Most businesses don’t have a John Lewis-sized advertising budget when it comes to marketing for Christmas – or any other time of the year. But this doesn’t mean that all hope is lost!
When it comes to creative Christmas marketing ideas, many businesses think only in terms of making money through sale events such as ‘Black Friday’. As a result, they discount their products to boost short-term sales, at the cost of ignoring long-term loyalty. Few brands truly capture the magic of what Christmas is all about as they are too sales focused. Rather than constantly pushing price messages think about helping the customer in other ways or give something back. Do something suitable to your business that will give you the advantage of building long-lasting loyalty and spreading some of that festive cheer.
It isn’t too late to start marketing hard for Christmas 2021 so here are a few ideas that can still work: Try coming up with an overall Christmas idea that you can carry across all the different types of activity that you do, share festive hints & tips, reward your customers, fans and followers, test different activity, put out some last-minute adverts via search engines or social media, create urgency for a ‘now or never’ purchase, do a daily countdown to Christmas Day or the New Year and most importantly make your business/shop/office/adverts/posts festive. Also always have gift vouchers available, these make a great gift solution for most people!
Here are some channel ideas to help you execute your festive marketing campaign:
Email Marketing
Let people know you are still there. Send out an email to your customer base with a seasonal message and a compelling promotion or special offer. Look to reward existing customers whilst encouraging referrals and recommendations. Incentivise your target market with competitions, offers or a free gift with their next purchase.
Content Marketing
Everything that you produce for your customers should be useful, entertaining and engaging and not just a mere sales pitch. Interesting content will be shared if you get it right. Last minute festive tips, funny seasonal-themed videos of your team singing Christmas carols, instructional guides on how to use your products, end-of-year festive newsletters, and even information on last-minute ordering can be beneficial content to your audience – and of course a great way to help stay front of mind.
Social Media: The world is your oyster… there are so many ways to use social just make sure it is the right message to the right audience. Stories: Post sequential festive photos or videos. This may just be a bit of fun but it spreads good cheer as well as sends a message to your customers that you’re proactive and relevant. Relevant Updates:Provide regular useful updates on sales, promotions, shipping cut-off dates, return policies, office opening hours and other pertinent information. Most importantly remember to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year.
Competitions: A Christmas competition can gain ‘likes’ & ‘follows’ as well as capture customer data and generate sales. Anything from a photo competition asking your social media community to post photos/videos of themselves in their Christmas jumpers to a trivia festive quiz. The more generous your prizes are, the more participants you will have but try and stay focused on your target market.
Events & Partnerships: Host a Christmas shopping event or get involved in a local one. If you have a business premisses consider having a Christmas shopping event or see if your town is hosting anything. Partner and join forces with another business or cross promote your goods by showcasing the products or services such as offering food from a local bakery or treatments from a local salon. Offer customers mulled wine, mince pies or free gift-wrapping for any purchases. A raffle or special promotion can make it an event that your regular customers won’t want to miss. Create a fun experience, dress up like Father Christmas, take a photo for your customers – anything that makes people feel festive, happy and appreciated helps in building longer term loyalty.
Support a Charity: If you don’t have the time or energy left to organise anything then look to support a charity instead. It doesn’t have to be about sending cards or giving things away. Create an email and social media post with a festive greeting and talk about the charity you are supporting. This is the season for giving (and it always helps public relations to actively support a good cause). Whether you donate a portion of sales, volunteer time or send charity cards it is all about giving something back.
