Winter is coming. For retail businesses, it's a good thing. With the coldest season, the holidays arrive, meaning people go the extra mile to buy gifts for loved ones and gather supplies for parties. But for service businesses, this time of year can cause panic. Many people, to join in the holiday chaos, cut out services considered unnecessary during this period. Key word: unnecessary. It's vital that your team does everything possible to ensure your business doesn't end up on that list. The best way to do that? With a solid winter marketing plan.
Whether you realize it or not, the seasons are one of the strongest indicators of your business's performance throughout the year. The first step to staying competitive and ensuring a steady flow of customers, especially during winter, is to develop new promotional ideas. Instead of wasting more money on underperforming campaigns and blowing your budget, start fresh. CMG Local Solutions offers several winter marketing ideas that can help.
CMG may be a large company, but we have the careful attention of a small startup. We're dedicated to offering each of our clients excellent advertising and marketing support to help you elevate your business. With our extensive experience in winter marketing campaigns, reaching about 52 million consumers weekly across 100+ news outlets, we can help you go from unseen to everywhere. When you want to engage audiences with winter marketing campaigns, trust the agency that has been doing it successfully for nearly 100 years.
Winter Refresh
First, take advantage of the slower winter pace and set aside time to update your website. This isn't just a suggestion, but a crucial step to prepare your business for the upcoming season. If you have projects you haven't finished during the busiest season, now is the time to complete them before launching new winter promotions. You can also use this period to invest in content marketing and long-term SEO gains for your business. Making the most of these strategies now will help ensure your home service empire ranks at the top of search results when the busy season arrives.
Most users form an opinion of your site in 0.05 seconds — an efficiently optimized and current website helps you attract leads more easily as activity ramps up again. Use this period to refresh your web content, improve your SEO, and plan your marketing strategies for the upcoming season. You may also want to:
Update your service pages and offer descriptions
Replace outdated promotions to match seasonal needs
Double-check that contact forms, booking buttons, and CTAs are easy to locate
Identify low-ranking pages and edit them with new content, images, and targeted keywords
Organize your CRM system to track customers
Add fresh project photos and customer testimonials
Content Creation Ideas
Before brainstorming winter social media post ideas, it's important to understand how seasonality influences both customer behavior and content marketing. Seasonality depends on holidays, weather, events, or predictable changes in consumer demand, behavior, and spending habits. Effective content marketing strategies capitalize on these trends to increase sales, boost brand awareness, foster customer loyalty, and enhance customer experiences. With more than 92% of the population celebrating winter holidays, your business can't afford to sit out seasonal promotion.
This type of marketing can include blog posts, videos, or social media content that tackles seasonal challenges or provides maintenance tips, helping attract and keep customers. Position your business as the trusted expert while staying top-of-mind for homeowners when they're ready to book. So, what are some ways businesses are marketing this winter holiday season? Let's take a look at nine creative holiday marketing campaigns that can help you increase scheduled services without overspending your budget.
Service-Specific Holiday Tips
One of the best winter specials you can offer customers to keep their loyalty is adding a unique value. A practical way to do this is by creating content that shares timely tips related to your home service. This builds trust with your clients, showing that you can assist with their needs and positioning you as the go-to source for helpful information. It's also a great way to boost your online presence naturally during the holiday season. Search engines like Google, which dominates global searches at 89.83%, prefer to see that you are regularly publishing new, relevant content, which can improve your rankings and attract more organic traffic.
Holiday and Winter specials
During the holidays, many customers will be more mindful of their spending and prices. Spending on gifts and extra food for guests can strain everyone's budget. In fact, 90% of consumers actively seek out discounts when shopping online. To encourage customers to purchase services during this busy season, consider offering discounted bundles on holiday-specific services.
Offer Gift Cards
Wintertime brings many holidays, making gift-giving a top priority for many people. One of the most effective winter promotion ideas is offering a seasonal incentive, such as a free local gift card with the purchase of a specific service. Set the gift card's value based on your service's cost - we suggest offering larger incentives for more expensive services. Gift cards are a more personalized option than standard discounts, which is one of the reasons they account for 43% of all incentive programs. In addition to the price incentive, you can offer gift cards as a unique way to express gratitude during the holidays and to highlight the convenience of saving money during a busy shopping season.
Host a Fundraiser
Now's the time to give back, and nothing spreads holiday cheer like a charitable donation for a winter campaign. Think about teaming up with a local charity to host a drive at your business or donating a portion of your sales to a local nonprofit. When people see you're giving back, it can be the spark they need to schedule services. Whether you're dropping off canned goods at the local food pantry or scheduling a furnace tune-up because you're supporting a local animal shelter, you're making a difference for everyone.
Send Out Holiday Cards
Another priceless winter promo idea is personalized holiday cards. Whether sending out physical cards or a targeted email blast, providing your customers with a cheerful holiday message is a great way to build brand trust. When drafting your message, focus on a few key elements:
Inclusivity: Since your customers may come from diverse backgrounds, ensure your greeting is inclusive and straightforward, like"Happy Holidays!"
Sincerity: Add some personality to your greeting to set your brand apart from others! Consider reflecting on the year as a whole, what your business has accomplished, and any milestones in the community.
Savings: As you wrap up your holiday greeting, consider giving something back to your loyal customers to show how much you value them. Examples include a one-time discount or a free add-on service.
Post a Season-Inspired Video
A holiday video is a fantastic way to connect with your customers during this busy time of year. It's an opportunity to gather your team and send warm wishes for the happy holidays. Consider offering a brief tour of your facilities, inviting everyone to visit, or showcasing your friendly service technicians at work, to remind customers of the essential holiday services they may want to schedule. Once your video is ready, share it on your social media channels and don't forget to add it to your website. This simple touch can make your customers feel appreciated and engaged during this joyful time.
Meet your community
Take advantage of the downtime winter provides and use it to build strong relationships with your customers and local community. This could look like sponsoring a holiday event or market to increase brand visibility. You may also consider a winter interactive post — a social media giveaway — or a free or discounted service. Another good idea is sharing your winterization tips on local Nextdoor groups.
Avoid the Home Services Business Winter Freeze— Heat Things Up with CMG
Many things freeze in winter, but your home services business doesn't have to. A well-planned winter marketing campaign can boost bookings and elevate brand awareness during what's usually the slowest season. For home service providers, seasonality and weather present powerful marketing opportunities. By combining seasonal and weather-focused messaging with effective marketing strategies, your business can reach customers exactly when they need your services.
Interested in developing a strong content marketing plan? Contact CMG Local Solutions. We share your passion for what we do. Operating in more than 20 media markets, we reach approximately 52 million consumers each week through over 100 news outlets. We will:
Help you create an excellent website
Develop a long-term SEO strategy
Identify target audiences
Craft a compelling message
Build a strategy and choose channels to reach your audiences
Set up tracking
Once that's done, we'll launch your campaign, evaluate the results, and make improvements based on what we find. What does that mean for your home service business? You'll gain access to a whole new group of clients, supported by the professional help you need to succeed.
