Three Ways to Inspire Your Community with the Holiday Spirit this Season

Tis the season of giving, and these are the ways your business can embody the essence of the holidays and positively impact your community.

It's the holiday season! The most wonderful time of the year! When everyone embraces the merry and cheer as gift shopping nears. These are very special, meaningful times for people across the globe. And as we always preach, you’ll need to get the labels ready to print, your e-commerce logistics down pat and your social media game strong. However, this time of year, you’re going to need something even more powerful to make both a sale and a positive impact.

Holiday spirit.

You don’t need an entire block of State Street Chicago property to set up animatronic holiday-themed dioramas like the ones you’ll find in Macy’s windows. But think about the feeling of unity, family, friendship and gratitude a holiday season leaves on us. No matter the root of the holiday, people love the feeling of making a positive difference and bringing a little magic into someone’s life.

You can boost your back-end business functions all you want, but if you really want to win the hearts of the season, you need to power your community with the spirit of the holidays. Here’s what to try:

• Holidays are about giving, so give more than you take.

  Put a greater purpose ahead of your own sales, and your business will likely prosper more than you can believe. Connect your business to a community philanthropy effort and invite others to join in. Perhaps your city has a children’s hospital, an assisted living home, a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen that needs a little extra support. There are plenty of opportunities to raise awareness and funds for an organization that truly needs it – so why not embrace the purpose of the holidays by combining your business successes with a worthy cause? Think of how much good you can do by helping community members reach people in need. You can make powerful connections.

• Offer gift wrapping options for every order placed.

  Holidays may be full of cheer, but the average person is overwhelmingly busy during this time. Their shopping lists are filled to the brim, and there never seems enough time to pull everything together in time. Plus needing to purchase wrapping paper, ribbons or any boxing decorations can be a hassle and even a financial burden. Giving your customers a low-cost or complimentary gift wrapping option is an incredible way to add a touch of holiday spirit – and be a life saver for some very overwhelmed shoppers. (Psst! This is the perfect opportunity to let your brand shine through. Holiday-themed wrapping paper and packaging with your name on it? Yes, please!)

• Implement a heartwarming holiday activity…such as wishing jars.

  Try a special holiday spirit-themed activity that no one has thought of. There is no limit to the amount of joy and kindness you can spread during the holidays (or really any time of the year). People are stressed and exhausted. You never know when someone might be facing a really tough time and are in extra need of some wholesome holiday magic. No matter the size of your business, you have the potential to impact people positively for the rest of their lives just from one small act of kindness. Wishing jars could be a very unique and heartwarming activity to try at your shop this year – or another local business you team up with for the holidays. Prefer to stay totally virtual? No problem.

  For every order placed, shoppers could receive a mini mason jar (decorated, of course) filled with little notes of positive affirmations. You can also give them the tools to fill out a few of their own positive affirmations to give to others as well. Don’t have enough mason jars to sustain this project? Even decorated paper snack bags or cute plastic baggies can have the same wonderful impact on people. Whatever it is you try, know that, for some people, just reading a piece of paper that says, “you’re amazing,” means everything. And people won’t forget about the business (your business!) that added that sprinkle of holiday goodness into their day.

Generosity and compassion are in the air during the holiday season, so breathe it in and use your powers for good by inspiring your community this year. Happy Holidays!

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Editor's Note:

If you want to learn more about how to juggle the peak shopping season madness that comes with these special holiday moments, check out our other business tips on the Zebra ZSB Blog!