Get Your Advent Calendars Ready!
Christmas is so close I can smell the pine needs and hear the jingle bells already! Now that we have hit November, we have approximately 7 weeks until the big day – an eternity for anyone under the age of 12, but for those of us *adulting*, it doesn’t feel like nearly long enough to get everything ready. Which is why we need to start talking about your Christmas Marketing Campaign – if you want to make the most out of every customer that walks through your door (both physical and digital), then you need to start planning and executing.
I’ve listed six broad tips to keep in mind while you’re planning the finer details of your campaigns – I hope they help, and if you need more detail, don’t be afraid to get in touch.
Plan Yo’ Presents Presence
Planning is the key to a successful Christmas campaign – we are in November now; if you haven’t started thinking about Christmas yet, you’re already behind the 8-bauble.
Christmas campaigns take months to organise and just weeks to execute. Your message needs to be clear, concise and LOUD – every man and his dog is going to be yelling about their brand, trying to get your customer’s attention (and moolah), and you need to time your message perfectly to ensure that you grab their attention at the exact moment they are getting ready to open their wallet.
That kind of perfect timing and messaging takes a lot of thought to execute, as well as multiple professions – you’ll need a graphic designer, a copywriter, a digital marketing specialist, an email marketing specialist, a web developer and a project manager to put it all together. (Psst, have I mentioned yet that PN Digital is all of these professions rolled into one awesome team? I mean we practically come gift-wrapped!)
Prepare Your Stocking Stock
If I had a chocolate coin for every time I saw a business underestimate their stock requirements at Christmas then I’d be richer than Willy Wonka by now. I know it sounds pretty basic, but if you run out of product in the lead up to Christmas then you are (literally) selling yourself short. And it’s not just the products either – its all of the trimmings that go with them, like the packaging, ribbons, gift tags and cherry on top.
Write Your Letters to Santa Not Your Usual Customers
10 months of the year your marketing communications should be targeting people who use your products. But during November and December, there should be a shift in your message – you are targeting Santa (or the gift-giver), not the recipient. Yes, you may want to have some kind of ‘wish list’ type of campaign where people who love your products can un-subtly tell others how much they’d love to receive your products for Christmas, but you’ll also want to be engaging the gift-giver in your marketing materials.
This is where good data base segmentation comes in handy!
Gift Guides
People are busy at Christmas time – they have a million things to do, like figuring out how they are going to fit a 20kg turkey into their microscopic sized oven, they don’t have time to think about things clearly and logically.
This is where you and your marketing team step in – creating a Christmas Gift Guide starring your products that categorises your offerings into different price points or recipients (think ‘Gifts For Mum’, ‘Perfect Secret Santa Pressies’ or ‘Gifts That Look Expensive But Really Aren’t’) will not only help you increase sales but it will make your customers love you that little bit more by helping to reduce some of the gift-sourcing stress from their lives. Oh, and Uncle George will be super happy to get something other than socks for once.
Communicate Your Shipping Shiz
If you know that it is going to take two weeks for your online orders to reach their recipients it is probably best to let people know that at the beginning of December, not half way through. Nobody wants to be the jerk who turns up on Christmas day without gifts for everyone – sure, by not telling them you might make a few extra sales in the short term, but I can guarantee you that anyone who orders from your site expecting to receive the goods before Christmas is never going to order from your site again if their gifts don’t arrive until the New Year.
Have Fun!
I’m talking unicorns-and-seahorses-and-sparkles-and-cronuts type fun! The holiday season is your opportunity to ditch the boring-corporate-serious-pants and don your happy-silly-season-hat. Have a bit of fun with your brand – run fun competitions and give-aways, engage your audience in conversations or send them a holiday greeting, post pics from your staff Christmas party and spread cheer and joy and love.
Your audience will love you for it and that love will in turn evolve into Brand Equity – the best Christmas gift of all!
PN: The Gift That Keeps on Giving!
If you need help and advice rolling out your Christmas campaign then get in touch – we love Christmas marketing almost as much as we love gorging ourselves on ham and plum pudding. We’re also available for all other festive holidays including Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas in July, International Pirate Day, Australia Day, National Cake Day and my personal favourite, My Birthday (4th April, ICYMI).
