Seasonal Marketing See how you can use the retail calendar as a promotional tool for your company.

How do holidays affect your business? The retail calendar canoffer opportunities for many businesses to create innovative andeffective promotions. The following steps will help you look atthis marketing tool in a new light:

• Plan ahead. Regardless of how you use the retailcalendar, give yourself enough time to create effective promotions.Start by looking three to six months ahead to determine how you cancapitalize on what's to come.
• Examine your customers' buying habits and thinkcreatively. Each holiday or season fosters its own buyinghabits. Create gift certificates or service packages that would beuseful, unique or unconventional.
• Look for publicity opportunities. Think of such ideas asa hot-dog eating contest for Independence Day, declaring the mostromantic couple for Valentine's Day and the messiest house forspring cleaning. Be sure, however, that your efforts areappropriate for your target audience and marketing goals.
• Make your own holiday. If you're tired of the sameold celebrations, check out Chase's Calendar of Events to finda new one. This comprehensive listing contains more than 12,000entries, including celebrity birthdays, astrological phenomena,culinary celebrations and festivals from around the world. If youstill can't find one, declare your own.