160: Sell more in Q4: 18 ideas for your year-end promos {Summer Remix}
Map out a simple, smart, and super profitable promotion for the end of the year.
Well hello, and welcome back to the Ill Communication Podcast. We’re wrapping up my summer remix series with one of the most actionable and relevant episodes I’ve ever shared, especially as we roll into the final stretch of the year.
Whether you’re coming off a summer slowdown or riding some momentum from earlier launches, Q4 is packed with opportunity.
People are still buying, and you can absolutely finish strong with a smart, simple promotion plan.
That’s why I’m bringing back this replay episode - Sell more in Q4: 18 ideas for your year-end promos.
These are creative, non-sleazy strategies you can use to generate revenue in the next few months without discounting your prices or burning out your list.
Why Q4 matters
September kicks off what I like to call launch-a-palooza. Course creators, coaches, and consultants are out in full force with new offers.
And for good reason: studies show that 40% of annual sales happen in Q4, and for some businesses, this final quarter can account for as much as 75% of yearly revenue.
It’s not just e-commerce brands who benefit.
Service providers, coaches, and consultants can also create strong sales momentum in the final months of the year.
Why?
Because buyers are already in a spending mindset. They are stocking up for back-to-school, gearing up for the holidays, and preparing for the new year.
What you’ll learn in this episode
18 unconventional and totally doable ways to run promotions in Q4
Creative alternatives to Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales
How to use holidays, theme days, and even your birthday for promotions
Why you don’t need to discount your prices to generate excitement
Ideas for adding urgency and value with simple, smart bonuses
18 year-end promo ideas to try
Here are 18 unconventional and totally doable ways to boost sales before the year wraps up:
Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday promos
The obvious big players, but still work using.Thanksgiving or Halloween
Tie in a them like a “scary good” promotionFall Equinox or Winter Solstice
Seasonal transitions make great markers for fresh offers.12 Days of Christmas
Stretch out a promotion across multiple days.8 nights of Hanukkah
Daily or multi-days bundles to celebrate.Boxing Day (Dec 26)
Hugely popular in Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.A New Year, New You, New Business campaign
Ride the wave of January planning.New Moon or Full Moon
Perfect if your brand leans spiritual or cyclical.World Gratitude Day (Sept 21)
Create a gratitude themed bundle.International Podcast Day (Sept 30)
Highlight your podcast or podcast related-offers.Mental Health Month (October)
Align promos with wellness, therapy, or coaching.National Procrastination Day
A cheeky way to help people take action.Offer around discontinuing or retiring a program
Promote something as a “last change to buy” before it’s gone,Last chance before a price increase
Urgency without discounting.A promotion tied to your birthday or business anniversary
Celebrate with your community.A seasonal “holiday survival toolkit” or bundle
Bundle tools that help people navigate stress or busyness.A pop-up mini course carved from a bigger program
Sell a mini course or modules separately.A unique “bonus only” offer (add value without discounting)
Add a coaching call, group session, meditation, workbook, or other value-adds.
Key takeaways
Leverage the calendar.
Black Friday, Boxing Day, Thanksgiving, and seasonal events are natural opportunities for promotions.
Get creative.
Tie your offers to unique theme days like World Gratitude Day or International Podcast Day.
Think beyond discounts.
Add urgency with bonuses like a live coaching session, a workbook, or a meditation instead of slashing prices.
Repurpose what you already have.
You don’t need to create anything new. Package your existing offers in fresh, playful ways.
Act now.
Q4 moves fast. The sooner you write your sales copy, the smoother (and more profitable) your promotion will be.
5-Day Email Sprint (Replay with templates!)
Write the 5 core sales emails you need for your next pop-up promotion or year-end flash sale.
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[00:00:00] Well, hello and welcome back to the Ill Communication Podcast. I am back with our final episode in my summer remix series. Now, if you haven't been around over the summer, or maybe you're not really paying that close of attention because let's be honest, who really is anyway, over the last two months I've hand.
[00:00:20] Episodes that are designed to help you refine the foundations of your messaging and selling to show you how to be bold in your positioning, your niche, and your values, and how you sell your premium offers. And I threw in a couple of tactical episodes to help you create success in life and a course business, and I have a very special re-release for you today.
[00:00:47] I'm bringing this episode back from the archives because it's one of the most actionable ones I've shared, and it's especially relevant right now as we roll into the final stretch of the year. Now whether you're coming off of a summer slowdown or riding some momentum from earlier launches, Q4 is packed with opportunity, especially for service providers, coaches and consultants who wanna finish strong and serve your community deeply.
[00:01:18] People are still buying and you can still knock out an amazing revenue in Q4. Now, I originally recorded this episode with a focus on Yearend promotions, but it's not just about Black Friday, cyber Monday, Thanksgiving, Halloween. It's also about thinking strategically. Playfully and profitably about how and when you sell.
[00:01:45] Now, inside this episode, you'll hear 18 unconventional and totally doable ways to generate revenue in the next few months without discounting your prices or burning out your list. And [00:02:00] just a tiny note in the. Replay episode. I mention a live email, sprint, sprint training, but I won't be offering that again this year.
