Americans are settling into the fall season earlier than ever, with Dunkin’ Donuts rolling out their pumpkin spice lattes on August 27th, and Starbucks doing the same just one day later, releasing their pumpkin spice products on August 28th. Consumers barely had a chance to clear the beach balls and sand out of their cars and get back into the swing of school schedules and fall sports, before fall unofficially began.

It won’t be long before the leaves are changing color in the Northeast, with apple picking and crisp air accompanying those flavorful fall coffees. These changes are a reminder of the next season to come: the holiday shopping season.

According to eMarketer’s Yory Wurmser, “Consumer confidence in the U.S. is high. With low unemployment and rising wages, the immediate outlook for consumer spending remains solid.”

Are you prepared to attract those holiday shoppers?

Holiday catalogs are a powerful marketing tool to drive sales. In fact, according to Direct Mail Statistics, 30% of people polled reported that a catalog recently drove them online to shop. This percentage increased to 38% for millennials and Gen-Xers.

As we head into fall, review your marketing plan and make a seamless transition to the holiday season with these three tips:

Don’t lose sight of your identity

This can be easy to do when looking at all of the marketing options for the holidays. Your catalog should maintain your design-logo, fonts, and company colors so that your consumers recognize and connect with your catalog.

Repeat customers are looking for the brands they recognize and have grown to love. As customers browse through your catalog, it should remind them of who they are buying from.

Complement the design

Adding holiday colors and designs can differentiate between seasonal mailings and shopping for the holidays. Let your identity-logo, fonts, and colors complement the holiday catalog design.  Keep fonts simple, with easy-to-read text that will engage your customer. If you choose a creative font, limit its use. Strategic use will attract customers to specific items or products.

Exclusive products

Offering an exclusive product or products for the holiday season can increase sales. When customers know that certain items are in limited supply, they react. It is easier to justify buying an item when it is in limited quantity or exclusive to the season. Make this product the center focus of your page layout and place the item or items to the front of the catalog, keeping your lower performing items closer to the back pages.

When a survey conducted by FGI Research, and commissioned by American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA), asked consumers about the reasons they shop catalogs, “hard to find items was selected most frequently, followed by ease of shopping quality and greater assortment.” Maintaining your identity, complementing the catalog design, and offering exclusive products can make this holiday season the best yet.