, etc. in exchange for a discount at the store.
• Holiday greeting and good will ads—business can remind customers of the value they bring to the community in hopes that it will encourage more holiday shopping and keep their business top of mind
• Keepsakes—advertising in things like recipe books, song books and other sections readers are likely to hold onto and refer to throughout the season provides advertisers repeat exposure of their ad
• Shop local campaign—your media can create a special campaign or section for local advertisers that encourages the community to shop local for the holidays to keep your economy strong, etc.
• Open houses—stores can host their own or your media can even encourage something more organized in key shopping districts
• Spec ads—print out an ad (or two or three) to give them ideas on how they can promote their business during the holidays. Be sure to include color as an upsell option.