Seven Ways To Elevate Your Holiday Marketing

Happy holidays from FACTEUR PR! No, it’s not quite time for tinsel and mistletoe, but as marketing professionals, we’re thinking about the giving season far before the lights are up and the snow ever hits the ground. Your brand will benefit from getting in the spirit, too! Thankfully, we’ve put together a list of holiday marketing ideas that are quick, actionable, and will help you transition gracefully into the most wonderful time of the year.

Create a holiday-or-seasonal-themed giveaway on Instagram — posts + stories directing to the posts — We know, we know. Sometimes giveaways can seem counterproductive to what you’re trying to achieve! Trust us when we say there’s nothing but goodness that lies ahead when planning a giveaway. We recommend following a few guidelines in order to have the most successful campaign possible. First things first: assemble the products that will make up the ideal holiday gift giveaway! If you have business friends whose goods fit your wintertime package, all the better. Invite them to be a part of the fun, adding to the volume and value of the giveaway while gaining exposure themselves. Once you’ve got the goods in one place, snap a beautiful photo of the whole set-up, and if you’d like to create a series, get some photos of each individual product, so followers have an idea of all the goodies they’ll receive as a part of your promotion. Next, one clear Instagram post users can share is key to generating the most traffic to your feed! Make sure your profile is public, and encourage contestants to share the post on their Instagram story for a valid entry, as well as tagging friends in the comments for increased exposure. As a rule of them, you can encourage them to tag each user in a separate comment, upping the comment count and bringing more traffic to the post!

Transition into a brand new season with seasonally related email marketing — Email newsletters work wonders — they’re an affordable marketing and communications platform that allow you to communicate with customers who genuinely want to hear what you’re up to. Subtle tweaks can make a big impact, and your e-mail newsletter is not excused! By now, you’ve maybe gotten a bit tired of your template, so switch things up by adding in some new color, design or sections into your layout. With the biggest shopping season of the year around the corner, less and more can both be, well, more. Less works well when trying to give choice-averse customers a streamlined view of a product. And more works great when attempting to provide for the overwhelmed shopper, the one who has no idea how she’s going to purchase gifts for that member and that member and that member of her large family or friend group. So, get more creative! Incorporate content, like GIFs, videos, coupons, photos, discount codes if you haven’t utilized them before. And most importantly, pay attention to what's resonating and what's not.

Bring a darker (or brighter!) version of your color palette into your campaigns — You’d be surprised what a quick refresh can do for your brand! If you’ve been sticking with an assigned color palette for awhile — say, something more pastel — it can’t hurt to transition to a more moody, wintry line-up for the cooler months. Keep the other elements of your brand the same, but play with color, even if it’s just a change in your social media logos. Customers will note this as relevancy, recognizing you’re changing and adjusting with the seasons and keeping social content fresh and updated. It can be fun to welcome new colors into email newsletters and posters as well, creating a spin on the things viewers are used to.

Include a number of holidays into your marketing plan to remain sensitive + welcoming to all denominations/traditions — The holidays are an all-encompassing time. Yes, Christmas gets much of the attention, but Hanukkah and Kwanzaa among others are also widely observed holidays in America as well, and brands will be lauded as respected and respectful if we recognize the depth of what “the holidays” entails. On that same coin, some individuals choose not to celebrate at all. It’s challenging to cater to all walks of life as a business owner, but acknowledging support and solidarity for those of all faith and holiday traditions doesn’t go unnoticed – not just during the holiday season, but year-round, too. And don’t be afraid to acknowledge your own celebration as well — talk about what you do, what you’re excited for and what you observe! It’s good to add a personal anecdote to your marketing plan every once and awhile. The holidays at their core are a time of celebration, and we have a platform to help customers feel included in that.

Direct people to your website and using the platform to offer holiday deals — driving traffic to the domain + therefore exposing customers to the online shop more easily — Funneling consumers toward your website is always a good idea especially if your website exists to ultimate sell. It allows them to get the deepest understanding of who you are, what you do and how you create. By launching a new site or simply including a link to your website in social media bios, on fliers, etc., you are opening your website up to be the driving force of your business. You probably spent a lot of time compiling everything to that one special place. Around the holidays, when you feel especially pulled in multiple directions, it’s important to have one owned channel that allows the buyer (and you) to center. With so many brands competing for attention near the giving season, advertising impressive deals on your most sought-after goods and services will make things go quick! Pay attention to what’s flying off the shelves to begin with, and create a 24-hour-only deal around it that will be impossible to pass up.

Pay attention to Internet holiday trends for the season, specifically pop culture — Let’s face it: customers love the now! Get them hooked with something easily shareable — and preferably related to the holidays — that connects and captivates. Classic holiday pop culture is always a winner, and keeping your finger on the pulse of the current season is even more impressive. The consumer wants to know you care — that you’ll respond to them quickly, that they’ll get their products efficiently, that you’ll inform them of any mishaps immediately — and one of the best ways of showing they can trust that is by staying up to date with the good tidings and joy happening around you!

Create a consistent Instagram stories template featuring key products of note — We can’t think of a more accessible platform than an Instagram story. At FACTEUR, we consider Stories its own social media platform with its own strategy despite it being part of Instagram. It’s a quick and easy way to communicate to your target audience without cluttering an already noisy feed. There are plenty of templates available on apps like Canva, Unfold and a Design Kit, that allow for customizable and beautiful stories, all done in a moment’s time. By coming up with a simple color palette and making minimal font decisions, your stories can be simultaneously visually pleasing and informative. Soon enough, followers will start to know what to expect from your content, making for a simpler shopping decision and better brand recognition. Make sure to highlight key pieces in your shop you’d like people to know about when doing their holiday shopping — big items, small stocking stuffers and everything in between.

Now that you’ve picked up a few quick tips from us, put them into action for your ultimate holiday marketing campaigns! Your goods and services will surely be flying off the shelves. Bundle up with a blanket and a cup of hot tea, and put these steps to the test. Happy holidays!