- For a successful holiday season, prepare your holiday advertising & marketing strategy in July or August.
- Having a holiday marketing checklist can help your business stay on a plan for success.
- Make sure you are ready for the major shopping days of the holiday season.
Preparing for holiday advertising at your business is a critical step in maximizing your seasonal sales potential and giving your business an edge. The holiday season offers a significant revenue boost for many businesses, but it also comes with intense competition for the attention of consumers. To ensure your brand stands out amidst the festive advertising frenzy, consider partnering with an advertising agency. These seasoned professionals specialize in crafting compelling, data-driven campaigns tailored to your unique business goals.
When Should You Start To Prepare Advertising For The Holidays
Starting holiday marketing well in advance is crucial to ensure your products or services are readily available when customers are ready to make holiday purchases. Initiate your marketing efforts 2-3 months before the holiday season begins, as the buying journey typically begins earlier than actual purchases. By proactively showcasing the value of your offerings to potential customers before they’re ready to buy, you can nurture them through the sales journey. It’s also recommended to plan your marketing strategies 3-6 months in advance, as this allows for flexibility in adapting to platform changes and shopping trends. By creating anticipation around new or relevant products a month or two before peak sales periods, you can influence your desired target market and high-quality audiences through marketing and advertising, increasing the likelihood of a high sales.
What Days Leading Up To The Holidays Should A Business Be Mindful Of
To secure a portion of the expected $1,050 average holiday spending per U.S. consumer, align your business’s promotions with consumer behavior. Start your holiday promotions by the last week of October so your brand can be front of mind before the big shopping days come. During the holiday season, there are several days you should be aware of since they are some of the biggest shopping days of the season. Here are the biggest holiday shopping days you need to be prepared for.
- Black Friday
- Small Business Saturday
- Cyber Monday
- Super Saturday
- Christmas Eve
Holiday Marketing Checklist
Developing a holiday marketing checklist is essential in planning out your marketing strategy for the holiday season. It involves tasks such as research, developing promotions, choosing the right marketing mediums, obtaining the right inventory, and budgeting. Here is a checklist of things you (and your marketing agency) need to do to be ready to maximize profits during the holidays.
1. Define Goals
What are you trying to accomplish this holiday season? Are your goals purely monetary or are you more focused on increasing awareness? What is your holiday marketing budget? Goals are important as they help you keep focused on the bigger picture. Sit down and physically define your goals for the holiday season as this will greatly help you plan out everything else.
2. Research Current Trends
Evaluate past holiday campaigns to identify successful tactics and avoid repeating previous mistakes. Analyzing prior strategies enables you to focus your marketing efforts on what works best with current trends. Additionally, it is crucial to analyze current market trends, consumer behavior, and industry insights to stay ahead of the curve. This research forms the backbone of your creative strategies, ensuring that your company’s holiday campaigns not only captures the spirit of the season, but also resonates with the preferences and expectations of your target audiences.
3. Develop A Holiday Marketing Message
This is where you get to use your creative skills. Holiday advertising should be engaging and resonate with the joy of gift-giving. Use the information you gathered from researching current trends in the market as well as from reviewing your own recent customer data for any shifts in demographics or buying patterns. Use this information to develop your brand’s holiday message that will leave a positive impression on your customers before this year’s online holiday shopping rush. Avoid gimmicks and stay aligned with your brand identity. Showcase the value of your holiday offerings and inject emotion into your marketing. Consider the recipient’s feelings when receiving the gift, highlight its unique appeal, and provide clear purchasing information. Craft your campaign with a holiday theme that harmonizes seamlessly with your product line and brand identity.
4. Plan Out Marketing Channels To Use
Selecting the right marketing channels is vital to marketing success. View holiday marketing as a multifaceted campaign that connects with customers through diverse channels: including search and online advertising, email and social media outreach, newsletters and video content, holiday-themed events, promotions, giveaways, and captivating in-store displays. Google & Amazon are ideal for targeting motivated buyers actively searching for products. Social media and email are better for educating and entertaining potential customers as well as boosting branding. Each marketing platform requires an understanding of audience demand and a distinct strategy. Use these different marketing channels effectively and you will see the results of a successful holiday marketing campaign.
5. Create A Budget For Holiday Marketing
Setting a budget for holiday marketing is crucial to ensure financial discipline and avoid overspending during the festive season. It helps businesses allocate resources effectively, maximize ROI, and maintain profitability while achieving their marketing goals. A budget can make the difference if your business is in the red or black by the end of the year.
6. Decide Upon Customer Offers & Incentives
Holiday shoppers frequently experience anxiety during last-minute rushes caused by time constraints. Providing limited-time offers can be quite effective at taking advantage of this sense of urgency. These offers promise fantastic deals and guaranteed satisfaction, provided customers act swiftly. By emphasizing the advantages of quick decision-making in your advertising and promotions, you can get customers to make a quick decision to purchase from you.
7. Give Your Marketing Agency Enough Time
Believe it or not, you are not your marketing agency’s only client. The holiday season is a very busy time at your marketing agency as they are consumed with following the above mentioned steps for the rest of their clients. If you wait until the last minute, you may not get the quality of work you would have got if you had only started earlier. Give you marketing agency time by starting this process in July or August. September at the very latest. This allows your agency time to procure any paid advertising before inventory is used up or not at desired times, create & optimize specialized web pages, develop content & strategy to use on social media & email marketing, as well as plan out & design all creatives and videos. Your marketing agency wants to work with you so let them. If you are both planning to win, your chances of winning go up significantly.
Boiling Point Media Can Prepare Your Business For Holiday Marketing
Boiling Point Media is a full service marketing agency located in the heart of Oklahoma City. We have developed many holiday advertising & marketing campaigns, big and small, for a large variety of companies that have left memorable impressions on their customers. In our creative playground, we have the knowledge and expertise that is sparse in today’s fast-paced technology filled industry, to help your company successfully prepare and advertise during any holiday season! With our clients, we take transparency and trust to the next level with our monthly reporting and personal account managers. We have expert knowledge in digital & traditional marketing platforms including email marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), web design, video, and much more. For all of our marketing services, we use a great in-house graphic design team to create the necessary images for any holiday or occasion! We would love for you to come see us, chat with us online, or give us a call to discuss how to reach your company’s boiling point during the holidays!
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