The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for marketers - you probably already know that.
It’s a time of the year when you can rake in lots of profit from your campaigns, but, on the other hand, if your campaigns aren’t well-prepared, you can find yourself seriously at a disadvantage.
As a marketer, you know that the key to success in your holiday campaigns is to plan ahead as much as possible. But what happens when you start running out of time?
If you're making your final checklist for your holiday campaigns, this guide is for you. Take the time to cross these six things off your holiday campaign to-do list to avoid getting totally…well, you know the rest.
1. Update Your Social Media Pages and Website with Holiday Content
It might seem like a small thing, but holiday-themed content is a crucial part of your holiday campaigns. It helps you to stand out from the competition, and it creates a festive atmosphere that can engage your audience.
Make sure that your posts and photos are relevant to the holidays and your business. You can also add festive captions and hashtags to your posts to enhance their impact. You don't need to go overboard with this, but crafting some cleverly-worded and placed posts and photos (like holiday infographics or festive product images) can make a big difference.
Video content is incredibly engaging, and it's an effective way to showcase your products or services. Holiday videos can be anything from a short promotional video to a heartwarming holiday story. Just make sure your videos are high-quality and relevant to the holidays.
One of the latest trends in digital marketing is the use of AI chatbot technology. This technology enables you to create personalized digital greetings for customers who visit your website during the holidays. You can program your chatbot to greet customers with a holiday message or a special offer, which can increase engagement and lead to more sales.
2. Create a Sense of Urgency With a More Interactive Experience
The holidays are a busy time for marketers, with many companies vying for the attention of customers with campaigns and promotions. One effective strategy to stand out from the crowd is to create a sense of urgency with interactive experiences.
One easy way to do this is to offer a holiday-themed quiz or game. For example, you can create a quiz that helps customers discover their ideal holiday gift or a game that challenges them to decorate cookies.
By making the experience fun and engaging, you can hold customers' attention for longer and increase the likelihood of them making a purchase. By including personalized recommendations based on quiz results or offering a discount for completing a game, you can increase the chances of conversion.
Another way to create an interactive experience is to allow customers to design their own custom gift boxes or cards. This approach allows customers to feel more involved in the gift-giving process and may increase their sense of ownership over the final product.
And by offering a variety of customization options and showcasing examples of finished products, you can inspire customers to create their own unique gifts. Plus, by setting a deadline for ordering custom gifts, you can create a feeling of urgency and incentivize customers to act quickly.
Finally, countdown timers are a great way to create a sense of urgency in holiday campaigns. By letting customers know how much time is left to take advantage of a sale or promotion, you can create a feeling of urgency and increase the likelihood of conversion.
You might consider adding a ticking clock or flashing visuals to your site - that way, you can increase the feeling of excitement and add to the sense of urgency. Just be sure to clearly communicate the end time and any limitations on the promotion to avoid confusion or disappointment.
3. Double Check Your Email Lists, Website Forms, and Landing Pages
Your email list is the backbone of your email marketing campaigns. Without a reliable and up-to-date list, your emails may end up in the spam folder or bounce back, affecting your sender reputation and causing you to miss out on potential sales.
Double-check your email list to ensure all the entries are correct and clean up any duplicates or inactive subscribers.
Consider segmenting your list based on various demographics, interests, or locations to tailor your content accordingly. Also, make sure your subscribers have opted-in to receive communication from you. You don’t want to send to people who aren’t interested.
Website forms are equally essential tools for capturing leads, and any issues with them can cause you to miss out on valuable conversions. Make sure your forms are working correctly and test them to ensure they’re submitting responses to the right email addresses or databases. Test autoresponders or triggers to ensure your subscribers receive the welcome messages or lead magnets they’ve signed up for.
Remember that your holiday specials or promotions will need effective landing pages to guide your potential customers through the buying process. Make sure your pages are mobile-friendly, load quickly, and cater to your target audience. The messaging needs to be precise and tailored to your holiday marketing goals. You’ll want to test your forms, tracking codes, and links to avoid any last-minute surprises.
