By Nerea Boada, on 3 December 2019
Do you hear any jingle bells ringing yet? Christmas is almost here, and its time to start preparing for your Christmas marketing campaigns!
Christmas is one of the highest consumptions times of the year, making it one of the busiest times of the year for marketers. To get the most out of this year’s holiday season, keep reading to learn our 10 tips for your online marketing strategies.
Digital Marketing Plan for Christmas Campaigns
1. Plan Ahead
If you haven’t started preparing your Christmas campaign yet then it’s time to pull up your bootstraps and get started! The best formula for success is to be well prepared.
When planing your Christmas marketing campaign, you not only have to think about a central message and a series of actions, but also logistics. Think about the resources you’ll need, both in terms of budget and team members.
2. Radiate Christmas Spirit
The term “immersion” has never been more applicable for marketers then during Christmas time. If you want your audience to feel your Christmas spirit, your image has to be up to par.
First, start with incorporating Christmas and holiday-themed imagery with your branding: website, cover images, social media profiles, and even your email signatures should include a little holiday sparkle. Another fun way to show off your Christmas spirit is to post photos on social media of your office decorated for the holidays, or of team members celebrating together.
3. Take Advantage of All Possible Dates
Between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and New Year’s, it’s safe to say that November through December is a stacked time for marketers. If you want to squeeze everything you can out of your Christmas campaign, make sure you stay proactive on all the dates.
As consumers increasingly begin to start their Christmas shopping earlier and earlier each year, consider launching offers and promotions well in advance of December itself. You can even think of a post-Christmas message or campaign to overcome the “January slope.”
4. Sell Your Products as Gifts
Everyone can relate to the feeling of needing to pick up a last-minute gift right before attending a Christmas party or holiday celebration. Marketers and brands should take advantage of this time and solve consumer’s problems by offering their products as pre-packaged, ready-to-give gifts.
Make your customers’ lives easier by sorting your products into gifts lists by categories, like “Gifts for Mom” or “New Couples”. This will allows users to quickly find what they’re looking for and keep them on your site for longer.
5. Contribute to a Cause
Christmas is the best time of the year to implement and promote your company’s corporate social responsibility. Christmas is a time of giving, so audiences are more likely to choose brands that collaborate with a good cause. Besides, you should be focusing on CSR all year (we hear its a good way to land on the nice list.)
6. Prepare Your Online Store
The Christmas season is guaranteed to bring an increase to your e-commerce or online store’s traffic numbers. Is your website ready to handle this influx of shoppers?
Before starting your Christmas marketing campaign, fine-tune your website and ensure that it is able to withstand the site traffic. Check to make sure all pages and links work, and that there are optimal loading times. You should also keep in mind that a growing percentage of purchases are made from mobile, so you need to have a responsive design and optimized shopping experience for mobile users.
7. Adapt your SEO and SEM
Although SEO is a long-term digital marketing strategy, the most searched keywords by users have a strong seasonal component. Therefore, you need to conduct a keyword study about the specific Christmas terms that your users look for and optimize your website for them.
The other side of the coin is SEM, which also has a big impact during Christmas. In addition to strengthening your organic positioning, you can take advantage of the pull of these keywords to launch AdWords campaigns.
8. Offer Discounts and Promotions
Yes, Christmas is a time of spending, but that doesn’t mean consumers suddenly become price insensitive. Quite the contrary, shoppers want to take advantage of the offers so that Christmas doesn’t burn too big of a hole in their wallet.
This means Christmas is the ideal time to bust out your best offers, discounts, and promotions. Two for one offers, coupons for free items after several purchases, and free shipping are examples of different things you can offer. You can even partner with other companies to offer cross-promotional Christmas specials.
9. Congratulate Your Customers
Nothing makes a customer feel more loyal to a company than personalized treatment. Christmas greetings are an excellent time to show them that you think about them.
The easiest and simplest solution is to send a Christmas email. But remember, your email may get lost among all of the other similar emails. To ensure you stand out among the rest, carefully craft an inviting subject line and study the best time of the day to send the message.
You can even go old school and send a classic card through traditional mail. With your most loyal customers, you can consider sending them a small gift. This will ensure that they remember you for the rest of the year.
10. Make an Emotional Campaign
Christmas marketing campaigns involve a fine line between logic and emotions. But, if there’s ever a time to pull on heartstrings, its Christmas. Family, good deeds, and happiness are the star themes of this time of the year. Get inspired by the Christmas spirit and infuse some comfort and joy into your campaign.
