Holiday Marketing Campaign Ideas & Tips to Delight Your Customers

For many eCommerce businesses, the holiday season is the busiest time of year. 

Whether it’s freshening up your landing pages, creating brand awareness with your holiday marketing campaigns, finding others ways to target new customers and everything in between, the list of tasks seems endless.

However, business owners and marketers alike understand it’s an opportunity to strike big and the final chance to boost sales before the new year.

The holiday shopping season formally begins with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and leads up to the slew of December holidays, including Christmas. It’s never too early to start planning for it, either.

As more and more consumers shop online, the planning phase is arguably the most important part of a successful season. Here are some ideas and templates to make those holiday promotions shine:

For many eCommerce businesses, the holiday season is the busiest time of year. 

Whether it’s freshening up your landing pages, creating brand awareness with your holiday marketing campaigns, finding others ways to target new customers and everything in between, the list of tasks seems endless.

However, business owners and marketers alike understand it’s an opportunity to strike big and the final chance to boost sales before the new year.

The holiday shopping season formally begins with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and leads up to the slew of December holidays, including Christmas. It’s never too early to start planning for it, either.

As more and more consumers shop online, the planning phase is arguably the most important part of a successful season. Here are some ideas and templates to make those holiday promotions shine:

8 Holiday Marketing Strategies to Consider

The following holiday marketing tips and promotion ideas will help you refine your efforts to ramp up sales during the most profitable time of year:

1. Err on the side of simplicity.
2. Be ready to react and adapt quickly.
3. Use a more content-driven approach.
4. Be prepared for more competition than ever.
5. Consider an influencer strategy.
6. Avoid false urgency. Create a real reason to buy.
7. Don’t forget about your existing customers.
8. Partner with a non-profit.

1. Err on the side of simplicity.

It can be easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of holiday planning. However, it’s better in the long run to start small with your holiday campaigns, especially if this is your first holiday season as a brand.

Even larger retailers who have been around for decades often refer back to the basics during the holidays. It all depends on the amount of bandwidth your team has and the amount of support your operations will have during the holidays.

The holidays are not a good time to experiment with a new approach for customers, especially if you’ve done thorough testing and discovery year-round to nail down the correct messaging.

There is too much on the line. If you want to be extra creative and try a new approach, consider doing an A/B test.

The reputation you’ve built with customers throughout the year will be one of the deciding factors when they choose where to shop for that perfect gift from Santa or a gift card for their loved ones. Make sure you’re standing by with a customer experience that matches what they’ve been through when they purchased in the past.

Using social media marketing, including the use of hashtags, is another simple approach to take.

2. Be ready to react and adapt quickly.

The saying “all hands on deck” holds no greater meaning than when you’re a retailer during the holidays.

Regardless of the size of your website, you’ll need to have a fast-acting team available to remedy any issues that may occur on your site, on your holiday ads, including Facebook ads, and anywhere else.

It goes beyond digital and content preparations. Consider amendments to your customer service, shipping, fulfilment and operations teams to handle the extra visitors and orders. 

Additionally, you need to react quickly when things aren’t going as planned.

3. Use a more content-driven approach.

With the growth of online shopping, customers are more familiar with holiday campaigns than ever before. They often see the same thing year after year, so their eyes may glaze over at the traditional sales and marketing tactics.

The same themes that emerged during the last year in eCommerce will apply to holiday marketing strategies as well.

The main theme that will stay true during the holidays is the “content-first” approach that innovative and trending brands are using today. Using content marketing as a method to reach customers, we’ll see brands offer more personalized shopping experiences, including discount codes and holiday gift guides.

Adding a content strategy element to your holiday marketing ideas can reap big rewards, especially if you keep search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. This optimized content will help drive organic traffic to your website as customers search for products that you sell — even if they’ve never shopped with you before.

If you’ve introduced a new brand voice or customer marketing strategy over the past year, be sure to weave that new messaging into your holiday campaigns — otherwise, it may result in a disjointed customer experience.

4. Be prepared for more competition than ever.

With so many promotions around the holiday shopping season, email marketing is as important as ever to draw customers to your online store. Make sure your email campaigns help you stand out from the crowd and clearly communicate the benefits of shopping with you over your competitors.

However, getting customers in the door is just part of the battle. Cart abandonment paired with the rise in competition can make the holidays a troublesome time for retailers who struggle to keep up with changing customer activities.

5. Consider an influencer strategy.

The effectiveness of influencers wavers between industries, but many companies use social media marketing during the holidays.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and sometimes even LinkedIn are clear avenues for brand interaction during the holidays.

Make your presence known to social media users by applying an influencer strategy that carries through to the holidays.

6. Avoid false urgency. Create a real reason to buy.

If panic buying has taught us anything, it’s that consumers can have a sense of urgency and will purchase when they have confidence something they need or want will sell out. The holiday season is known for deep pricing discounts that can only be found once a year and shoppers know how to spot the good ones.

When creating your holiday marketing plans, make sure you’re clearly incentivizing shoppers to visit your online store and complete a purchase.

There is a fine line between haphazard discounting or giveaways and creating a relationship with your customers. You don’t want to devalue your brand to the point where customers think it’s cheap. They might not be compelled to make a repeat purchase.

The holiday season isn’t just about creating revenue — it’s also about establishing connections with customers who will return to purchase in the off-season. Make sure that customer retention is top of mind during any marketing decision you make for the holidays.

7. Don’t forget about your existing customers.

Chances are that the visitors who come to your website during the holidays will be a healthy mix of new and returning customers. The pathway to purchase for a repeat customer looks very different than a new customer, so make considerations for both while building out your plans.

8. Partner with a non-profit.

After all, this is the holiday season and, after a tough year, consumers are looking forward to the merriment of the season. 

For many, this means giving back and doing good deeds. Consider partnering with a non-profit to get in the holiday spirit while sharing your brand mission with your customers. 

If you’re unsure where to start, consider partnering with a local organization or tap your customers to learn which organizations are close to their hearts. End the year on a positive note.

***

Featured image: istockphoto

***

Article culled from bigcommerce