Summer’s come to an end and shorts and sandals are being replaced with jeans and boots. It may seem a little silly to already be thinking about a holiday marketing plan— didn’t summer JUST end? But believe it or not, now is the PERFECT time to get ahead when it comes to the holidays.
Holiday season has a tendency to sneak up on you. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years seem so far in the future. Before you know it, snowflakes will be falling and the busyness of the holidays will be in full swing. Want to avoid unnecessary stress and burnout this holiday season? Check out our helpful holiday marketing tips and get ahead of the game!
Prioritize Your Holiday Marketing Plan
Brainstorm: Start as soon as you can to brainstorm a holiday marketing plan and put it into place. Holiday sales tend to bring in about 20% of annual sales across most industries. It’s the time of year where a strong marketing plan can bring your business to the top of the competition. Plus, who doesn’t want to end 2023 with a bang?
Your brainstorming session should be where you bring efficiency and creativity together.
Ask for help: Seek out innovative yet reliable marketing plans. Your employees as well as other experts in your industry may have some insight that you didn’t realize you need. Or perhaps you’re friends with an owner of a business very different from yours. You can still bounce ideas off of each other.
Reflect on Your Past Marketing Plans
One of the first steps of an effective marketing plan is to research your own company. Sounds weird? It’s not!
Use historical data to determine if you overspent or underspent on anything last year (we’re talking money or time).
- Did you host an event? If so, how effective was it?
- Did you create a coupon? If so, how many coupons were used?
- Did you write a blog? If so, how many people read it?
- Did you update your website? If so, how much more traffic is it seeing?
- Did you use social media last year? If so, have your followers increased/do they engage with your material?
Take a closer look at how you’ve been conducting your previous holidays marketing strategies and see what really worked and what could use some extra TLC.
Create a Holiday Offer
Pick a campaign theme and run with it! Each year you should reflect on what you want this holiday season and what your organization or business can provide people. Each year may be drastically different or have subtle nuances. Either way, your holiday campaign should be designed with flavor! Have fun with it. Your campaign is designed around your holiday offer.
Establish a Goal for the Holiday Season
A clear and attainable goal is one of the cornerstones of a great marketing strategy. A goal is not a hope. It’s an objective that you’ve written down and will pursue. Writing down your goal keeps you accountable to it in the future.
Your goals should be SMART – Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
Collect $75,000 in donations for ____ charity by December 25, 2023.
Generate 2,000 leads who are interested in our black friday sale by November 22, 2023.
Host 250 participants at the annual _____ event on December 31st, 2023.
You goals could focus on one or multiple categories:
- Revenue
- Awareness
- Leads
- Shares
- Conversion
Define Your Target Audience
Who are you trying to attract and who do you already attract? Gather as much information about your target audience as possible.
Reflect on your target audience:
- Do they like to shop in stores or online?
- Do they consume social media on instagram or facebook?
- What’s their age demographic?
- Are you catering to a high-end consumer or more of the middle class?
- Are they locals, tourists, or a mix of both?
When you truly understand your target audience, you understand the best ways to engage them.
Leverage the Right Marketing Channels
After looking at your target audience and writing down your goals this holiday season, you need to determine which marketing channels are best for you.
Marketing is EVERYWHERE these days. Make sure that you’re emphasizing quality over quantity. (Quantity isn’t bad, just make sure that the quality is the priority!) Ask industry experts what they use, take a short class on the latest marketing channels, and be creative.
You may want to optimize these marketing channels:
- Website
- TikTok
- Newspaper Ads
- Online Reviews
- Word of mouth
- Paid Advertising
- Radio
- Chamber of Commerce listing
- Sponsorships
- Community calendars
- Flyers/Posters
Create Your Marketing Calendar
This is an exciting new step! All of your planning and preparation come together in your marketing calendar.
This calendar reminds you of holidays and important nation-wide events such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Small Business Saturday. You can even include other celebrations or noteworthy days like Native American Heritage Month, World Mental Health Day, Daylight Savings, World Coffee Day, National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, Winter Solstice, or a sporting event.
Plus, this calendar reminds you to release a new promotional video, run a new ad, print and hang a community flier, or post a story on instagram.
No matter what industry you’re in, you NEED a marketing calendar to keep everything straight.
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate
Delegate tasks to keep everything organized and running smoothly. Most of the time, you can’t do everything—and that’s okay!
If an employee is extremely detail oriented and good with numbers—have them order merchandise or supplies.
Do you have an employee is a social butterfly? Encourage them to meet with your advertisers or plan a social event.
Is there an employee who loves to read—have them research your target audience.
Optimize the strengths of others!
Avoid the Biggest Holiday Marketing Plan Mistakes
Now that we’ve discussed what you SHOULD do, let’s quickly go over what you SHOULDN’T.
- Only focus on one marketing strategy – this will drastically limit your reach. It’s okay to have one larger marketing strategy but just make sure that it’s not your only one.
- Last minute planning – start early! Last minute planning will stress you out and hurt your outcomes.
- Not optimizing your mobile site – You need to be accessible online. Like it or not, that’s how the world runs these days. Focus on your online presence and you will reap the rewards.
- Ineffective customer service – Be available and fully staffed during the busy holiday season. Customer service can make or break any business. Monitor social media engagement and consider implementing a live chat feature on your website.
- Not staying local – One way to stand out is to have a personalized touch to your organization—don’t underestimate the power of your local audience.
The Bottom Line
Design your holiday marketing plan to boost your brand awareness and meet your goals. It’s that simple. Position your brand above others, attract new customers, and keep your loyal ones. Make it great, make it you!
Do you need holiday marketing solutions and don’t know where to start? Schedule a time to grab a coffee and learn how Transcend Ideas can help take the load off this holiday season and provide marketing solutions for your company.
