With the holidays right around the corner, creating a holiday marketing plan is essential to keeping your clients engaged during one of the busiest times of the year. These special occasions are naturally a time of closeness and happiness. You want to emphasize those feelings in your marketing messages and add to your customers’ sense of well-being during this time. Create a plan that not only inspires good feelings but also helps you stand out in the crowded holiday market.
#1: Understand Your Target Audience
The first order of business is always understanding your target audience. That means knowing what holidays your target customers celebrate. If you’re a smaller business, you might only be able to focus on the most significant holidays.
Even if your business is based in the U.S., your target customers might be on a different continent. If your business caters to a particular region, focus on relevant local holidays or events. Otherwise, bigger holidays will give you the highest return on your investment.
#2: Create Appealing Offers
If your industry lends itself to brand loyalty, remember to target those loyal customers. While you can create campaigns for less loyal shoppers, they’re often looking for one-time discounts. Give your long-term customers incentives to stick around and you’ll receive high returns on investment.
You also want to attract long-term customers. While doing a giveaway for an extravagant vacation might seem nice, giving away a free session or sample product makes more sense. These types of offers encourage people to come back after the initial prize or discount.
#3: Set Holiday Marketing Plan Goals
For each holiday campaign you put together, set clear S.M.A.R.T. goals:
- Be Specific: How many leads or sign-ups are you planning to generate? What incentives will you offer? What products or services will you promote?
- Be Measurable: Can you measure your success? If so, how will you measure your results?
- Be Attainable: Is your goal realistic based on your marketing budget or the number of people you already engage with?
- Be Relevant: Is this goal worthwhile? Are you targeting holidays that matter to your customers? Are you starting your campaign at the right time?
- Be Time-Bound: Have you set a specific target date for your business to achieve its goals?
One example of your S.M.A.R.T. goal might be the following: I will promote a 20% coupon code through our social media channels to generate 500 leads for a holiday sale by December 20, 2020.
#4: Update Your Marketing Channels
Once you’ve created your goals, revamp your website for the holidays. Emphasize any discounts as soon as customers click on your website. Update your blog with relevant content — and even create a few promo posts to highlight any of your offerings.
Use your email list effectively, as holiday messages from competitors will bombard your customers’ inboxes. Make sure your emails take priority by targeting the right customer segments and providing clear value.
Don’t wait for the last minute to create a holiday marketing plan. You can’t always predict trends but you can reliably count on holidays. With our advice in mind, your best course of action is to begin planning months in advance.