Holiday Marketing: Here is the approach to set your seasonal marketing right! Read to know more

As much as it is fun to think about, holiday marketing can be very arduous. Slightest of mistake and boom! Things can go haywire very quickly. Indeed, planning holiday marketing is very tricky.

Moreover, as the year approaches, the pressure of delivering better campaigns with meaningful content is immense for a marketer. Are we doing better than last year? What’s the engagement rate? Are we hitting the marks that we thought we would reach? And, there are more. Indeed, questions have no end!

It’s such a high-demanding time. How we gauge various metrics determines our success rate. Nonetheless, if we focus on setting a proper process, we will get the results in this segment. After all, holiday marketing is marketing!

This time for the audience

Try looking at how Coke approached this in a super casual yet emotional manner. Here’s a little girl giving her father a letter, which is for Santa Claus. His father does everything possible to make sure he fulfills his daughter’s wish. He goes through every extreme to reach his destination.

Upon reaching, he realizes his efforts go in vain and has to return in a Coca-Cola truck. When the person in the truck drops him, he receives his daughter’s letter that said, “Dear Santa, please bring daddy home for Christmas,” and, who’s the person in the truckーSanta himself!

This campaign is not to highlight the greatness of Santa or an effort to increase the sales of Coca-Cola; it was an effort to deliver a powerful messageーLittle but precious things that only we can do! ー in a simple way.

With the pandemic around, marketers must look beyond the materialistic objectives. One has to put one’s audience in perspective. COVID has raged war on humanity, and trying to pitch something that resonates with everyone is a way to go about it.

However, that does not mean you don’t observe the patterns. Everything has a silver lining, and pandemic is no different. It has boosted the e-commerce industry. Perhaps, it will be fair to say that it has brought our future closer than ever.

Moreover, Fortune’s study said that more than 50% of US adults prefer to shop online! To ensure you leverage this, you need a strong understanding of holiday marketing, the dates, potential channels of placing your content, and, last but not least, your reason for holiday marketing.

Why is holiday marketing important?

Perhaps, one should ponder upon this question. It is easy to give in to the needs and greed of the market. Everyone is looking towards the holiday as a medium to enhance their sales. It is all about me, myself, and I.

However, you have to be giving and diverse when it comes to holiday marketing. As a business person, you have to ensure that you add value to your customers. You will not want to make them feel that you are running out of gas, do you?

Probably, this is why you will need to dig in a little deeper while planning holiday marketing. The holiday season is a crucial period for your business. If you cater well, this period will inject a substantial boost in your KPIs, including sales.

Since people are primed to spend some of their time shopping for the new year or looking for last-minute gifts, this allows them to target specific businesses and types of products they need. This is when the market develops a pattern, and you know what to do to be on top of their minds during the season.

The needs and demands are out there; your vigilance and marketing efforts will provide you with an edge that most of your competitors lack. Your curated holiday marketing campaigns, targeted messages, personalized emails, and a nuanced understanding of consumer behavior will allow you to leverage unprecedented profits and goodwill.

How to go about planning holiday marketing?

Once we attain our cause, it is time to understand how to bring it to practical use. Yes, there is a plethora of content available to guide one through this. However, too much of anything is a problem.

Holiday marketing, if planned adequately, can make things intriguing; but, how will you do that? How will you ensure that your strategy shapes precisely the way you want?

Block and Plan

It is imperative for successful holiday marketing to plan for important dates. These are the days that will swing the tide in your favor. Do keep an eye out for dates like Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.

Marketing is all about consumers; and, you have to ensure you uniquely cater to their needs. You add value to their glee and celebration. Also, please don’t make it a one-day effort. You can plan multiple or year-round content and campaigns for days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Personalize your marketing!

Festivals and nostalgia go hand-in-hand. Holidays are the time to remember, share, and create memories. Going a bit nostalgic with your holiday marketing helps you build a bond with your audience.

Some throwback images will do a world of wonders for your marketing. Besides, while doing this, you can also opt for targeted ads. These allow you to present customized content to your specific target audience. With a bit of creativity and relevancy, you can get your consumers to take the actions that you want. Moreover, you can partner with professionals to help you out with ads and social media. In this way, with a bit of investment, you can very effectively target your audience on multiple channels. Aside from that, they will help you carve out a constructive and integrated social media holiday marketing strategy.

Email marketing

Email is a very personal thing. No one shares that quickly and if you have it, make use of it. Step up your game and make things grow with email marketing. The holiday season is the best time to email your consumers.

During this bustling period, consumers find it hard to interact over a call. However, they will check their mail at least once a whole day. Checking emails and replying to them allows them to control the pace of their digital activity. In this, if you manage to come up with something exciting and response-worthy, you are there for a treat!

They want the best deals and discounts on products and services; your email is a way of providing them with that. However, please don’t stop there; ensure that you care for the bond you forge with them.

Apart from providing deals and customary holiday greetings, assure that you send out emails that show you really care about their well-being. Let them know that you are there for a two-way bond, not just for sales. Make it a cause and commit to it!

Don’t forgetー you are a brand!

It is easy to give in to the complexities and, eventually, forget that you are also there for yourself. It is critical to promote your brand along with your products to leave a lasting impression.

Why do people love Starbucks, McDonald’s, or Burger King? Instead of just focussing on sales and products, they provide value to their customers and, subsequently, their brand. Sometimes they indulge in banter. Sometimes they collaborate on an issue.

They always find a way to associate their brands with a higher cause. Besides, they have a strong understanding of their unique selling point(USP). This allows them to project their brand in an engaging light, irrespective of the season.

To promote your brand, pay attention to how you project it while planning holiday marketing. Introspect factors and ask whether you project your USP, value proposition, and empathy to your consumers. Your extra effort in building your brand will give your consumers a reason to invest in it.

In a nutshell

Holiday marketing is a tricky but thrilling psychological game. Remember, it is the micro-steps of the process that fetches the right results. Yes, you can go for shortcuts and find a quick fix to your problem, albeit you have to put in the hard yards if you want to gain something substantialーhere your consumer.

Besides, if you need to set things right and seek professional advice, we are here to help. We, at CedCommerce, very much like you, believe in forging long partnerships. We believe in holistic growth because it is not me, myself, and I. Instead, it is us!

So, if you need help, we are here for you! Also, another piece of content related to the same topic and digital marketing will be released shortly. Do stay and have a great read!