How you can turn festive fervour into business opportunity

With the onset of Independence Day and Raksha Bandhan celebrations, all the biggies of beauty and wellness industry are gearing up to bag maximum profit. In India, celebrations are not limited to gulping sweets and eating out, but it’s also about organising family get-togethers and distributing gifts.

Surprisingly, both the festivals are falling around weekend this year, which means Big Business Opportunity for the product and service industry.

Here is a list of ways you can strategise your offerings and pull maximum consumers by capturing the right emotion of Indian consumers.

• Create buzz in local markets

Every year all the brothers in the house brainstorm that ‘out of the box idea’ which will surely woo their sisters and start market reiki a week before the festival. Often packed schedules allow consumers to search nearby market, that too a day or two before the festival. This clearly opens business opportunities for standalone service centres and small product brands. Grab the opportunity by creating a buzz in local markets near residential areas. Even offer exclusively designed beauty boxes filled with products or beautifully decorated discount coupons. It will surely make your brand the Star among consumers and give you adequate word-of-mouth publicity.

• Pre event marketing

Starting promotions a month prior to the festival is a regular practice opted by big brands, but aggressive promotion a week before is absolutely your right. Make the best of it! Let potential customers know you can even customise your services or product offerings for them at the festival, this will make them book in advance for the upcoming events as well. You can use publication ads like flyers and pamphlets to promote your brand in minimal cost and may place signage in your location and advertise on your website, social media pages.

• Extend recommendation

As the market is flooded with discounts, offers and packages introduced by big salons or wellness brands, the small ones can capture adequate limelight by offering bounty points. Offer a free pedicure or hair styling or even a free yoga/nutrition consultation session to those who would recommend and bring a new member to your doorstep to take the ongoing festival offers.

• Crazy promotion

Demonstrate your product in a fun and crazy manner. Try Dunk tanks, trivia, contests, and other games to make your salon, spa or fitness centre interactive and hence, boost footfall. You may also offer hands-on experience on the products in the beauty box by giving small testers in hand. You may also sponsor music pavilions, tournaments, rides, or other festival-related events to get your banners and other marketing materials out and about on festival grounds. You can also consider guerrilla marketing by employing a team to canvas the crowd with brochures, flyers, coolie cups and other marketing materials.

• Post-market

Let the offers or products stay a day or two post the festivities to bring home recommended consumers. Also, take photos and videos of all those who will buy your product or services during pre-festival promotions and highlight them on your social media pages to increase exposure for your brand. Through sharing, you can pick up customers who weren’t even at the festival.

Aggressive promotions during festivals sometimes turns first time consumers into regular ones and often help in filling the gap between special occasions, which in turn will help you maximise lead generation and sales.