Has your business needed more preparations for the holiday season? Despite being an economically rocky year, holiday retail sales are expected to rise by up to 1.5%. That increase puts the estimated spending between November and January at a whopping $1.152 trillion.
Because many consumers are still wary of venturing into crowded stores, e-commerce sales are expected to rise by 25-35%, resulting in sales totals between $182 and $196 billion. So if you’ve been holding off on building an eCommerce store, now might be the perfect time to add an online checkout component to your business operations.
But most of all, if you’re hoping to earn a sizable piece of that seasonal spending pie, you need to start working on your holiday marketing plan now.
Here, we’ll guide you through developing a successful holiday marketing strategy.
We’ll cover the following:
- How to create a holiday marketing plan
- How to decorate your website for the holidays
- Why you need to develop a holiday marketing plan immediately
Creating a holiday marketing plan isn’t much different than developing any other business marketing strategy. The main difference is the importance of timing.
These steps can help guide you in the right direction:
- Set holiday marketing goals
- Come up with holiday-themed marketing ideas
- Get the word out
- Decorate your website
- Advertise Early
Set holiday marketing goals
Every business wants to make a killing during the holiday rush, but that’s not an actionable goal. So before you start making any changes, you should set holiday marketing objectives. Clear goals will guide and inform your efforts.
Some possible goals might be to:
- Drive website traffic
- Increase sales
- Generate buzz
- Grow your email list
- Build brand awareness
Come up with holiday-themed marketing plans
Once you’ve clarified your marketing goals, it’s time to start finding the best strategies to help achieve those objectives. For this festive time of year, come up with ideas that will remind your customers ’tis the season — to buy gifts for others.
Holiday Marketing Ideas
- Offer discount codes or coupons
- Host a giveaway
- Plan a holiday event
- Create holiday-related content
a. Offer Discount Codes or Coupons
Offering limited-time deals through a coupon or discount code is a great way to get people excited about your product. Add a holiday spin to promo code wording (i.e., “MERRY20” for 20% off) and then promote these discounts via your email list, social media platforms, or website.
Offering deals based on volume is especially good during the holidays. Most people buy presents for many people, and the opportunity to knock out gifts for multiple people at once can be appealing.
b. Host a Giveaway
It’s the season for giving, so why not remind everyone by giving away something yourself? Everybody loves a chance to win something for free, and you can use the opportunity to bring people to your website or social media pages.
Offer one of your products or services as a prize, highlighting an item that is also a good gift idea. Those who don’t win might still decide to purchase the item anyway.
You can also build up a holiday email list by encouraging people to enter the contest by offering their email addresses. Then, for those who don’t win, you can incentivize them to purchase with an exclusive discount code — only for those who entered the contest.
c. Plan a Holiday Event
Hosting a holiday-themed event effectively draws attention to your business during this time of year.
Consider ways that you can create a festive version of these kinds of events:
- Gift your audience with a thought-leader summit or informative webinar
- Run a trivia game about holiday movies
- Put together a festive talent show featuring your employees
The key is to offer value to potential customers through entertainment or information while infusing the event with holiday-related cheer.
d. Create Holiday-Related Content
If special events differ from your business’s style, creating holiday content is a universally-applicable marketing strategy. Consider what people in your niche think during the holiday season and develop content that offers value.
Get the word out about your holiday specials
Exposure is paramount when deploying a holiday marketing plan. So before officially launching your special holiday offers, spread the word to your target audience to generate buzz and build excitement.
Use your email list, social media accounts, blog, and any other platforms where your business is active.
Decorate your website for the holidays
Adding some holiday cheer to your website might be the most enjoyable of all the holiday marketing tips. These minor changes help get users in the giving mood — which means more sales for you.
a. Add Some Holiday Spirit to Your Logo
Incorporating something holiday-themed into your logo is a great way to infuse your website with holiday spirit. Let your creative juices flow but don’t overthink it. You want the logo to remain recognizable, so don’t go overboard.
Adding something as simple as a classic Santa hat can work wonders.
Here’s an old holiday version of our logo for reference:
b. Customize Social Media Profile Photos
Social media icons represent another great opportunity to “deck the halls” of your website. Similar to the changes to your business’s logo, a simple shift in design can transform social media buttons to capture visitors’ attention.
They might not be able to stop themselves from sharing your content just to click on these fun buttons.
c. Choose a Festive Background
Changing the background of your website is a great way to incorporate some holiday cheer. It’s a simple change that only requires a little work on the backend while still making a difference to users.
A worthwhile holiday marketing strategy will only do well if you launch it at the last minute. Even well-executed marketing strategies take time to come to fruition. There always needs to be a delay between implementing your plan and its effects on your sales.
This is especially crucial to keep in mind when you’re creating your marketing plan for holiday shoppers.
Advertise early
Plan to start running your marketing campaigns long before the actual holiday. Brick-and-mortar stores do this well, setting out all their holiday wares by November 1 at the latest. Your online strategy should follow the same pattern.
The good news is that research shows consumers are okay with seeing early holiday promotions.
Almost a quarter of Americans finish their holiday shopping around late November and early December. So if you implement a holiday marketing plan, you could see this window and the potential revenue.
Start planning your holiday marketing strategy early so you have sufficient time to brainstorm, plan, and launch. Your campaign’s success depends on the efforts you put forth well before the holidays.
Holiday marketing campaigns are essential for businesses that want to maximize their success during this good time of year.
A website is a critical component of launching any successful holiday marketing plan. Bluehost has the resources to help. Take a look at our web hosting and WordPress Hosting plans to get started.
1 Comment
Set Holiday Marketing Goals is a good idea. Let me try this tips. Thanks.