Last but not least, in all your marketing emails, website forms, and landing pages, you want to ensure all your links are functional and redirecting users to the intended destinations. The last thing you want is for your customers to click on a link when they're doing their last minute holiday shopping and end up on a 404 error page.
Test every link to ensure they’re pointing to the right landing pages or products, and keep track of your link metrics to measure their effectiveness.
4. Leverage User Generated Content (UGC)
It's a fact: people trust other people more than they trust brands. User-generated content helps you build that trust which is important for your campaigns.
UGC can come in the form of reviews, testimonials, or social media posts. Sharing this content on your website or social media pages can help build trust with your audience. This increased trust can lead to increased sales and foster brand loyalty.
There are many ways to incorporate UGC in your campaigns. You can showcase customer reviews on your website or product pages. You can also use Instagram or Facebook stories to repost customers using your products.
Creating UGC campaigns or contests that encourage customers to create content about your brand can also be an effective strategy to create more UGC. To maximize its value, make sure that the content is positive, on-brand, and relevant to your product.
5. Segment Your Campaigns By Audience Type
Your customers are not all the same, and they don't all respond to the same messages, promotions, or calls to action.
Audience segmentation allows you to categorize your audience based on common characteristics, such as demographics, behavior, interests, or location.
By doing so, you can tailor your campaigns' messaging, timing, and format to match each segment's preferences and needs. This can increase the likelihood of engagement, conversion, and loyalty, as well as lower the chances of alienation, churn, or wasted resources.
To segment your audience effectively, you need to gather accurate and relevant data about your customers. This can be done through different sources, such as surveys, analytics, social media, or sales history. Some common types of audience segments for holiday campaigns include:
- New customers: those who have never bought from you before
- Returning customers: those who have bought from you in the past year
- High-value customers: those who have spent more than average or bought premium products
- Low-value customers: those who have spent less than average or been inactive for a while
- Geotargeted customers: those who live or work in specific regions or cities
- Interest-based customers: those who have shown interest in certain products or topics
- Behavior-based customers: those who have exhibited certain behaviors, such as browsing, abandoning, or sharing products
Once you have segmented your audience types, you can create tailored content that appeals to their individual interests and needs.
For example, you could:
- Offer exclusive discounts or incentives to new customers to encourage them to buy from you
- Send personalized recommendations or reminders to returning customers based on their past purchases or preferences
- Create special packages or bundles for high-value customers to reward their loyalty and boost their spending
- Send win-back campaigns or surveys to low-value customers to understand why they left and how to bring them back
- Feature local events or attractions in your ads or social media posts to resonate with geo targeted customers and improve your local SEO
- Use retargeting ads or email campaigns to showcase related or complementary products to interest-based customers and increase their lifetime value
- Use urgency or scarcity tactics to prompt behavior-based customers to convert, such as offering limited-time sales or highlighting low stock levels
6. Schedule Your Content and Test Before Launch
One final thing you can (and should!) do to improve the success of your holiday campaigns is to schedule your content and test it before launch.
Testing your campaigns allows you to catch any issues or bugs before they go live and potentially damage your credibility with your audience. Poorly performing campaigns can also lead to wasted ad spend and missed revenue opportunities.
By testing your campaigns before launching them, you can ensure that your messaging resonates with your audience and that your marketing channels are functioning as intended. You can also make data-driven decisions based on your test results and optimize your campaigns for maximum effectiveness.
When scheduling your content, be sure to plan ahead and create a content calendar that includes all of the content you plan to publish for your campaign. Leverage data and insights from past campaigns, such as engagement rates, to guide your scheduling decisions and choose the best times to publish.
Consider using tools like social media management platforms or email marketing software to help automate your scheduling and ensure that your content goes live as planned.
The Takeaway
As a marketer, the holiday season can be a stressful and busy time, but it's important to stay focused on your campaigns if you want to achieve optimal success.
This holiday season, don't leave the success of your campaigns to chance. At Kinetic319, we understand that one size doesn't fit all when it comes to advertising. That's why we offer personalized strategies tailored to meet your business's unique needs.
Don’t wait any longer! Start planning your holiday approach today to make this busy season the best season yet.