‘Tis the season to be jolly and for many of us, it’s a
crucial time for making those much-needed sales towards reaching your financial
targets and goals.
For the last three months, I have spent a lot of time creating festive marketing campaigns for my clients, so I thought it is a good idea to share some of the top ideas to try over the festive season.
Before we start…
When it comes to festive season online marketing, it’s important
to get your planning done as early as possible. And your planning needs to be
executed perfectly. There are few things that will make your shoppers angry
than when you mess up on their Christmas shopping.
Be prepared. The festive season is the most competitive
season for businesses. Make your business stand out.
Another thing I always tell my clients is to give the people
a reason to buy. Don’t give them fluff. Give them a reason they need your
product! And sell it to them! And most importantly, don’t forget about your
existing customers.
Digital marketing ideas to try over the festive season
Social media:
Social media is a busy time over the festive period. Make
your social media channels stand out. One way of doing this is to make your
social media more festive by perhaps adding a Christmas hat to your logo (if
the design allows it). Or add a snowy effect to your cover images on Facebook.
There are so many fun and interesting things you can do to your social media
profile pictures to make it more festive. Remember to update it after Christmas
though.
Another fun idea is to start a #12DaysOf campaign. I love
this idea because it is so versatile. For one of my clients we are doing a
#12DaysOfDesserts campaign. For another client we are doing a #12DaysOfChristmasSpecials
campaign.
My favourite campaign we are doing is the #12DaysOfCheer
campaign where followers will be asked to share their fondest festive memories
for a chance to win a holiday! There are so many fun ways you can incorporate
this into your brand.
To generate engagement over the festive season, ask your
followers some questions. One thing I’ve learnt is that people love to talk
about themselves and this is not necessarily a bad thing. Ask your readers
about their favourite festive recipes, if they have any Christmas traditions,
where they usually go on holiday over the festive season, what their favourite Christmas
memory is.
Design or create beautiful e-cards to draw more attention.
Polls, polls, polls. There’s a group of people on social media
that we call an “onlooker audience”. This is not a technical term, so don’t
quite me, but it is a fun way to refer to those who actively use a social media
account without interacting with anyone.
This is quite popular for Instagram and Twitter, although we
see several audience members on Facebook following this approach too. A fun way
to engage these people is by doing polls. A poll only requires your reader to
select an option (and most of the time the poll results are anonymous so most
won’t mind answering).
Try asking whether they are cooking at home or going out for
Christmas lunch, whether they have already finished their Christmas shopping or
if they are going on holiday over the festive season. Again, there are many fun
ways you can incorporate this into your festive marketing strategy.
Giveaways! I cannot stress this enough. If you want to see
reach and engagement on any social media platform, host a giveaway over the
festive season. The trick here, however, is to give away a prize that is 100%
worth it. Don’t skimp on something small. Stick with the big guns –
personalised gifts are a real winner!
Create limited-time offers to entice people to buy now!
Website or blog:
Gift guides are wildly popular. And they show a high
click-through and conversion rate. If you are a product-based business,
creating a gift guide will most-likely give you conversions.
Content is KING! If possible, create content that will make
your reader’s lives easier. For example, for one of my clients, we’ve put
together a guide to surviving the festive season when you are hosting your
family. Another client of mine went with a completely different approach to the
festive season and we’re creating 7 hacks for the perfect Christmas roast. This
is a video campaign, and we’ve seen great results so far.
Another great content idea is to share what goes on behind
the scenes in your business over the festive season – you can also roll this
out to social media. Share pics and stories from the people in your team.
Introduce the people behind your brand.
Your content marketing strategy should be super strong and
completely relatable this time of year. Pump some humour into your content.
Make it funny, make it stand out.
Also create a landing page with your festive offers and
encourage readers to shop now – you can do this with limited-time only
discounts, upgrades, etc. Add a sign-up form with an even further discount to
encourage people to sign up to your newsletter.
Newsletters:
Newsletter/email marketing is a wonderful direct marketing
tool. You have all of your customers and subscribers at the tip of your finger.
Send a weekly email to your database in the weeks leading up
to the festive season. Include special offers, discounts and more in your
newsletters.
Split your database in two and target those customers who
have shopped from you before. Encourage another sale by giving this database an
extra special discount offer. People are very likely to repurchase if you share
something exclusive.
Write headlines that make your readers want to click. Spread
the Christmas cheer. But, don’t spam your readers. One email per week is
enough.
Get personal and address your customers directly.
Personalise your email subject lines. Something along the lines of “Imka, here’s
how to survive the festive season on a budget” would get better open rates than
“Survive the festive season on a budget”. People love hearing and seeing their
own names, that’s why personalised gifts are always a winner!
Last year, we created a fun “report” card for one of my baking
clients where we shared stats from the year. It included the amount of flour
used, how many km they have driven, the biggest order they have received and
the most-extravagant order they have made, to name a few. The subject line was
something along the lines of “Imka, look how far we have come together…” and it
received a 76% open rate! Your readers want to know about your business, so
share it with them.
Add some festive cheer to your newsletter headers too. Add
some snow, or a Christmas hat, or some fun bells and whistles. Experiment with
animations too. Make it fun and festive!
Unfortunately, the festive season seems to be about discount
offers and it’s the battle of the brands with the biggest discount codes. But
remember to make it work for you.