For handmade business owners, the fourth quarter (Q4) is often the busiest and most profitable time of the year. With major holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas lined up, the opportunities to boost your revenue are endless. And while it’s ideal to strategically plan your Q4, I get that you might feel overwhelmed, have no time left, and yet you still need to make money during the last stretch of the year. 

And guess, what? I’m giving you two things to make sure that happens. 

One, I’m going to walk you through how you can plan ahead of Q4 if you have the time, and bandwidth. And two, I’m going to provide you with a free resource where I’ll be sharing the exact promotions I ran in Q4 last year to bring in $34k using what we ALREADY had on our shelves (yes, this means no extra time making products)—and I literally want you to steal these ideas and apply them to your own business. Sounds good? Let’s dive in! 

Understanding the Q4 Rush

Why Q4 is Crucial for Handmade Businesses

Early on in my handmade business I did zero Q4 planning. You read that right. I’m a multi-six figure business owner and I didn’t have a long drawn out business planning session or some elaborate Q4 marketing strategy. Partly because for some time I was a one-woman show, like many of you solopreneurs reading this. And partly because I didn’t have the time. As handmade business owners our time is our most precious, nonrenewable resource, and we spend most of it making the products we sell. 

So, if you don’t have time to sit down and plan your Q4, or if you’re finding that Q4 snuck up on you… I hear you. 

What I want you to remember is that doing something in Q4 is better than doing nothing at all. 

Just because you didn’t plan anything, doesn’t mean it’s too late to increase the revenue in your handmade business. Feel free to skip to the bottom of this blog to swipe my Q4 strategies–ones you can implement in under an hour to increase that revenue of yours. If you’re finding this blog before Q4 or early on, and want to learn how you can do your best to prepare, continue reading. 

Crafting Your Q4 Strategy

Plan Your Promotions Early if You Can

Before we dive into promotions, I want you to keep in mind that the key to helping you decide on what promotions to run is to think about what gets your customers excited during this time of the year. Then, combine that with what their expectations might be. For example, if you’re a candle maker—do the pumpkin spice and apple crisp scents get your customers excited? And do they expect these aromas to fill their home when they host Thanksgiving dinner? Then maybe you might plan your promotion for your fall candles a month before Thanksgiving.

Keep in mind that promotions and sales as a handmade business owner doesn’t have to mean discounts. 

In fact, I hardly give discounts on products in my own handmade business, and when I do it’s typically to move products quickly, that may have been sitting on our shelves. Discounts aren’t the best way to stand out. When you run discount after discount throughout the year, you might find that customers wait to purchase your products until the next discount is offered, and you can begin to sound like the noise of large retailers in their inbox promoting sale after sale.

As a handmade business owner, think of ‘sales’ as ways to creatively promote your products in a way that’s exciting and will get your customers to pay attention. 

The goal is to create promotions that maximize your profits and increase average order value. And to do it in fun ways that keep our customers engaged. As handmade business owners we aren’t trying to compete - we are trying to stand out!

So if you want to plan your Q4 strategy, decide early on if you will participate in major sales events like Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Think about the products you want to promote and when to start those marketing campaigns. These campaigns don’t have to be elaborate–you can simply send an email letting them know the sale is coming, an email when the sale begins, and an email 12-24 hours before the sale ends. 

Create Marketing Materials Ahead of Time

Once you've decided on your promotions, it's time to create your marketing materials. You’ll want to decide if you’ll market with sales emails, social media posts, ads or other promotional content. Don’t feel like you have to do it all. Choose the one that your customers typically respond best to. And if you have extra time, you can choose another medium to share your promotions. Having these ready before Q4 begins will free up your time to focus on shipping, products, and customer service during the busy season. But remember, it’s okay if you don’t do this perfectly. Do what you can, and build on those efforts next year during Q4.

Batch Your Products

To meet the demand during Q4, start batching your products as soon as possible. This means producing items in larger quantities to ensure you have enough stock to fulfill orders. And if you’re already close to or in Q4 and don’t foresee the ability to batch product, don’t worry–that’s why I created my Q4 Sales Booster worksheet. It helps you plan promotions using products you already have (hint: one of them isn’t even a physical product), so that you can increase your revenue in Q4 without burning out.

Effective Q4 Promotion Ideas

Leveraging Preorders

In my yarn dyeing business, we often use preorders to manage our Q4 sales. Most of our holiday shipments are from revenue generated earlier in the year, which gives us a head start. You can think about adopting a similar strategy by offering preorders for your handmade products. This not only helps manage production but also boosts your cash flow.

Running Simple Yet Effective Promos

Last year, we generated an additional $34K in revenue by running three simple promotions on products we already had in stock. The promotions included limited-time discounts, bundle offers, and exclusive holiday-themed products. These promos were easy to run because they didn’t require additional time or money making products. In fact the same strategy I used for these promotions I went on to use for our Cinco De Mayo promotion earlier this year, which earned us additional revenue in Q2 without producing any new products. These strategies truly are timeless.

Recycling Successful Campaigns

If your business is relatively new and hasn’t run any Q4 promotions yet, don’t worry. Start by deciding on your promotions and then create the necessary marketing materials. If you have past campaigns that performed well, reuse them. Trust me, your customers won’t remember if you use the same emails and social media posts as last year.

Managing Inventory and Shipping

Keep an Eye on Shipping Cutoffs

Shipping is a critical aspect of your Q4 strategy. Make sure you’re aware of the shipping cutoffs for USPS, UPS, or your preferred shipping service to ensure timely delivery of holiday-specific items. This is especially important for international orders.

Move Inventory to Boost Cash Flow

Moving inventory before the end of the year is a good practice for several reasons. It improves your cash flow, reduces the need to pay taxes on unsold inventory, and allows you to make strategic purchases for your business before the year ends. Plan your promotions in such a way that you can clear out as much inventory as possible.

No Time to Plan Ahead? No Worries

While planning ahead is optimal, the truth is that we can be so busy that Q4 sneaks up on us. Then layer that with November and December being short months with time off for the holidays…

In my business, we go into what we’ve affectionately dubbed Holiday Beast Mode! 

And you might find that you haven’t planned any promotions at all. Being a solopreneur often means choosing where you have to prioritize your time - and that’s usually on your moneymaker: making products. So, if you’re thinking it’s too late to run Q4 promotions for your handmade business, I’m here to show you that it’s not. 

I designed this worksheet to help you plan three Q4 promos in under one hour. And they don’t require any additional products. You get to use what you already have on your shelves. I want your Q4 to be as seamless and stress free as possible. AND I want you to bring in extra revenue for your business to wrap up 2024 on a high note.

If you’re ready to swipe my exact promos and get your customers excited for what’s to come—grab the worksheet below!