It’s hard to believe we are entering into the last quarter of the year and gearing up for the holidays! As we prepare for the upcoming holiday marketing season, we wanted to share a couple of tips on how you can be successful with your holiday campaigns and a few real-life examples of marketing campaigns from our clients.
- Establish Your Goals
The most important thing when planning your holiday advertising is to establish your goals so that it is clear to all involved what you hope to accomplish. Then, set benchmarks so that you can measure the success of your efforts. If your goal is to increase sales, figure out how you plan to do that. Will you be offering a coupon? Can you track when a customer uses the coupon? Where will you market the coupon? A landing page? Social media? Print? Understanding your customer’s journey is important when establishing your goals so that you can focus your efforts on where you will get the greatest return.
2020 Carpet One Fall Mat Campaign photo courtesy of Simple Cozy Charm
- Scout Out Influencers
When utilizing influencer marketing for your holiday advertising plans, you want to start well in advance. Depending on when you want your influencers to post their content, you will need to start the initial outreach 3-4 months in advance. Be sure to account for time spent negotiating what the influencer will provide (a social post, reels, blog post, Instagram stories, rights to hi-resolution photos, etc.) It is also important to plan ahead if you will be providing any products to the influencers, especially if the product has to be produced and shipped. With our client, Carpet One, we annually partner with influencers for a Fall Mat Campaign to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We provide influencers with a fall-themed doormat and in return, they provide a post on social media and a hi-resolution image for Carpet One to use in their marketing. We began the process of reaching out to influencers in August with a go-live target date in October. We also participate in an annual Holiday Home Blog Tour with our client, Mohawk Home, in November. We are currently in the process of reaching out to influencers and negotiating contracts for this fun and festive partnership. The return on investment with these holiday marketing campaigns is huge! It is great exposure for our clients, and they get content that they can use throughout the holiday season.
2020 Mohawk Home Holiday Home Blog Tour photo courtesy of The Honeycombe Home
- Plan, Plan, Plan
We can’t stress enough the importance of planning out your holiday marketing campaigns. There is a lot that goes into making your campaign successful and walking through each step ensures that everyone is on the same page, and you are more likely to meet your goals. With our retail client, Furniture of Dalton, we started planning holiday marketing in August because the holiday season is a big selling time for them. We began by establishing our goals and then defining how we would reach those goals. Everyone on the team is informed on the plan and knows who is responsible for what. Graphics are being prepared in advance, print materials have been ordered, the sales team is informed on the promotions, the social media team knows what to promote, and the website will reflect the sales. When executing a big promotion during the holiday season, planning is crucial.
- Get Creative
Get creative with your holiday marketing! Our client, Horizon Stone, sells gorgeous stone veneer which is absolutely stunning in outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, and patios. To capitalize on consumers wanting to spend more time outside during the fall weather and football season, we provided an SEO-optimized blog on “The Perfect Outdoor Spaces for Fall Football!” Blogs provide a space on your website for more timely content, and they are much easier and less expensive than a landing page. They also improve organic search results (SEO), and they provide content to share on social media platforms. Whether you are working with a limited budget or you aren’t sure how your product fits into holiday marketing, getting creative is always a good idea!
Horizon Stone Exterior Stone Veneer Retaining Wall 19th Century stone in color Hermitage
- Incentivize Your Followers
Engagement is key on social media! Whether you want to increase your number of followers or connect further with your existing followers, giving them clear calls to action that resonate with them is so important. The holidays are a great time to do a giveaway and when done correctly, it can positively impact your social media metrics. For example, create a post giving away some of your product or a service to one of your followers. Ask your followers to like, comment, share, and tag 3 friends on a post to be entered into the giveaway. This not only boosts your engagement and exposure, it also gets people considering your brand. If they don’t win the giveaway, they may still be willing to purchase your product or service in the future. Just be sure to follow FTC Guidelines and platform rules when running any promotion or contest.
These are just a few ways to prepare for your upcoming holiday marketing campaigns. We would love to hear how you are gearing up for the holiday season in the comments. If all of this information has you feeling overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to reach out! We would love to walk you through the process of holiday marketing planning and help you determine what will work best for you and your brand.
Here’s to a great holiday season ahead!
Love,
The WLS Team
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