The #1 Mistake Business Owners Make in October That Costs Them Money in November and December
October is the month where holiday marketing wins—or losses—are decided. Yet every year, too many business owners make the same mistake: they don’t have a plan.
Instead of mapping out their holiday campaigns and giving themselves enough time to promote, they wait until mid-November or even December to think about how they’ll drive sales. By then, the opportunity to maximize revenue has already slipped away, so let’s talk about what to do instead.
Why October Matters So Much
Not creating a plan to maximize holiday revenue is the #1 mistake I see SO many business owners make in October. Why is October so important you ask? Well, because October is your window to:
Decide which offers or packages you’ll promote.
Get your website and Google Business Profile updated.
Plan social media and email campaigns.
Build anticipation for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.
If you don’t do this in October, you’ll spend November scrambling to create content, design promotions, and spread the word—while your competitors who started early are already fully booked or selling out. For many service based businesses, like MedSpas and Injectors, November also starts their busy season. This means, they are slammed with clients AND trying to pull their holiday marketing together. Do you know what usually ends up happening? The marketing to-do list gets left undone because clients are the priority and holiday sales suffer as a result.
What to Do Instead
The solution is simple: Create a clear holiday marketing strategy with tasks you can either outsource, or do yourself over the next month.
Here’s what that looks like:
Plan Your Promotions Now - Block a few hours on your schedule. Sit down and decide in October what your Black Friday, gift card, and/or holiday booking specials will be. One of my clients created several “can’t miss” offers for Black Friday. We created a series of email campaigns, added them to her website so clients could buy directly through her site and supported it all with social media and text messaging. The results? Over $30,000 in sales while she enjoyed Thanksgiving weekend with her family. Learn more here.
Decide How You’re Going to Get the Word Out - At the bare minimum you should be sharing your promotions on your website, social media channels, email (not just one email, a series) and your Google Business Profile. I would also recommend adding in-office signage by mid-October/first of November, to start teasing your offers and build awareness leading up to when they are running. You could also consider running paid advertisements on Google and/or social media.
Pro-Tip: Consider collaborating with another local business to spread the word about your offers and reach new customers with minimal expense.
Put Your Best Foot Forward - Before you start pushing out your promos, use the month of October to make sure your website, Google Business profile and social media accounts are updated and optimized. This way, when you put your offers out across your various channels, you have a cohesive message AND clients are finding the best version of your business when they visit your website or find you online.
Give Yourself Lead Time - Regardless of whether you’re doing this yourself, or outsourcing, pulling all of this together requires time. You also need time to get your promotions in front of clients so start planning and teasing your offers early so by the time November hits, your audience is already warmed up and ready to buy.
The Problem With “Last-Minute Marketing”
Relying on last-minute posts or boosting random Facebook post doesn’t work. Why?
You don’t give your audience enough time to see and respond to your offer.
Your message ends up inconsistent across platforms.
Clients need to hear and see your offer multiple times before they actually act. One post, or email isn’t going to cut it.
The result? Missed bookings, fewer sales, and extra stress in the busiest season.
Top Mistakes Beyond Poor Planning
Poor planning is the biggest holiday marketing mistake I typically see, but it’s not the only one. Many small business owners also miss out by relying solely on social media to get the word out. Social posts are important, but without updating your Google Business Profile, optimizing your website, or sending consistent email campaigns, your message won’t reach as many people as it could. Finally, some business owners rely too heavily on deep discounts instead of creating thoughtful promotions that build value, like bundled services, gift card bonuses, or exclusive experiences. These mistakes may seem small, but together they can cost you serious revenue during the busiest season of the year.
Don’t Leave Money on the Table
The #1 mistake business owners make in October is failing to plan which costs them revenue in November and December. By creating a simple, consistent strategy now, you’ll save yourself stress, show up with confidence, and set your business up for its best holiday season yet. If you need help with a plan, book a Fit Call with me and I’ll see if I can help.