[00:02:11] Although you can buy the recordings, replays and workbooks as a DIY course. This year I've been working behind the scenes on something brand new to help you craft high ticket messaging that builds trust. Connection and sell with integrity. So if you've been simmering on a premium offer or maybe you've been wondering why your existing one isn't converting the way it used to, keep your ears open, watch this space.
[00:02:38] I'll be sharing more about that offer soon. And just like one of the suggestions you hear in this upcoming episode, my offer is going to be tired. To a pretty big milestone birthday.dot. More on that later. But for now, grab your favorite notebook or your notes app and get ready to map out a simple, smart, and super profitable promotion for the end of the year.
[00:03:03] Let's dive in.
[00:03:04] Welcome to Ill Communication, copywriting Tips and Sales Strategies for Small Business. I'm your host, Kim Keel. I'm a copy coach, sales strategist, and direct response copywriter. It's my mission to help women leaders and change makers amplify their voices. Through copy. It's why I am dishing out all the juicy tips, writing prompts, and sales formulas to help you generate more leads, book more calls, and get more high value clients on repeat.
[00:03:38] Sounds pretty good. It's time to ditch the overwhelm you might be feeling and find confidence in your copywriting so you can get your message out there and attract more soulmate clients. Let's get started.
[00:03:58] Hello, hello and welcome to [00:04:00] episode 58 of the Ill Communication Podcast. Today my goal is to inspire you to go out and sell yourself and your services with one of these 18 out of the box ways to drive sales with a year end promotion. Now if you're in the online space, whether you learn from or buy from other people online, or you yourself sell and deliver services online, you probably already know this.
[00:04:28] September marks the beginning of one of the busiest and potentially most lucrative times of the year. My online business pal, Brendan McGowan, calls September launch a Palooza because so many online course creators. Coaches and consultants launched their online offers in September. So if you're curious about what's working in online marketing right now, pay attention to the ads you're being served, to the webinars and masterclasses you're being invited to and to the offers you're being sold.
[00:05:01] September and October are associated with back to school skill development and transition, so it can be a great time to launch offers in the self-development, life coaching, or career transition space. Of course, looking ahead in the calendar, November and December can also provide a huge revenue bump, especially for online retailers and for the rest of us who run service-based businesses.
[00:05:25] Countless studies show that this final quarter of the year can make a big difference to your bottom line. An article I read by Meteor Space, which I'll link to in the show notes, shares the following stats. Five out of the 10 most active online buying days are in November. Cyber Monday was the number one day followed by Black Friday at number two.
[00:05:52] 40% of total sales occur in the fourth quarter of the year, and for some types of businesses, the fourth quarter can account for up [00:06:00] to 75% of their annual sales. Now these stats are largely centered around e-commerce online retailers, so that makes a lot of sense. The trends hold true for online service providers, coaches, and consultants Too.
[00:06:16] Many of my coaching clients have some of their biggest revenue months in the last quarter, and I've experienced this in my own business as well. It's partially because as consumers, we are already in a spending mode. We're buying all the back to school supplies for our kids. So we start thinking of what we might need to improve, or maybe we could invest in a new business coach, a course or new gear for our own businesses.
[00:06:42] And in November and December, the same behaviors and principles apply. Some of us may be more likely to invest in our businesses or self-development because we're already in that holiday spending mode. Plus there's the added urgency of OMG. The end of the year is here, the new year is right around the corner, and I better get my shits together.
[00:07:03] So what I want you to hear is this, you can, and you should be selling your services and products between now and the end of the year. If you're feeling a little behind the eight ball because you don't have a big launch, a promotion plan in this upcoming quarter. Good news, I've got a bunch of ideas for when and how you can have a mini promotion, a pop-up promotion, or a flash sale to take advantage of the revenue potential for the rest of the year.
[00:07:31] Here are some traditional and non-traditional opportunities for you to have a fall or year end promotion. Now let's start with the most obvious Black Friday, small business Saturday and Cyber Monday, which run November 24th to 27th this year. You can, and you should run a promotion over that weekend, and you can also think outside the box.
[00:07:55] One of my charity clients hosts a free nature film festival over that weekend. [00:08:00] So they use it for engagement, connection, and a little list building in the lead up to their year end fundraising campaigns. Other calendar holidays that could work for a popup or flash sale, Thanksgiving, Halloween. 'cause you could have a scary, good sale.
[00:08:16] You could also mark the transition of the seasons with a fall, Equinox, or Winter Solstice sale. Of course, there are the 12 days of Christmas, the eight nights of Hanukkah Boxing Day, which is December 26th. This is a popular shopping day in Canada, the uk, Australia, and New Zealand. So you could test a promotion on that day.
[00:08:37] Of course, December is a perfect time to have a new year, new you, new gear, new business campaign, and depending on your brand, maybe it would make sense for you to have a new moon or a full moon promotion. One of my favorite tactics for finding a unique or fun reason to have a sale or promotion is to look at the days of the year.com, look through the calendar and find theme days that match with your services or offers.
