The holidays mark the time when people are most willing to spend money on things. Savvy business owners know how to take advantage of this time of the year. Marketing strategies come aplenty for those who know what they’re doing. But for first-time entrepreneurs, coming up with a marketing strategy during the holidays can be a challenge. Here are six essential holiday marketing tips.
Focus on visuals
Holidays have a certain visual associated with them. If you’re going to market on the holidays, pay special attention to the visual aspect of your campaign. Practically every brand is going to vie for attention during this time of the year. Stand out by creating visual-heavy content. Focus on inspiring warm, holiday emotions in your posts or on social media. Change the visual look of your emails into something more festive. In fact, consider making your entire website more festive.
Make your audience the hero
The holidays don’t just have to be about yourself and your brand. Consider involving your audience with your marketing campaign. Encourage your followers to talk about the holidays and feature them on your blog. Ask what they’re up to. Ideally, you want to frame these stories with your brand or product in mind. If you own a clothing brand, ask your customers to share pictures of them wearing your clothes during holiday events. Ask them to share pictures of them giving your product as a gift to friends or family. The possibilities are endless.
Leverage data from previous years
Don’t just go in blind. Build your marketing campaign on what data you can gather from campaigns you and other brands ran in the past. Look at figures and analytics from previous years. Find out what worked and what didn’t. What type of content got the most attention? Which products sold the most units? Answering just a few of these questions can improve your campaign.
The holidays are perfect for behind the scenes content
People love reading about what their favorite brands are up to behind the scenes. The holidays are the perfect time to show off your brand in a more casual light. Instead of releasing new products or handing out giveaways, why not take the holidays as an opportunity to go behind the scenes of your business? Show off how your office is celebrating the holidays. Share content about you or your employees. Create or collect memorable holiday stories and share them with your audience.
Controlled repetition sells
Repetition is a big no-no in the marketing world. But controlled repetition can be necessary if you want to reach the right people. While you should vary your marketing campaign as much as possible every year, consistency can be just as important. If you’re practicing email marketing, remember to email often. Send out holiday greetings or cards to your customers, reminding them that you care about them. Don’t just tweet a holiday greeting once or twice but do so often enough that people can’t miss it; however, take note that your campaign should not come off as spam. Instead, focus on creating short, substantial content.
Create a content calendar ahead of time
Planning ahead is important. But go the next level and plan ahead with specific dates in mind. Content marketing is important during the holidays. During the holidays you want to create content that resonates with your audience. Give them new information. Share your expertise. Or just do something fun. What’s important is that you map out your plan ahead of time. Jot down important dates and key content you want to produce during those dates. Find out the best dates to get the most out of your audiences’ attention.
The holidays can be a highly competitive time for brands. Stand out from the competition by following these tips.
If you have any questions, our team would be more than happy to help. Call us today at 215-393-9787.
