Love it or hate it, Christmas has a huge influence on everything from the economy to our waistlines. During the build-up to the holidays themselves, many sectors such as retail, health care and transportation will experience some of their busiest times. In other sectors, this will be a very quiet period where business is a little slow. The trend for digital marketing and offline marketing campaigns at Christmas is now well established and whether this is the busiest or the quietest time of year for you, a cleverly conceived Christmas marketing campaign will work for almost anybody. Here are some of the ways you can make the best of the season of mistletoe and mulled wine.
Gifts and Offers
Everybody loves gifts and this time of year is perfect for promotions that give your customers a little seasonal discount or if you have the capacity, something for free. Small things like 10% off codes, buy one get one free offer or friends and family discounts are great things to introduce at Christmas as well. If this doesn’t sound like it will work for you, can also send out a Christmas newsletter or email. Even if its as simple as offering your best wishes, little gifts are perfect for this time of year.
Embrace the fun.
Clean lines, subtle design and corporate colours couldn’t be further from what most people think of at Christmas. Even if it doesn’t fit with your image, using at least some Christmas imagery in your campaigns is just common sense. It doesn’t have to be a cartoon snowman or a child-like rendering of a reindeer, but using some seasonal motifs will generally be a very good thing for any business that wants to make the best of this time of year.
Make it personal
Christmas is a time for family and friends but its also one of the busiest times for businesses across the globe. Personal blog posts, video diaries or photo galleries of staff enjoying themselves can create a fantastic impression that lets your customers see the real people behind what you do. This time of year often makes people emotionally receptive, so this style of content will generally do very well.
Use Seasonal Language in Your Written Content
Though puns like “Yule love it” have been so overused, they’ve become ubiquitous with the festive period and are actually starting to seem almost kitsch and funny again. Using Christmas themed language on your site can help with SEO and using quirky email subject titles can be very effective at this time of year. Whether you want to evoke subtle, grown-up images of log fires, snow-covered houses and mulled wine or family-friendly fun, using festive themes is a must at this time of year.
Charity and Raising Awareness
This time of year can be fantastic for raising awareness and helping others. In the true spirit of the season, encouraging your customers or clients to donate to a charity you support can be a good way of showing that you are interested in more than just profits. Not only will this benefit other people in the long term, but it will help to create customer confidence. People generally respect and respond to those they consider kind and caring, rather than being driven only by money.
Humbug
Some people hate Christmas and though that’s hard for most of us to understand, its the truth. That doesn’t mean these people should be left out of your Christmas marketing campaigns, though. With the right kind of tone and approach, you can still post content that appeals to those who find this time of year difficult while also boosting your own profile. Articles like “How to survive another Christmas” can provide a little light relief for those who aren’t a fan of tinsel and turkey.
Impulse buys and last minute gifts
For retailers, this time of year can be a good time to introduce additional products at the checkout stage of a transaction, whether this is in the physical or digital world. Strategically placed items near a till will often be picked up very quickly. Similarly, optional extras in digital shopping baskets perform well around this time of year. Though some people are very organised, many of us still leave our Christmas shopping to the last minute, so convenience and the ability to grab something quickly will always be appealing.
A Brand New Year is Just Around the Corner
This time of year is perfect for letting people know what you have in store for them in the coming year. Email marketing campaigns, Facebook posts and blog posts about how excited you are for the future will fit with the general positivity of the season but will also help to let your customers know what to look forward to when the festivities are over.
Christmas Cleaning
Not everybody can use this time of year to their advantage from a marketing perspective but that doesn’t mean you should ignore it entirely. Like spring cleaning, this time of year can be a period where essential maintenance takes place and tasks like redesigning or rewriting your website can take place. If you definitely can’t use Christmas themes directly, the chances are that you will experience a lull, so use this downtime to prepare to hit the ground running in the new year.
If you have a website, using seasonal or festive themed words in some of the text can significantly improve its performance. Add blogs or news posts about festive themes that will be genuinely interesting for your visitors but also rich in the kind of keywords that you know will perform well. Product descriptions and landing page text can also be edited, though this will only work in certain industries and should always be changed back after Christmas is over and everything goes back to normal.
