Whew, you made it through the holidays! Congratulations! Now what? A quick breather may seem well-deserved, but the first quarter of 2017 comes, of course, right on the heels of the December holidays. Resist the urge to rest and keep charging ahead into January, February, and March. Many businesses see a drastic drop-off in traffic and sales after the holidays, but you can buck that trend by enticing your clients to throw off their post-holiday hibernation and beat the winter blues with your products and services. Keep your customers’ inboxes bubbling with specials, deals, promotions, events, contests, and newsletters.

January 2 – New Year’s Day (observed)

Help your readers shake off their holiday hangovers by giving them what they really want: super sales to help them reinvent themselves for the New Year. Maybe you can clear out some of your old inventory while you’re at it. “New Year, New You” sales are extremely popular at the start of January. They can be applied to nearly every industry including apparel, fitness, grocery, cosmetics, home decor, and personal finance.

Even hula hoop exercise programs build campaigns around New Year’s reinvention. Your business can do the same.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Landing page for the sale or promotion
• Email and social media campaign
• Budget for advertising
• Optional: fitness models

January 16 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The federal commemoration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. is also a great day to run a mid-January promotion or sale. In recent years, New York City-based nonprofit Housing Works has marked the day by discounting certain items in their thrift shops:

Holding a MLK Day sale or event is a memorable way to signal to customers that you’re open that day. Because many offices and schools are closed, in-store events or sales can attract significant foot traffic, particularly if they’re kid-friendly.

Here’s what you need to do to capitalize on MLK Day:

• Landing page
• Email campaign
• Social media campaign

January 20 – Inauguration Day

Will it be Clinton or Trump? Either way, Inauguration Day is an excuse to run a promotion at your business. For Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration in 2009, Krispy Kreme gave away a free donut to customers who visited their stores. What do donuts have to do with national politics? Absolutely nothing! (Other than the fact that a donut is, coincidentally, in the shape of an “O” for Obama.) Really it gave the chain an excuse to whip up buzz for themselves, on an otherwise regular day in January. They issued press releases and had fun with images of Obama-themed coffees and patriotic donuts.

  

Glazed pastry isn’t a prerequisite to take advantage of Inauguration Day. A red, white, and blue color palette helps, as does anything you can tie to the incoming president, but even those aren’t necessary.

To run your own presidential promotion, here’s what you need:

• Landing page
• Email campaign to announce the promotion to your mailing lists
• Social media campaign to create buzz
• Press release

January 28 – Lunar New Year

Jump-start January traffic with a Lunar New Year Celebration. Disney California Adventure Park celebrates with an event focusing on family and well wishes for the future. By highlighting the Lunar New Year, they attract attention and visitors during the post-holiday months, when tourist traffic traditionally dies down.

This Lunar New Year, invent an event to drive traffic to your business. Food, beverages, live music, limited-time gifts — all of these and more can draw customers out of their post-holiday hibernation during the cold winter months.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• • Email campaign
  • Social media campaign
  • Thank you emails to everyone who attended

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