It’s the most wonderful time of the year to create holiday marketing campaigns that build meaningful connections with customers and prospects. But the holidays are also an incredibly noisy time, with inboxes and news feeds piling up with offers, coupons, and free trials.
Fortunately, TBH Creative has been doing this for many holiday seasons now, and our team of marketing experts has some proven ideas to help you stand out in the digital crowd.
Read on for holiday marketing campaign ideas and check out some quick wins you can put into action right now.
Holiday marketing quick wins
With employees taking time off and limited business hours this time of year, you might feel like your staff or digital marketing agency doesn’t have the bandwidth to execute extensive holiday marketing campaigns. But there are some things you can do now that take minimal time and resources for a significant potential impact.
Festive out-of-office messages and email signatures
Just because your team is out of the office for the holidays doesn’t mean your brand is on vacation. Spice up your automated email responses with a fun holiday greeting and a festive email signature.
You can also link to some holiday-themed content or a custom landing page to drive traffic to an existing holiday marketing campaign.
Optimize your website for the season
The internet never closes, so people will still be visiting your website during the holidays. It’s essential to make sure it’s up-to-date and that relevant information is easy to find.
You can use website alert banners to announce your holiday hours when people visit your site. You can even add customer service-focused FAQs to help with the influx of calls or emails that may come in while your office is closed.
You can also prepare custom call-to-action graphics with holiday-themed messaging that will delight your visitors and ensure a continued flow of inbound activity—even while your team is off enjoying time with family and friends.
Marketing automation is holiday magic
You can put your holiday marketing campaigns on autopilot over the holidays thanks to the magic of automation. If you have a chatbot on your website, you can pre-program custom responses specifically for when your team is offline for the holidays.
You can also schedule email nurturing holiday marketing campaigns while your business is closed. Just make sure you have those themed out-of-office responses set up for a seamless holiday experience for your customers.
Dress up your social media channels
Think about what it’s like to walk into a Macy’s store this time of year. From the merchandise signage to the baubles hanging from the ceiling, it feels like the holidays everywhere you look.
Brick-and-mortar retailers don’t have to have all the fun! You can also show off your holiday spirit on digital properties, particularly on social media. Add a holiday-themed profile picture and banner, and be sure to post some warm wishes from your team.
End-of-year audit
With individuals and businesses doing more planning for 2022, the end of the year is a great time to make sure your online presence is in good shape. If things are quiet for your business around the holidays, use that downtime to take stock of what’s working well and what’s not.
Dig into your data and see what campaigns have proven successful for your company. You can also look at what your competitors have done and where you might be able to level up your marketing in the new year.
Also, take a look at your online business profiles (e.g., Google My Business, Yelp!, etc.), and make sure they’re up-to-date and represent your services/products well.
Holiday marketing campaigns that convert
The holidays are no time to rest on your marketing laurels. You’ll no doubt want to build up your pipeline for Q1 to hit the ground running in the new year.
Well-executed holiday marketing campaigns can help you stay in front of prospects as they’re using-up budget and planning for the coming year. Here are some ideas for decking your halls with leads this holiday season.
Gift-giving and account-based marketing
Chances are your company already does some level of gifting this time of year, so why not be more intentional about it? If you’re a B2B marketer and not currently doing any account-based marketing (ABM), the holidays are a great time to test out a targeted holiday marketing campaign.
Send holiday gifts to some of the top accounts you’d like to work with, and be sure to include a card with a trackable link. You can send them to a custom landing page with additional content or an enticing holiday offer.
Then, you can follow up with an email nurture campaign to keep the engagement going. When executing a multi-channel holiday marketing campaign like this, just make sure the idea is creative. Your branding should be consistent across each touchpoint, and the gift/content needs to add value for or delight its recipient.
Paid digital ads that stand out
If you’re currently running paid digital ads (e.g., Google, social media, etc.), it’s a good idea to think about how to make your promotions stand out during the holidays. Look at any running ads—especially shopping ads—to see if they need some temporary adjustment.
You might want to adjust your creative to include “holiday” or ”end of the year” messaging to switch your regular ad campaign into a holiday marketing campaign. You may also need to adjust your audience targeting or add holiday keywords relevant to your business.
Check out your landing pages as well and make sure they’re aligned with the holiday marketing campaign, including any holiday messaging or limited-time offers. (And don’t forget to change them back after the holidays!)
Ad prices tend to be higher this time of year, so be sure to budget for more aggressive bidding. You can also target long-tail keywords that could convert at a higher rate but lower cost.
Holiday emails people will actually want to open
Unlike targeted nurture campaigns and account-based marketing, you can launch holiday marketing campaigns to a broader email audience. Even if you’re not a B2C retailer, you can still take advantage of the hype around holiday shopping to promote your product or service.
Pro-tip: Think about what is relevant to your audience when creating holiday marketing campaign content. For example, a dentist’s office may want to provide details on what patients should do in a dental emergency. You could create timely content that reminds people that you can help if they are in pain because they chipped their tooth on a nut in Aunt Mary’s fruit cake.
Consider may also consider using your holiday marketing campaign email to support a local charity. This holiday marketing campaign tactic allows you to do some good in your community while creating a positive image for your brand.
You can also keep it simple and email customers and prospects to remind them about holiday business hours, share a round-up of holiday-related content, or just wish them a happy holiday.
Publish content that brings your audience joy
Your blog and email newsletter are great places to spread holiday cheer that’s relevant and useful to your audience.
Choose topics and stories that people care about this time of year and as they prepare for the new year. (And, don’t forget search engine optimization! Enhance your content using relevant keywords that improve your ranking for organic searches.)
Though the holidays are in full swing, there’s still time to make the most of this special season—and get a jumpstart on 2022. If you need help, start making a list and reach out. Our digital marketing elves are ready to help you execute your holiday marketing campaign strategy while the time is right.
