Holiday Marketing Tips
By: Damaris Villalva Cruz
You may be thinking Christmas is too far away to be spending time thinking about. However, there are many more holidays to strategize other than Christmas and it's never too early to start planning your holiday marketing strategies. It's a new year and it's time to plan! End of the year holidays are some of the biggest, but there are so many more during the year that you can take advantage of. You may be thinking it's too early but it’s never too early to come up with new ideas and improve your marketing strategy. With proper planning, you will be able to create a sense of urgency for your audience to take action when the time comes. All businesses have different approaches in executing certain promotions, but they all have a common goal which is to increase revenue. There is not a one size fits all strategy, so make sure you know your goals, audience, and how you will deliver your message.
Start your marketing campaign early
Determine your offers or discounts and set a plan on what holidays you want to focus on. You need to have the time to plan. This is where you plan your budget as well. One thing that you have to remember is that everyone is doing it so how can you compete and make your offers stand out?
Understand Your Own Goals
If you don’t know what your goal is then why exactly are you doing it? Every decision in your marketing strategy should be intentional, because without initial purpose, there is no way to analyze outcome success. Whether it’s increased brand awareness, increased revenue, or something else, you should know your intended goal for any marketing campaign. One way to set and determine your goals is to understand your audience and review previous holiday campaigns. By identifying those two things it can help define objectives for a better holiday marketing strategy.
Retarget customers
The aim is to build an atmosphere that drives your customers to take action. An obvious strategy that many companies take here is to advertise and attempt to reach more customers, however, another strategy is to reach out to past customers that you may have lost touch with. With the second strategy, you may not even have to send them a deal. It may be enough just to get in the forefront of their minds again. This could be done by simply sending a thank you note or happy holidays card. Even something as simple as “It's spring already!” or “Don’t forget to forward your clock for daylight savings time!”. With that being said, make sure you remember the big and small holidays or events.
Juicy Discounts
Everyone loves discounts so the more the merrier right? However, even though some people do, doesn’t mean that you should publish discounts left and right. You have to be smart about the types of discounts you offer and when you publish them. Too many discounts can diminish the perceived value of your product or service and will diminish the urgency or incentive to take action due to the holiday season. Think about the cost that you will incur and the benefits that will bring to your company and whether executing those promotions will pay off.
So how do you spread the word?
Social Media is the fastest way to spread the word. Whether it’s paid advertising or organic reach. It’s especially great if you have a large following. Remember to use hashtags that are related to you and the holiday. In turn, just because it is the fastest, doesn’t mean it is the most effective way to spread the word, this depends on your intended audience and campaign goals.
Blogs are a great way to do so as well. If you are constantly posting content, this is a great way to stay top of mind with your audience and keep them informed. This is where you can get really creative and have fun with the holiday themes.
Email Marketing is another great way to deliver time sensitive information. When creating your holiday email campaign make sure to include valuable information such as offers, updates and most importantly personalized content.
Print materials can be a unique, but effective way to engage your audience too because you are delivering something tangible into their hands. A great marketing strategy is to have a mix of both print and digital communication channels. When using print material, be creative, make it interactive and use appealing visuals. Print materials can include drink ware, magnets, pens, or anything that can turn into a canvas, which are a great gift to send during the holidays.
No matter what strategy you choose, make sure you allow yourself enough lead time to deliver your message effectively and generate results. Have a Holiday landing page where you can lead your audience to. As we mentioned before there is a lot of competition for attention during the holidays, so multiple touch points are needed in order to be effective. If your offer is the first that is received whether it's by email, mail or social media post, it’ll give you a great chance to stand out! So, start early, know your purpose, know your audience, and implement the strategy for positive results.