Why You Need To Master Holiday Marketing In 2021

It might make you cringe to see back-to-school and Halloween promos, and displays, in the middle of August or even July. But you’ve got to give it to them. Retailers maximize the opportunities to profit off of seasons and holidays that lead to significant purchases. And you can too.

Holiday marketing means aligning your marketing campaigns with events that are important to your target audience throughout the year. These could be local or national holidays or something specific to your industry. Whatever the combination of events, capitalizing on them by creating unique touchpoints with your target audience can give you significant boosts to your bottom line. 

Some holidays matter more

A word of caution before we move ahead. You don’t have to build a holiday marketing campaign around every season or holiday. Pick and choose those which resonate with your target audience. And those which are relevant to your product or service. You can figure this out by considering the following: 

• Your website traffic – when are you seeing spikes in it? Why?
• Check out Google Trends – search to find out when, and how frequently, your product or services are being searched for.
• Use Buzzsumo, Ahrefs, or Social Animal – search for blogs on related topics/campaigns that have done well and analyze how and why they were successful. Try to find and incorporate any common denominators into your own campaigns.

Plan ahead or you’ll be planning to fail

The lead time that you’ll need to meet, or exceed, your goals can vary quite a bit. For the most part, though it will depend on three factors:

1. How much research does the average consumer do before purchasing your product or service?
   

   And what does it take to motivate them to purchase from you? This will vary depending on whether there is a high degree of risk associated with your offering. And depending on the answers to these questions you may need to start campaigning early to plant the seeds for conversions gradually, rather than push for a direct sale.
   

2. How much time will you need to coordinate the logistics that go into making your product or service available?

   You’ll need to consider the amount of time required to make sure that you have enough inventory on hand and think about contingency plans. Don’t set up a holiday marketing campaign, get incredible demand, and then run out of supplies/capacity to serve your clients. And you especially don’t want to do this when you don’t have a plan in place. Your plan doesn’t have to mean expanding your inventory to a point that’s not realistic. It just has to allow you to pivot in a way that still gives you an opportunity to engage with your potential customers. 
   
   This could mean having a page set up to collect emails for those who wish to be on a waiting list. Or offering a discount on alternate products or services. Get creative and think about how you can create a great customer experience. Even if it’s not how you’d initially imagined it would be.

3. What is required for you to set up and communicate your promotional offers?

   And how will your prospects take advantage of them? Think about which channels you’ll be using to distribute your promo and the steps required to get them set up. In terms of the content, you’ll be sharing, think about how you’ll link each piece of content to the theme of your campaign and to the customer journey. Be consistent and be purposeful with the message you’re sharing and the emotions you want to evoke in your customers. And make sure your call to action is clear, along with the next steps you want to encourage. Speaking of next steps, consider how you’ll be delivering promotions and coupons and audit your checkout and refund processes. Are they clear and transparent? Are there any bugs that need to be worked out? The earlier you take stock, the better you can implement your plan of action.

Timing is everything…but originality doesn’t have to be

From your logistics to your content, there is a time and place for everything in your holiday marketing. Creating schedules will help you reach your target audience when they’re most likely to be engaged. All this without missing a step.  

There’s no harm in getting out ahead of the crowd, however. Try launching your holiday marketing campaign ahead of your competitors. Make sure you’re promoting your content often. And do your best to tweak, measure, and optimize with every step. Giving yourself a longer runway to test out different messages and creatives will pay off by giving you more data to work with and more touchpoints with your target audience.

Recycle, reuse, repeat your holiday marketing

When it comes to the content you’re creating – don’t reinvent the wheel. Reuse pieces that have worked for you in the past, and just repurpose them according to the theme of your upcoming campaign. Or try them out in a different format. Ebooks can become infographics and vice versa.

A series of blogs or videos that have done well can help form a top ten list. Spruce your logo up with a holiday/seasonal touch. Again if you don’t have a ton of content to work with, no worries. Just use tools like BuzzSumo and Ahrefs to find out what worked for others so that you can create your own versions. 

Have fun with your holiday marketing

Holiday marketing can be so much more than just a themed social media post and cover image (although those are nice touches too!). It can create opportunities to engage your target audience and acquire new customers. So take your time, do your research and have some fun with it. Your first kick at the can might take a ton of effort. And lots of trial and error. But you’ll be able to keep tweaking and using the content and strategy you create for years to come.

Need a hand getting all of those holiday marketing designs and videos completed? Consider a Kimp subscription to help you make the most of those busy sales periods!