Marketing the Holidays…

Just 24 hours.  I’m not even sure it was that long.  It was the day after Halloween when I was shopping at A.C. Moore with my boyfriend and heard Christmas music playing over the loudspeakers.

Unbelievable.

I glanced around at the Thanksgiving decor and turned to him, “Did we skip over Thanksgiving?  Am I missing something here?”

As it turns out, many people speculate that companies are starting to market Christmas earlier this year with the hopes of increasing their revenue.  As far as I can tell, it just seems as if the Christmas season keeps growing every year. Currently, it’s almost two months long.

But will all of the Christmas music on the radio really be what entices people to spend a little extra cash this holiday season- especially when the American economy is still facing a recession?  I’m not so sure.  Perhaps companies ought to focus their marketing tactics on outlets such as Twitter and Facebook.  However, even this is not a guarantee.

So, what can be done?

Picky, Picky

When it comes to spending, blame it on the economy, but consumers are becoming increasingly picky in what they spend their money on.  The recent recession has taught us many valuable lessons about money, the first of which is that you shouldn’t spend what you don’t have.  Therefore, many businesses are lowering their prices in an effort to boost sales.  To the smarter-than-average consumer, however, this simply tells them that products and services were grossly overpriced to begin with, thus translating into better bargains elsewhere.

I think that, perhaps, the better approach to coax people out of their spending shells is to market lower prices for high quality services and products.  You shouldn’t really need a catchy jingle to attract customers; the price will more than do the job for you. By building trust between consumer and manufacturer, you naturally build business.

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