Top Tips on How to Make a Great Holiday Marketing Campaign
Table of Contents
The holiday season is upon us, and you want to make sure you capture as much of those sales as possible. During the 2020 holiday season, U.S. households spent an average of $1,300, and it is being reported this number will be higher this year. People are looking for products and services to give to their loved ones, and some will go to great lengths to get them. Make sure you put your best marketing foot forward this holiday season by following this list of ten tips for holiday marketing campaigns.
Constantly Communicate with Your Consumers
During the holiday season, every business that sells a product or service fights for the consumers’ attention. So, you need to stand out amongst the competition.
How do you stand out? Communicate with your audience early and throughout the entire Q4 Holiday Season. Don't wait until the start of December to start talking about your holiday deals. It is your job to make sure your message is heard, don’t be afraid to over-communicate. Many parents like to get their holiday shopping done early to avoid the rush of shopping during the holidays. According to Statista, in 2020, 48% of people started their holiday shopping before December.
Consider getting your messaging out in October. You don't necessarily have to release your products at this time, but start letting people know what you will be offering. Then, continue sending out reminders about your products/services as the end of the year approaches.
There are many reasons why you should be always communicate with your customers,
- If people place an order, remind them of the status every time there is an update.
- If store hours have changed or been extended
- In-store promotions/ giveaways/ special holiday events
Are you communicating across all platforms? You will want to spread your message as far as it can go, which means using every tool you got. Are you using all of the tools in your toolbox? Start early and often with your Email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
Be Inclusive
Many holidays are celebrated in the year’s final quarter, so be mindful of various holidays beyond Christmas. The United States is a melting pot which means not everyone is going to be celebrating Christmas. So, doing things like only using red and green graphics risks alienating part of your audience if they don't celebrate Christmas.
However, you can combat this by being specific to all the holidays occurring during this season. Craft a few different advertising campaigns to target the various holidays. This way, everyone feels included and is more likely to buy from you.
Or you can also just keep your holiday advertising generic and festive, so no one feels excluded.
Be Clear on Your Promotions and Special Offers
Along with starting your communication with consumers early, you want to make sure your holiday marketing campaigns are clear, simple, and easy to understand. If your language is confusing, people may opt to avoid your products. You also run the risk of people feeling tricked by your wordplay, which means they may never buy from you again.
Give Back
What are you doing to help people outside the company and in the communities where you do business? Consider a holiday giving back program and partner with a charity to give to. Maybe it’s a charity near and dear to one of your employees or something local. The key is making sure that the charity you choose is meaningful and sincere. The process itself can be as simple as a Buy 1 Give 1, hosting an auction event, or giving a portion of your proceeds.
Stay Customer Focused
The holiday season can be stressful, and consumers may be looking for ways to communicate with you to help them with what they need, when they need it. Make their days less stressful by making it easy for them to reach and interact with you.
Ensure that consumers have easily marked ways to get in touch with you. For instance, have a phone number to call, an email, and a contact form on your website. Make sure to include these forms of communication in your holiday marketing campaigns.
Consider enhancing your customer service with tools like live chat and live telephone service. If you are not already doing so, extend your chat and telephone service hours so people are more likely to reach you during their available time. For your current customers, use live chat to offer them suggestions based on their previous shopping history.
Staff up for Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns
Your company will be hectic during this season. You will want to have all hands on deck to make sure you can meet all your customers' needs. Hire seasonal workers as needed and make sure every department is fully trained and staffed. If that is not possible given the current labor market, automate as much of the consumer experience as you can. Extend hours where the need is and keep morale up!
Double-check Your Tech
Before the season starts make sure all your technology is working, especially your online shopping. The last thing you need is for the holiday rush to hit, and suddenly you realize no one can buy anything online. Make sure your website is prepared to handle a sudden influx of traffic. Also, ensure your phones are working and that there is no trouble with emails reaching you.
Plan for Stock Shortages
It's essential to look at the projections of holiday shopping to help you determine how much stock to order. You also need to consider any disruptions to the supply chain that may make it more difficult to get products. You may need to request further ahead of time to get your stock.
There is always a chance you can run out of stock. You need to have a plan in place if this happens to immediately be ready to address it. You will want to communicate the shortage to consumers quickly and offer personal shopping to help consumers find something else they would like instead.
Have Fun with Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns
The world is serious enough as it is, so don't be afraid to put some humor into your advertising. Make sure it isn't anything that could be construed as offensive, but have some fun with your wordplay. People will appreciate being brought out of their stress and being given a reason to smile. While you are at it lighten up your emails with fun and engaging subject lines.
- 56% of businesses using emojis in their subject lines had a higher open rate. (Campaign Monitor)
- Emails with unique subject lines that are personalized have a 26% increase in the likelihood of being opened. (Campaign Monitor)
Live Chat
Live chat might not mean much to you the rest of the year, but to a frantic shopper desperate for answers, it can make a world of difference. It gives customers the help they need immediately, which will lead to more sales for you. Imagine having all payment problems taken care of instantly. It also will give those unsure customers the much-needed push, whether it is a promo code or advice.
It also lets you grow from previous years. By checking your reports, you can see how high customer satisfaction was. It also gives you the chance to prepare and hire more customer service agents or extend hours during the holiday season.
Conclusion
The key is remembering that the customer comes first, and you need to do everything in your power to make holiday shopping easier for them. This means making sure your advertising is clear and creating multiple ways for customers to engage with you.
Applying these tactics to your holiday marketing campaigns will help ensure your business has a great holiday season. However, if you try to employ marketing tactics without strategy, you will have difficulty being successful.