There are only 12 weeks ’til Christmas!! Have you thought of your Christmas marketing yet? Your Christmas marketing campaigns should be focused on brand awareness and increase sales! Holiday marketing will be in full swing by December 1, so start considering your marketing campaigns well before the Christmas season.
Get ahead of the game and start planning your digital marketing strategy. According to some surveys, holiday shoppers start buying presents as early as October. This means you should have your marketing campaigns prepared and finalized by the end of September to make the most of the Christmas season.
This article touches on:
How to stand out during the Christmas season
How to use email marketing
Christmas Marketing campaign ideas
Stand Out:
One way to stand out from your competitors and get your customers to start paying attention to you is to add Christmas flair to you branding. Can you add a Santa hat to your logo, or change your branding to ‘Christmas colours’? These are ways to capture the holiday spirit and make your customers notice. Feel free to adjust your social media profile pictures to incorporate the holidays. Although it might cost a bit of money to re-brand for a Christmas theme, these pictures can be used year after year. Your Facebook cover photo can be a picture with the words “Merry Christmas”, or any other seasonal keywords.
Update your website to cater to the festive season! As seasons change, moods change. Once sweater weather is upon us, people start talking about Christmas and start getting into the holiday shopping mood! This is a perfect opportunity for you to humanize your business. If you are an online business, build a section called gift ideas or gift guides, keeping your customers shopping on your online store.
Consider changing your packaging to suit the holiday theme. Adding snowflakes or snowmen makes the item extra special. Custom packaging will have your customers pause, and is a first step in creating a memorable unboxing experience.
Use Email Marketing:
As always, we talk about frequency! Getting your message out in front of your audience is key, especially at Christmas time when everyone is vying for their attention. Be sure to utilize email marketing to help boost your sales during the holiday period. The holiday season is the ideal time to boost your email marketing strategy. Create a focused campaign to highlight specific offers and products, and share important information such as extended hours. Small businesses can showcase unique items that aren’t readily available. Make sure to have a catchy email subject line, such as ‘Yule adore our wrapping tips’!
Holiday Promotion Ideas:
Here are a shot gun ideas to boost sales and awareness this season.
Although it’s a bit overdone, the “12 Days of Christmas” campaign receives a lot of attention, not only because of the theme, but because of time-limited offers that creates a strong sense of urgency.
Another way to get customers excited is to offer an advent calendar themed campaign. Starting December 1, offer a special promotion on one item until Christmas morning.
Sweeten the deal and incentivize your customers to make that purchase! Give a gift card with a purchase. Make it unique to your store. Consider giving a Starbucks gift card for every christmas gift over $30.
Consider a Buy One, Give One. Start a campaign that advocates for your favourite cause. Every time you make a sale, you give back to a charity. The ‘gift of giving’ concept ties in perfectly with Christmas, which is a great way to give back when buying for families and friends
Don’t forget to use social media advertising to get in front of target audiences. Facebook marketing is a great way to put specific deals in front of potential customers. Ads campaigns can go a long way at Christmas time. Paid social ads can help increase sales when done right. Don’t forget about Black Friday when considering your holiday marketing campaign. Online advertisements can bring people to landing pages created specifically for one item, or it can bring them to your digital catalogue. This can dramatically increase your Christmas sales. Social media ads are great marketing tools for any season.
This festive season are the perfect time to promote your business as a great destination for Christmas shopping and you can use them to easily drive sales and awareness. Most of the ideas listed above can be adapted for all types of businesses, and on different marketing channels.
Christmas is around the corner, so start planning your holiday promotion and strategies. If you are interested in more marketing tips, join our Facebook community!