[00:09:05] World Gratitude Day, for example, is September 21st. You could package and sell a bundle of your most effective gratitude practices if you are involved in the podcasting space. September 30th is International Podcast Day. Maybe you offer a flash sale or promo on one of your podcast offers. October is Mental Health Month, which could be a great time to promote therapy mindset or trauma-informed coaching or wellness programs.
[00:09:34] You get the idea today, in fact, is National Procrastinator Stay, and I do have an offer for you, so stick around to the end and I'll tell you about it. You can also create a promotion for something you're discontinuing, kind of like a year end clearance sale. A lot of people promote their offers as a last chance to buy before the price increases, and of course, it might seem obvious, but you can have a promotion around [00:10:00] your actual birthday or around your business birthday, like an anniversary promotion.
[00:10:04] I also think it's important to think about the time of year and what people are struggling with. For example, the holidays can be stressful, lonely, and expensive. Can you create a promotion around your offer or services that gives your audience the tools to solve those problems, but package it as a holiday survival toolkit or a coaching package.
[00:10:27] Now, I wanna stress, you actually don't need to create anything new for these year-end promotions. Ideally, you're selling something you've already been selling or you already have. You just market it a little differently and promote it for this limited time. You could potentially carve off a smaller chunk of a bigger offer and sell that in your pop-up promotion.
[00:10:51] So maybe you sell two to three modules as a mini course instead of selling the full meal deal. I also wanna highlight you absolutely do not need to discount your prices during these promotions. I do not want you to devalue your offer or generate less revenue. You're simply promoting it in a new, fresh way.
[00:11:13] You're generating excitement and a little urgency to encourage people during a limited window of time. Of course, there's no false scarcity or fake urgency. If people can buy or join your program outside of the promotional window, be transparent and honest about that. But instead, think of creative bonuses.
[00:11:33] You could include a bonus coaching call, a live group coaching session, a bonus audio meditation, or a bonus PDF workbook, or even an ebook. You wanna include something that will have perceived value, will deliver value, and not be too much extra work for you. Just something that you can include in this limited time pop-up promotion offer.
[00:11:56] So friend there you have 18 out of the box [00:12:00] ways to drive sales with a year-end promotion. Now after you decide what you're gonna sell and when you're gonna sell and promote it, you need to get your marketing and messaging written, ASAP and my friend. If you're thinking of having a year end sale, a Black Friday, cyber Monday promotion, or any kind of promo within the next two to three months, the time is gonna go lightning fast.
[00:12:24] If you don't have your copy written, you need to start now. But there's no need to stress 'cause I've got you covered. For any business owner who feels a little behind, maybe you've been slacking or procrastinating on getting your year end sales copy written. And I say this with a hundred percent zero judgment and only love because most of my life and business operate on this last minute basis too.
[00:12:48] This special popup event is for you. I'm hosting a one week non sleazy sales email sprint at the end of September. You'll get high converting and effective templates for the five most important sales emails to send during your next promo. You'll get time to write those five emails and get live feedback from me on how to improve the copy.
[00:13:14] You'll have specific actions you can take to boost open rates and click rates on those emails so you can drive more sales and boost your year end revenue. In just an hour a day. Over those five days, you'll have written five powerful sales emails to sell and promote your year-end sale. This training is something that's only typically offered inside the Joy of Copy Club, but I'm pulling it out and offering it now because I know so many Gen X business owners are like me.
[00:13:46] You're juggling a million balls in your life and your business, and we tend to leave things to the last minute. It's also National Procrastination Day, so I think it's really timely to be making this offer. [00:14:00] By coming together during this five day sales email sprint, you'll get training, coaching, and templates to write a full sales promo sequence that will help you generate more revenue during the last quarter of the year.
[00:14:14] We start on September 25th and registration closes September 23rd. I just want you to imagine how amazing it will feel to have at least five powerful on-brand and sleaze free sales emails locked and loaded and ready to go in just five days. So head over to kim keel.com/email sprint to grab your ticket.
[00:14:39] There are two levels of support available so you can choose the one that works best for you, my friend. You can generate a lot of revenue in the last quarter of the year. But more importantly, you can deliver a lot of impact and transformation to the people who need your help and services. So don't hold back on promoting your gifts, your voice, and your offers.
[00:15:02] Host a pop-up promotion or flash sale to give your clients and customers a chance to work with you and improve their lives, their business, or their wellbeing, because that is what I believe is most important. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'll catch you next week. Hey, thanks for joining me for today's episode.
[00:15:24] But before you go, I wanna make sure you've grabbed a new tool to help you assess. The effectiveness of your sales copy. It's an easy to use tool that will help you identify what's working well and what could be improved among all of the copy assets you have in your business. Grab the sales copy scorecard right now to find quick and easy ways to improve your sales copy and boost.
[00:15:48] Get your free scorecard over at kim keel.com/scorecard. I'll be back next week with another quick tip, writing prompt or sales hack for you. See you [00:16:00] then.
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