5 Tips to Prepare Your Marketing Strategy for the Upcoming Holiday Season

The holiday season might not be upon us yet, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t kick-start your marketing strategy well in advance in order to attract the cheerful customers to your doorstep. Before you know it, people will be looking for holiday discounts, bundles, gifts, and special deals all over the internet, and you want to be there to welcome them with open arms and an offering they won’t be able to refuse.

Fortunately, building a sound holiday marketing strategy needn’t be a cumbersome or financially-taxing chore, as there are plenty of effective and time-tested ideas you can implement today for maximum engagement in the online and offline worlds. With that in mind, here are the top five tips that should become part of your holiday marketing strategy.

Weave the holiday spirit into your content strategy

Discounts and holiday bundles are great and all, but true value and customer loyalty stem from compelling storytelling – people want and need to feel as if they are a part of your brand. A discount here and there might bring you several one-time customers, but creating content that has a soul and an inspiring story to tell will be the thing that will bring you recurring, lifelong brand followers.

You can capitalize on this need to find an authentic brand that stands out from the rest of the herd by integrating storytelling into your campaigns and offering real emotional value that resonates in the hearts and minds of your demographic. So, get into the holiday spirit and start crafting compelling content that will put your brand on the proverbial map.

Budget your advertising plan accordingly

Nobody ever said that effectuating a marketing strategy is easy or affordable. In fact, many retailers boast about their increased conversion rates at the end of the holiday season, yet their profit margins remain the same. This is because marketers tend to invest too much money in their marketing plans without realizing how it will affect the long-term cash flow of the company.

To prevent this, you want to create a detailed financial forecast for the holiday season. This forecast should tell you how much you can spend on ads and what the realistic ROI actually looks like. By making a forecast, you can structure a sound financial plan and allocate resources accordingly.

Let your brand stand out from the rest

One of the most important elements of a successful marketing campaign, regardless of the season, is branding. Simply put, your marketing efforts serve to portray your brand in the best possible light through compelling visuals, not just push products towards the apprehensive consumer. Moreover, you need to couple your branding efforts with a reward program for your customers in order to show them just how much they matter to you.

To that end, consider giving out branded Christmas gift cards to your loyal customers and even first-time visitors in order to incentivize them to come back to your store, and just make them feel appreciated this holiday season. A gift card is an excellent way to give them the freedom to spend the money however they wish while seamlessly weaving your brand into their daily lives.

Prepare your social media strategy

Social media is the place where you’re most likely to reach the bulk of your demographic, and during the holiday season, the networks are bound to explode with engagement and activity across the globe. This begs the need to prepare your social media strategy well in advance and schedule posts, ads, and live events for maximum engagement and buzz in the online world. However, this is not something you can do on the fly, and you will need to start producing these materials in the months leading up to the holiday craze – which is now.

Create all marketing materials well in advance

Many businesses make the inadvertent mistake of leaving content production for the weeks or days leading up to the holiday sales, a mistake that could end up costing them their Christmas bonuses. Rather than dishing out half-baked ads and publishing poorly-optimized content, you want to create all online and offline marketing materials as soon as possible, so that you have plenty of time to rework your strategy if need be. Focus on creating engaging blog posts, videos, images and infographics, as well as organizing live events that will attract the online and offline audience to your doorstep.

 

The holiday season is a time for businesses to make a sizable income and enter the New Year with a positive revenue stream. However, in such a competitive environment, you need to plan your marketing strategy carefully in order to produce the desired results. Let these five tips differentiate your offering from the rest on the market and make this holiday season your most profitable season to date.