100 days to go… Is your Christmas Marketing Campaign ready?
Can you hear the distant tinkle of sleigh bells and smell the cosy aroma of mince pies?
No? We can’t either. It’s Sept after all and it was hot enough to jump in the paddling pool last week! But, in the world of marketing, forward planning is everything and coordinating your marketing strategy with the impending season of goodwill will ensure your business is one step ahead of the curve this Christmas. It’s time to create your Christmas marketing campaign.
Building a campaign that gathers momentum towards the busy festive season can:
· Create a buzz around your brand
· Build engagement and loyalty among your target audience
· Feed your mailing list
· Entice new website visitors
· Increase conversions and sales
It’s particularly relevant if your business is in a sector like fashion; homewares; gifts; lifestyle; craft; consumer tech; food or hospitality (lockdowns permitting but we’re staying positive…).
With Strictly starting this month and only 100 days until Christmas day, there’s no time like the present (ho ho) to plan a seasonal communications strategy that delivers. Don’t feel daunted by the task, there’s no pressure to start planning the next John Lewis Christmas Ad. Whether it’s a website audit; streamlining your customer journey; targeted PR; special offers or weekly newsletters – keep it simple and focus on a few key activities that will make the biggest difference to your business (on a JL side note, “The Long Wait” is our favourite and still give us goosebumps).
To get you started, here are a few of our Christmas marketing tips and tricks:
PR pays…
The long-lead glossy magazines are already wrapping up their festive issues, (some will have finished already) but there are still opportunities to get Christmas PR coverage for your brand via national newspapers, online media and local press…
At Christmas, people are typically looking for inspiration; recommendations; a helping hand and the feel-good factor. If your brand can tick those boxes, then it’s time to start pitching your story to the press.
Perhaps you could get your product included in a “20 eco-gifts under £20” round up; perhaps your founder could be interviewed on local radio about a charity partnership initiative you’re running in December, or maybe you offer a service that can help people manage stress at this overwhelming time of year?
Quirky and fun are also welcome respite from bad news stories. If your company has come up with a particularly inventive or unusual way to reward its employees or raise money this Christmas, there might be an opportunity to get some industry or local press coverage.
If your story is relevant, timely and fresh; journalists should be interested in finding out more. Our top tip is to always research the outlets you’re pitching to – targeted, personalised press releases get the best results.
Content Marketing converts…
There is no better time of year to add value to your customers’ lives and reveal the human side to your brand. Regular blogging and social media marketing are the best ways to achieve this, especially when 75% of consumers would rather learn about a product or service through content than via an advert.
Think about what your audience is most interested in on the build up to Christmas, and how your products and services relate to that. These areas of common ground should form the basis for your festive content strategy. For example, if you’re a food business, create some simple festive recipe ideas using your products; if you run an accountancy, suggest 5 easy action points to do in December to make January tax returns less stressful! Empathy, authenticity and value are your mantras.
Use the festive season to drive engagement though competitions, particularly those that encourage social sharing and user-generated content. Start conversations with your social followers and contribute positively to online discussions within your industry. Bear in mind relevant dates in the build up to the 25th December and if you hate the idea of Black Friday, showcase your own take on seasonal specials.
People buy from people, so remember to show the humans behind your logo. Christmas is an emotive time, so be brave enough to reveal some of your own joys, celebrations and challenges during this period. If your company is genuinely involved in charitable partnerships or environmental initiatives, then share this news occasionally with your audience. People like to support businesses they trust, with values that reflect their own.
Lead Nurturing rewards…
It’s a huge privilege to be invited into someone’s inbox. Consumers are 4-10 times more responsive to emails they’ve subscribed to, than to cold communications. Treat your existing customers and subscribers like royalty during the festive season and you’ll the reap the return.
VIP discounts, blogs, pre-releases and invites to events and sales all play to an inclusive sense of community and heighten the FOMO among those who are yet to join your loyal circle but hear about it on the grapevine.
Content marketing is 66% cheaper than traditional marketing. Email nurturing is cheaper still. Rather than spending budget on Facebook ads to cold audiences, the return you’ll get from reactivating your customers and offering added value to your subscribers is vastly superior.
The average Brit spends 29% more in December than in any other month of the year. People are actively looking to spend money at Christmas, so now is the time to nurture those warm leads. Too time consuming? Email nurturing via automations and newsletters saves business owners a lot of time and money. By creating empathetic emails triggered by your clients’ website journeys, you can remind your audience what they’re missing out on and offer them exclusive rewards.
Your existing customers and subscribers are definitely on your ‘good list’, so show them some genuine appreciation
