The holiday season is just around the corner, and for many small business owners, the holiday season is a blend of being busy — preparing for upcoming sales, concluding client projects, or even launching a new offering — while also winding down for time spent away, whether traveling or simply taking a much-needed break. 

This week, we’re sharing 5 ways to prepare your small business for the holiday season. How to begin and journey through the holiday season with better organization, more purpose, and less stress.

5 Ways to Prepare Your Small Business for the Holiday Season

Welcome to Episode 136 of the Brand It, Build It Podcast: 5 Ways to Prepare Your Small Business for the Holiday Season. 

Every year, the holiday season truly seems to sneak up on us; suddenly, we’re just two weeks away from the start of the holiday season. Over the years, we’ve adapted some really helpful resources for preparing our small business for the holiday season. So, today, we’re sharing 5 ways to go about ensuring your holiday season goes smoothly, both within and beyond your small business. 

1. Be proactive when communicating with clients. Whether you plan to conclude client projects before the holidays, or you will pause client projects during the holidays, it’s essential to be proactive when communicating with clients. Be transparent about when you will be out of the office for the holidays, and be open and honest about what that will mean for your communication. Something we like to do at With Grace and Gold is share the status of the project — reminding our clients of the step that we are currently on, and the step we’ll be resuming with when we return from the holidays. In the hustle and bustle of the busy holiday season, having a reminder or a reference point is helpful for everybody — not only your clients who lead busy lives, but also yourself, so you have a reference point when you return to work. As soon as you know your holiday plans, be sure to let your clients know, so they have a well-rounded understanding of how or if the holidays will impact their project. In the early years of our business journey, we felt a great deal of guilt about being out of the office for even one holiday. But since then, we’ve come to realize that most people are out of the office for the holidays — so as unavailable as we are for sending emails, our clients are likely unavailable for receiving emails. Summed up, be proactive when communicating with clients about your holiday break or breaks. 
2. Add an announcement bar to your web design. Some small business owners have a call-to-action or an announcement bar at the very top of their web design. Whether you traditionally share something like “Now booking for Summer 2023” or you share your latest sale — your announcement bar can also be used to communicate about your schedule for the holiday season. Let visitors know when or if you will be out of the office, so an expectation can be set regarding when they will receive a reply. 
3. Update the automated message prospective clients receive when filling out your contact form. When prospective clients complete your contact form, what happens next? Do they receive an automated email? Are they led to an automated message? Are they redirected to another page of your website? No matter what happens, use the automated action as a space to share when prospective clients can expect to hear back from you. Perhaps you can redirect clients to a helpful resource they can explore while you are away. Perhaps you can direct clients to scheduling a phone call with you upon your return. Use this space to communicate with prospective clients, so they know what they can expect with regards to communication, or lack thereof. 
4. Pre-schedule newsletters, social media posts, and sales. These days, there are so many systems we can use as small business owners to ensure the content we create continues to be posted and shared — even when we’re not working. We use FloDesk for our newsletter system, and we schedule newsletters for days we will be out of the office. We use Planoly for Instagram scheduling, Planable for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn scheduling, and Tailwind for Pinterest scheduling. All of these systems equip us to ensure content is being shared and distributed — even when we’re away from our desks. 
5. Test key areas of your business. Before you go away for the holidays, be sure to test out all of the key areas of your business: make sure your eCommerce system is in working order, and that customers can successfully make purchases. Make sure your contact form is in working order, and that prospective clients can successfully inquire with you. Make sure your newsletters are free of grammatical errors and that they accurately describe the terms of your holiday sales. Make sure your social media schedulers are working, and that your posts are being successfully posted. Testing out these key areas of your business will help to ensure that, once you’re out of the office, you can rest assured knowing your business is operating successfully. 

We are so hopeful these recommendations equip you to prepare your small business — and yourself — for a smooth and stress-free holiday season. Thanks for tuning in!

About Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay

Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is a leading small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, and founders. Weekly, brief, actionable episodes will equip you to build a successful, sustainable small business.