Developing a Christmas marketing plan is the best move you can make in the most lucrative and stressful time for businesses. It must be designed to meet customer demand and retain customers.
The past couple of years has been stressful, to say the least, and people all over the globe are looking forward to the festivities of Christmas and New Year. Morgan Stanley expects the e-commerce market to grow from $3.3 trillion today to $5.4 trillion by 2026. This projection should push your business to focus more on the importance of marketing online. It gives many brands an advantage as online marketing is cheaper than traditional methods.
So, what is marketing’s role in your success this season? We have gathered six lessons that we can learn from previous Christmas marketing failures to help you boost your online presence and reputation, customer acquisition, and revenue.
If you’re interested in learning about marketing online this holiday season, read on.
Lesson 1 – Plan your Christmas content marketing early.
It’s Christmas, and we all want to see your brand’s Christmas content. This marketing lesson reminds us that as long as it is relevant and offers value, that’s okay. A well-planned content strategy that resonates with your target audience is key to a successful Christmas marketing campaign.
If you still need one, create one to ensure that you regularly update your blog, social media channels, email list, and blog. It also ensures that content is varied and can be planned around product launches and events. Budget management is also an advantage.
Don’t think you can keep posting Christmas-themed content just for the sake of it. A pointless holiday post will not benefit your customers. It would help if you gave them value. Then, find more ways to provide value and then go deeper.
Your content should be original and creative. Here are some blog posts you might consider publishing around this year.
- Creative ways to wrap your gifts
- What gifts to buy dad
- How to shop for your wife at Christmas
Lesson 2 – Retarget past customers.
Data shows that retargeting past customers costs eight times less than chasing new customers. Re-targeting can help brands increase their conversion rates by up to 150%.
It is important to emphasize that you must still try to get new leads, grow your signup list, and convert customers. However, you must also ensure that your most warm leads are your top priority.
You have worked all year to increase your customer base. Keep working on it. A retargeting campaign can help you keep costs low and increase sales. Here are some tips on how to recapture your past customers’ attention:
- Offer special deals to your most loyal leads
- Advertise on social media to target past customers and warm leads
- Get free shipping to your email list by targeting your email list
This time of the year, retargeting is your friend. A retargeted advertisement’s average click-through rate (CTR) is 0.7%. Although it may not seem like much, this is ten times higher than the CTR of a standard ad.
Lesson 3 – Use targeted landing pages.
Highlight your offer and direct customers to the most relevant pages of your website. How do you make this happen? Use a targeted landing page to attract customers with offers specific to a holiday.
Although it is impossible to redesign the entire site, landing pages allow you to keep the content current, relevant, and up-to-date while still keeping the design and development costs low.
Here are some tips to help you get started:
- Keep the design consistent with the overall site.
- Incorporate holiday offers on your homepage banner or landing page.
- Include links to the main website if users need help finding what they are looking for.
Lesson 4 – Give out freebies.
Christmas is about giving. However, only a few companies are willing to give away something for free. Make your customers feel valued by giving them a gift for shopping with you.
Many brands fall for the discount trap. This is great for bringing in new customers but lowers your brand’s perceived value. This strategy has been used by many luxury brands, including high-end ones. Customers have begun to question the value of their products and whether there is a markup.
While discounting can increase sales, it often leads to a price drop once the regular pricing has been established.
Freebies are something that any brand can do. This makes customers feel special and grateful.
Here are some marketing ideas for Christmas that include freebies:
- Offer a free one-year service.
- Give a gift-wrapping option.
- Include free shipping.
- Promote a new product as a freebie.
- Take an item you have overstocked and give it to your customers or warm leads.
- Give freebies to the first 100 people who sign up for your email list through a social media campaign.
Lesson 5 – Promote your returns policy.
Christmas is about giving gifts to people, but sometimes people don’t like the presents they receive. It is crucial always to have a clear and easy-to-understand returns policy for the year.
Gift-giving can be a challenge sometimes. Being open about it in marketing can help make your brand more attractive. You can also use humor to make your customers laugh about the possibility of needing your exchange or refund policy.
It would be best to highlight your returns in marketing materials and your website.
Lesson 6 – Keep track of the results.
Marketing professionals are available to offer advice 24 hours a day. The best advice we can give you is to measure everything around your campaign and find what works for you.
Take time to check your campaign’s results. Some of the statistics you should take note of are the following:
- To estimate the number of people aware of your brand and campaign, you need to know how many mentions they have.
- Your target audience demographics will include the age, gender, and location of those who mention the keywords you track.
- Check the top influencers you can get involved with in your next campaign.
- Monitor your brand’s online sentiment — how many fans and loyalists you have.
- Track trending topics and hashtags people are using on social media.
Learning about marketing this holiday season with ADMS!
Holiday marketing is an essential pillar for many brands and helps boost sales. Customers know that they are looking for deep discounts and exciting offers. It is no longer enough to cut prices or announce sales.
St. Pete SEO company Advanced Media Digital Services (ADMS) understands the importance of marketing and its best lessons that will help your brand stand out during holidays and beyond. Be creative, be innovative, and plan your success with ADMS. Call us today to learn more.
