Christmas is a wonderful, feel-good time of year. It can also be a great opportunity for businesses to see increased sales. However, nearly every business sees the holidays as an opportunity to reach new customers, so consumers’ attention is being pulled in so many different directions.
The holidays are time where it takes something a little extra for customers to take action.
Here are 16 ideas for marketing your business around the holidays:
- Adopt a charity. Serve as a drop off station, give a percentage of sales or gather employees to make a monitory donation. Make sure you share on social media!
- Share holiday themed updates on social media. You know the rule- only about 20% of your content should be focused around sales. The other 80% should add value for your customer. Use the holidays to post fun images and special holiday greetings.
- Create a holiday themed video. This could be anything from showing employees putting up a Christmas tree to doing a demonstration on how to wrap gifts. Just keep it short – usually to a minute or less.
- Create a holiday themed email campaign. This could be something like a 12 Days of Christmas where you have different products on sale each day. This is the time to get especially creative with subject lines – there’s A LOT of clutter in December. Using holiday themed emojis are one way to make your email subject line stand out.
- Update your website. Put holiday themed product on your homepage. If you don’t offer holiday themed products, update with some fun holiday themed images or any holiday sales.
- Link your product to self improvement. Most people are looking for ways to improve in the new year. This could be anything from healthier options at a restaurant to software that makes the person more efficient at their job.
- Give food. Who doesn’t love food? This could be a gift basket for your best clients, an event with appetizers and drinks, or hosting a meal for your customers/vendors/partners.
- Use seasonal PPC keywords. If you advertise on Google, make some changes during the holiday season. For example, if you sell personalized shirts year round, you might have “personalized shirts” as one of your keywords. Consider adding keywords that are specific to product you offer during the holidays, like “personalized Christmas shirts” or “personalized reindeer shirts”.
- Have a sale. This doesn’t have to be discounting your product. You could partner with another business and offer a special bundle. Or throw in a free gift for purchases made in December.
- Have a secret sale. Offer your best customers a special incentive to buy additional product or upgrade from their current service.
- Create a Christmas themed contest. Ask your social media followers to submit a video of themselves singing a Christmas carol. Or maybe a photo of their Christmas tree. Offer a prize for participants or pick a winner.
- Seek out gift guides. Local bloggers, influencers, and magazines all put together gift guides around the holidays. Look for the appropriate media outlet in your niche and reach out to a few. Chances are, they’d love to feature your business! Bonus points: create your own holiday gift guide.
- Decorate. From a storefront to a social media graphic, nearly every type of business has an opportunity to get festive!
- Send cards. Your customers probably don’t receive a lot of mail from you. Sending a holiday card can be a great personal touch. The more personal the better! Bonus points: include a small but useful gift.
- Share some emotion. The holidays are a sentimental time. Consider using emotion to really connect with customers in your social media posts, in videos, in your email campaigns, digital ads, etc.
- Don’t forget ‘after Christmas’. A lot of people have some down time between Christmas and New Years, and spend a lot of that time on their phones. Consider offering a “Santa didn’t get me what I wanted” sale or talk about items that will help them with their New Years resolutions.
What are your best holiday marketing ideas? I’d love to hear them!
