With the unofficial end of summer behind us, it’s time to focus on your business goals and plans for the rest of the year. Of course, that means planning for the holiday shopping season and the other big ones like Halloween and Thanksgiving, but there are also other promotional opportunities.

Veteran’s Day and Election Day also present opportunities for promotional specials and sales.  Consistently offering shoppers specials and discounts helps to keep them coming back to your store. They will want to check your store’s price before buying somewhere else.  Sales can also encourage increased order totals and conversion rates which results in more revenue for you.

This is also a great time to plan your schedule for 2011. After the holiday madness passes and you are left with an energy hangover on January 1st, the last thing you are going to want to think about is your 1^st quarter business plan.

That’s where this list comes in handy, I’m going to give you a holiday/observance overview of the next 6 months to make it easier for you to plan out your sales and marketing plan.

I had trouble deciding if I should list the observance in the month it occurs, or the month before. I decided to just stick with the occurring month. I think just having everything laid out in list form makes it easier to look ahead and decide what you what to focus on and when.

I’ve included the heavy hitters here along with some national holidays such as Columbus Day. Let me know if I have overlooked any that you particularly like. If you want to get wacky, there is pretty much a designation, or more, for every day, week and month.

How is it that October is National Diabetes Months, but October 14^th is National Dessert Day?

Don’t forget November 16^th is Button Day or December 5^th is Bathtub Party Day!

October 2010

Halloween 10.31.2010

Holiday Shopping

November 2010

Election Day 11.2.2010

Veterans Day 11.11.2010

Thanksgiving 11.25.2010

Black Friday 11.26.2010

Cyber Monday 11.29.2010

Holiday Shopping

December 2010

Chanukah 12.1-9.2010

Christmas 12.25.2010

New Year

January 2011

New Year

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 1.18.2011

February 2011

Chinese New Year 2.3.2011

President’s Day 2.21.2011

Valentine’s Day 2.14.2011

Washington’s B-Day 2.15.2011

March 2011

Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras 3.8.2011

St. Patty’s Day 3.17.2011

I hope this helps you in planning your upcoming promotions. Well planned, properly executed marketing and promotional plans can pay huge dividends. It may feel like holidays and observances pop up out of nowhere and before you know it, it’s too late to take advantage. But, with a simple guide and a little forethought, you will be taking advantage of your marketing opportunities every chance you get.

KingWebmaster has an easy to use tool called the Promo Manager that can help. Plan and set up your promotions in advance, and when the time is right, all you have to do is activate it.

This year, don’t just take advantage of the big holidays like Christmas. Making use of observances all year long will keep shoppers in your store and revenues on the rise.

You know that a properly executed promotion can produce amazing results for your business, but it can also be hard to find real world data you can use to help you compare it to your business.

The following is taken from an actual business and their experience using Promo Manager. Names have been changed to protect the successful!

John has a small denim store. For advertising, he utilizes Google Pay-Per-Click campaigns, weekly newsletters (approx. 5,000 emails), and minor SEO work. These advertisement tools average $1,800-$2,200 per month.

Since John usually uses dropshippers, after deducting his expenses, his margins are pretty low. They average between 5% to 10% per pair of jeans. Occasionally, he gets good deals on accessories (belts, handbags, etc.) with margins as high as 25% to 30%.

Before implementing Promo Manager, John’s average order value, excluding shipping, was $120. This reflects the most common purchase of two pairs of jeans with an average profit of 10% or $12.

Using Promo Manager, John is now able to offer a “Buy 3 jeans, get 25% off any accessory in the store” promotion. He saw his average order value jump from $120 to $165 and his profit increase from $12 to $18, or a 50% increase! This is not only because customers purchased more, but also because he was able to keep his expenses down while generating more revenue.

Pretty convincing numbers, what could you do with a 50% increase in profits? Click here for another example of how Promo Manager helped to increase not only sales, but conversions.

If you are using Promo Manager and would like to share your success story, let us know!

I just read a great article at PracticalECommerce.com that discusses the upcoming holiday shopping season and how some big retailers are preparing for it. I know you may not want to think about that just yet, you’re still all flip-flops, barbecues and beach, but if you plan well now, you may have a little extra in the bank for a tropical get away during the darkest, coldest part of the year.

Some companies such as Sears Holdings have implemented “Christmas Lane” in their Sears and Kmart stores. Sears has a  Christmas Club where customers can sign up to earn cash rewards based on spending between particular dates. This makes it easier for the customer to spend on necessities and create loyalty while earning a little extra cash for holiday shopping. Kmart is offering discounts on holiday merchandise and free shipping with no minimum order.

Other stores like hhgregg.com used the Christmas in July theme to move inventory with everything over $99 on sale. Toys “R” Us is using a kitschy Santa in sunglasses and surfer reindeer to advertise back to school specials and free shipping on orders over $49.

Bargains, specials and sales are definitely the name of the game. I particularly liked the idea from Sears Holdings that allows shoppers to earn credit for future purchases. July may be drawing to a close, but any holiday plan or promotion you start to implement now will only help you in the long run.

If you aren’t already using it, our Promo Manager makes it much easier for you to implement an unlimited number of promotions. From date and time specific specials to coupon codes you could send out to your email subscribers, the Promo Manager has you covered. It has been proven to increase order totals and conversion rates while promoting customer loyalty.

Take a day or two out of your summer fun to see how Promo Manager can impact your sales so you can reap the benefits later!