5 Holiday Marketing Strategies To Set Into Motion Next Year
Marketing campaigns for the holiday season are invaluable to small businesses. They work because consumers are primed and ready to spend money at this time of year. Consumers typically spend 50-100% more on the days between Black Friday and New Year (including Christmas Week), and you want them to spend more of their hard-earned holiday shopping money on your products, rather than on your competitors.
Most marketing experts agree that holiday marketing strategies should be fully in place well before the holiday season, even as early as late summer. Starting early will help ensure a stress-free holiday marketing campaign for your staff, and also help you identify which strategies give you the best conversion rates so you can adjust your sales tactics as needed.
No matter what time of year, it’s never too soon to begin thinking about next year’s holiday marketing because of its earning potential.
Here are five holiday marketing strategies to set into motion next year:
1. Be Mobile-Ready
Your small business can’t afford to ignore the increase in mobile shopping. Not only do most shoppers now prefer to browse online instead of in brick-and-mortar stores, but more and more shop from their mobiles. According to Forbes, 50% of all digital shopping is expected to take place on smartphones by the new year. This means that next year’s marketing efforts must be completely mobile-ready.
Your website, e-commerce storefront, marketing emails, and landing pages for next year’s holiday season should be optimised to work flawlessly (and look spot-on) on mobile devices. The mobile versions of your website and other marketing products should make it as easy as possible for customers to buy your products from their phones. You may even want to invest in a mobile app for your business before the holidays. It’s crucial to hire marketing professionals with completely up-to-date knowledge of mobile web technology- or who at least know how to cost-effectively outsource these important tasks.
2. Capitalise On Email
Email adverts continue to be a powerful way to draw in customers, especially when announcing holiday sales and promotions. 25% of adults say their holiday shopping is influenced by email promotions. Email provides an opportunity to embrace the holiday spirit with conversational and warm messages that evoke an emotional response in your customers. Plus, email campaigns are inexpensive, so they’re an accessible marketing tool even if your budget is tiny.
Focus on personalised emails with concise, engaging subject headings. These examples of effective holiday subject lines should inspire you to write your own pithy subject lines. Another thing to keep in mind is that many people check their email during the workday from their office computer. This is prevalent especially during the busy holiday season when many of us struggle to balance all our work tasks with our mounting personal to-do lists. For this reason, customers tend to appreciate email promotions that are more understated in terms of colour, font, and messaging- nothing too garish or busy that will easily catch the eye of a prying coworker.
3. Take Advantage of Small Business-Friendly Sentiment
Many consumers shop at big box stores out of convenience or to take advantage of savings, but feel more emotionally connected to smaller businesses. If you can connect with your customers emotionally by emphasising that you are a unique small or family owned-business, you will differentiate yourself from the bigger and more generic chains.
Making the most of Small Business Saturday is a great way to attract customers who prefer to shop local and support smaller businesses when they shop for their Christmas presents. In the UK, Small Business Saturday is the first in December of every year and aims to highlight locally owned businesses and encourage shoppers to choose small and local businesses for their holiday gift shopping.
4. Keep Your Tone Festive
The holiday season tends to bring out the jolly, festive, and sentimental sides of all but the most stalwart Scrooges and Grinches. When the tone of your holiday marketing efforts taps into this festive and joyous feeling, you will encourage your customers to generously spend money on gifts without feeling anxious about their spending.
The holiday season is not the time to be cold and matter-of-fact in your marketing efforts. Instead, aim to engage your customers like they are old friends, using warm and cordial language, festive graphics and design, and an overall feeling of happiness and optimism. Your holiday marketing adverts should evoke feelings of goodwill, generosity, friendship, and gratitude. Nostalgic marketing that reminds customers of happy childhood memories can also be effective at this time of year.
5. Incorporate Black Friday & Cyber Monday Into Annual Strategy
This used to be a uniquely American phenomenon, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals have now caught on in the UK in a big way. Customers looking for deals on their holiday shopping may be waiting specifically for these sales before they make their major purchases. When you offer your own Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, you increase your consumer reach and drive more holiday revenue. Be sure to advertise these sales weeks ahead of time, in order to stand out from the glut of Black Friday and Cyber Monday adverts that your customers will receive from major retailers.
These holiday marketing strategies are effective and take serious advantage of holiday spending momentum. We hope next year’s holiday season is your best ever!
