‘Tis the Season for Small Biz Holiday Marketing: 10 Festive Ideas

Hearing jingle bells in the crisp autumn air? That’s the sound of holiday prep season for business owners (in the northern hemisphere, at least). No matter where you live or if your business is online or on a street somewhere, we’ve got the visuals you need to make eye-catching holiday marketing assets.

1. Make the most of your emails

Consumers are about to get bombarded with holiday-themed advertisements, so make yours stand out with catchy email headers and templates. Think of your email header like a great big invitation to click into your website or e-store. Should customers not read past the header of your email, then at least you’ve got the most important, eye-catching info right at the top.

Visit our collection of Email Header templates and find one to customize for your biz. Make it yours by swapping in your text, colors, or images for ours.

Wanna go for a whole email design template? We have what you need: our Short email, Medium email, and Long email templates are ready to customize.

2. Show off your goods with a video collage

Get your social media banners and ecommerce shops decked out for the holidays with a collage showing off your items for sale, and why not add a video to your collage for extra eye-catching attention? Head to the Collage tool and choose your canvas size and layout, then start adding your pics.

Making a collage is quick, easy, and a massive eye-pleaser.

3. Say thanks now so they return later

Get ahead of all the other retailers vying for your clients’ business by sending your regular customers a thank-you note now so you’ll be top-of-mind when gift-giving season rolls around. It’s a simple and easy gesture, and everyone likes to be acknowledged.

Visit our collection of Card templates and choose from a variety of pre-designed greetings created just for business owners like you to thank their customers. Customize the template to reflect your brand message, and consider adding a special discount valid during the month of December so they’ll keep on comin’ back.

4. Start a YouTube channel

Put your smart phone to good use and make a simple video to promote your business. Video content is super popular with many shoppers these days using YouTube as their go-to search engine to see products or businesses in action. Be sure to include an eye-catching YouTube thumbnail when you upload your video — here's how to make a YouTube thumbnail from a template or from scratch in PicMonkey.

Pro tip: Use the same YouTube thumbnail template to create an interstitial graphic for your video — it's already the correct aspect ratio. You can upload short video clips to use as the background, or browse our stock video library to find something that'll work with your theme. Learn more about using video in PicMonkey.

5. Join forces with other small biz owners

You’ve heard it said that there’s strength in numbers, and that holds true for holiday bazaars, craft fairs, art walks, and block parties when small business owners collaborate to boost holiday sales. This year could be a little different as far as IRL shopping, but you can still partner up online — show some of your stuff in a collaborator's shop and vice versa, send traffic to each other, or mention each other in your emails.

Consider offering 10% off to customers of their biz, while they reciprocate. 

6. Give a little extra to get a lot of value

People love to think they’re getting a freebie, so go ahead and offer one this holiday season — like free gift wrapping, for instance, a service that harried shoppers will deem a major bonus. They could buy gifts from your competitor for a couple dollars less, but without the added value of gift wrapping your shop will seem much more appealing. Plus, you’ll be seen as generous and helpful during this busy time — no Scrooges around here!

Anything free really grabs folks’ attention, especially free shipping. Again, it’s an incentive for customers to spend their dollars at your establishment instead of at the competitor’s.

7. Be charitable and profitable

If you’re going to offer a discount to get paying customers to your shop, why not have your promotion benefit the less fortunate, as well? The holidays are hard for many people who can’t afford gifts, food, or warmer clothes, so it’s extra meaningful to give back during this time.

Offer a discount to anyone who is able to donate — they’ll feel good about it, you’ll feel good about it, and so will the recipient of the donation. Warm fuzzies all around. Of course, post your promo to all your social feeds to amp participation.

8. Embrace the Black Friday madness

No matter your feelings on the consumer crush that is Black Friday, one thing is certain — people love to be shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Advertise your upcoming BF sale with a social media ad like the one above, or post your promotion to your Instagram Stories with templates like the ones below.

9. Get in on Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is Black Friday’s kinder, gentler cousin, happening on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Started in 2010 by American Express, SBS has grown into a massive movement with entire communities of entrepreneurs participating in special events.

Get in on the local action by including your business in Small Business Saturday. Market your participation on social media with a series of custom posts, or by creating a good old-fashioned flyer to print and post around town.

10. Celebrate Cyber Monday 2021

Online shopping rules, and it will continue to reign supreme as gifters look for the perfect present on the web. The Monday after Thanksgiving is all about online sales, so advertise yours with a simple social media post. Find loads of templates for Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads, and customize them to your liking.