Start Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns Now5 min read

It might seem too soon to be marketing your holiday offers to existing and potential clients, but it’s not! The National Retail Federation reports that about 40 percent of consumers start their holiday shopping before Halloween.  If you’re seeing holiday displays in local brick-and-mortar stores, it’s a sure sign that your holiday digital marketing should be in full swing. 

Make the most of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the Christmas season in general by planning holiday offers and campaigns now and launching them asap.

We offer some holiday marketing campaign ideas here, but if you want some customized ideas specific to your business, schedule a free consultation!

Plan, Prepare, Launch

You’ll need to make offers that are original and exciting because the competition online is intense.

Do your research. Look at what products or services were your best performers last season and consider centering your discounts and offers around those.

Keep in mind, though, that last season was impacted by more stringent COVID protocols. So, consider how the quarantine lift might influence what your customers will be looking to purchase this year. Shopify recently revealed that exercise equipment, baby accessories, and pet supplies are among the top categories of what people plan to buy post-pandemic.

Here’s an often-forgotten source for discovering what your customers want: Ask your customer service representatives what questions they answer most frequently. Whatever product or service is generating queries could be a potential product or service to highlight.

Tap Existing Leads with Email Specials

You have a gold mine of potential holiday shoppers in your email lists. Send them an exclusive offer for the holiday that shows you appreciate their loyalty.

While this email campaign is active, use social media platforms to let non-subscribers know they’re missing out. Lure them into subscribing to your email so they, too, can take advantage of your great holiday promotion and gain a larger “captive audience.”

Flash sales can be very effective. Have several discounts or sales for your email subscribers, but space them out in the weeks nearing the holiday. Send them to a well-branded and compelling landing page that highlights one week’s deal, with quick links to purchase and include a CTA “Enter Your Email Address to be Notified When the Next Sale Starts.”

Need help launching a holiday email campaign? Give us a call and let’s get started!

Launch Holiday PPC Campaigns & Paid Social

Launch PPC and get your holiday offers to appear prominently on major search engines, reaching your target audience while paying only for real site visitors. Our Pay Per Click advertising services can target your audience with effective messaging and purposeful keyword strategies. A display remarketing campaign can be highly effective. Want to learn more about PPC advertising? Schedule a free consultation before the holiday season is in full swing.

Are you set up to sell products on your social platforms?

Take advantage of this feature. Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms can serve as a storefront. Set up shopping and you can tag your products in your social posts to directly link customers to your store. Use Story Highlights in Instagram and Facebook Reels to push promotions further than the standard news feed. Use paid social features to target users who have already shown an interest in your company, have visited your website, or are located near your store.

Create a sense of urgency in your messaging. A feeling of scarcity or limited time can make products more attractive. Include a countdown feature or use emojis in your posts so that the sense of urgency is evident.

Before you do any of this, though, make sure your images are stellar and festive. Need help with product photography? We have the studio space and expertise to get it right—from small to large products, you’ll have professional photos ready to impress your clients! Learn more about our photography services.

Holiday Marketing for Service-Based Businesses

If you’re a service-based business, focus on highlighting your team, your hopes for the coming year, and consider launching the following:

• ‘Tis the Season for Building Relationships

Are you having an ugly Christmas sweater contest at your office? Let your potential customer or existing clients vote via your email marketing. This will remind clients that your staff is available during the busy holiday season, and it puts faces to names. It conveys a positive company culture, too. Their vote counts as a touchpoint either way.

• Be A Christmas Miracle

Do you have a company charitable or philanthropic cause during the holiday season? Reach out to your prospects and highlight the cause your supporting, why you’re supporting it, and the benefit to the recipients. If this is something like a local fundraiser or toy drive, ask for donations, provide a link to donations, or information on where they, too, can donate or participate.

You should not brag or highlight your activities after the fact. It can leave potential clients feeling that you’re only doing a good deed for the bragging rights.

• Ask a Question, Offer Help, Share your Vision for the New Year

Many companies are developing marketing plans and strategies for the upcoming year during the 4th quarter, so it’s a good time to share your own…Everything from new product launching, expanding services, new hire goals. But make sure you invite a conversation; ask about their new year goals or ask if they need collateral or ranges for their budget planning. Inviting a conversation will be a breath of fresh air when compared to the monsoon of “click to buy” emails they will be receiving. You’ll stand out, and that’s a win!

Give Video a Try

Video is power in the digital marketing sphere. You can reveal a lot of benefits and share a lot of information in a short amount of time. But make sure what you share is engaging. The most effective way to engage viewers is to make it clear there’s a benefit in watching.

Consider a tutorial on how to use a certain product. Near the start of your video, mention that there’s going to be a special discount code at the end and wait until you’ve finished highlighting the product to reveal that code.

Need help tracking the success of your holiday video campaign or more ideas for a successful holiday marketing campaign? We can help! Give us a call to get started on your holiday digital marketing and get ahead of the curve.