How to Market Your Business With Holiday Gift Guides

American Thanksgiving and Black Friday are coming up, which means shopping galore for the whole of North America (well, maybe not so much for us here in Canada).

Anyway, my point is, before people go crazy with their shopping sprees, businesses have the opportunity to get in on some of the action. One good way to make the most of this shopping season is to make a holiday gift guide.

I read about using holiday gift guides as a marketing tool from Don Crowther here and I'm totally “stealing” his idea and recommending that you do so, too!

Holiday gift guides are great marketing tools for different kinds of businessses:

• If you're a brick and mortar business, the gift guide would bring traffic into your store
• If you're an affiliate marketer, the guide is a great way to make affiliate sales
• If you provide services, you can combine affiliate marketing with promoting your own business
• Service providers can also use the guide as a gift to former and existing clients, by adding a coupon for a free mini-service (such as a 15-minute coaching session) or special discount code
• Service providers can band together by providing discounts they can use in each other's guides. For example, in my guide, I could include discount coupons for my services as well as services from a graphic designer and VA. (This idea I borrowed from the uber smart Kelly McCausey)

Hmmm… I seem to have many more ideas for service providers than for other types of businesses, but you I'm hoping you're already bursting with ideas for using this in your own business.

Also, you can distribute your gift guide in several formats:

• blog post or web page
• ebook – Make sure your affiliate links are hyperlinked and that they work!
• printed pamphlet – Use an easy-to-use URL and QR code to allow readers to access the online version easily
• postcard – Space will be limited, but it's cheaper to produce and disseminate than a pamphlet

The bottom line is: a holiday gift guide is an excellent marketing and promotional tool to make and give away. Right Now. Before it's too late.

Gotta end this post and go now, because I have several gift guides to make. You should go make one, too — but before you do that, let us know what cool ideas you have for your own gift guide. Post them in the comments below.

 photo credit: x-ray delta one