As the cold weather sets in, it reminds us all that Christmas is on it’s way. If you haven’t already worked out your marketing strategies for the festive season, now is the time to start planning. You need to make the most of the last few weeks coming up to Christmas (3 and counting), as this is the most vital time. Some consumers will be desperate to get the last bits of Christmas shopping done. So target them when they need you the most. But SMS isn’t just for retail and shopping fanatics, SMS is a great way to connect with consumers, colleagues, students and many more.

It’s easy to think that you don’t have to do much marketing at Christmas time, as people will already want to buy your products for gifts. But it is in fact the complete opposite, businesses all over will be even more competitive than usual and will attempt to steal your valued customers. It’s important you remind them that you’re there, and that your products and prices are the best there is. You need to make sure you stand out from your competitors, give your customers a reason to purchase from you.

So how can your business benefit from SMS? Here are a few different types of businesses that can really boost productivity in their area of work this Christmas.

Events Management – Christmas is the ultimate time of the year for events and parties, it’s the busiest month in most people’s social calendar. Make sure the events you’re putting on are fresh in people’s mind by sending them regular SMS updates on new and upcoming events. It’s also a popular time of the year for hiring venues, if your events team have a venue to hire out, it’s important you tell your potential customers your best rates and offers.

Retail – Retail is obviously a big one when it comes to Christmas, consumers are desperate to purchase the perfect presents for their loved ones. You can easily boost sales in the lead up to Christmas by sending discount vouchers and sales information through SMS. Make the text message a little bit more personal by using our Dynamic feature, you can then enter their first name.

E-commerce – Your consumers like to be kept updated when they are purchasing items from your online store. A great way to keep them in the know, is to let them know when you’re last delivery date is before Christmas, this way you can help them be much more organised when it comes to Christmas shopping. A lot of the time, customers rely on your customer service team to help them out when they are struggling, it’s a good idea to send out a text message to your valued customers with the opening and closing times of your customer service line so consumers know exactly when to call during the day.

Hotels – We all know how busy Summer is for holidays, but Christmas time is also a popular time for people to get away. Keep your customers up to date with the ever changing weather in the area of your hotel. Your customers will love the fact that you are looking out for them by prompting them to bring extra layers for the cold weather.

Restaurants – It’s traditional to have Christmas dinner at home, but more and more families each year are deciding to eat out. This saves the huge stress of cooking the Christmas dinner. Send an SMS to your valued customers to promote your December events and remind them to book their Christmas dinner with you, maybe offer a free drink to draw more customers in.

At Work and School – SMS is a great way to keep your staff members up to date with office hours, send a simple SMS letting them know when they aren’t needed in the office at Christmas time, this also helps them plan their Christmas more efficiently so they can spend more time with family. The same idea applies for Schools and students, you can text students or their parents when you have to shut the school due to drastic weather conditions.

Health and Beauty Salons – People want to look their very best at Christmas time, so Hair and Beauty salons tend to be really busy at the festive season. A good idea to draw in customers is to send out a ‘text to win’ competition, for a free blow dry or colour. This will not only draw customers in, but build your customer database to use later on in the year.