How To Be Efficient With Holiday Advertising
With the holidays sneaking up on us, it’s time to get your marketing plans in place if you haven’t already. Typically holiday campaigns can run from the first week of November through Christmas. This burst of retailers advertising causes more competition in the digital advertising space. When competition increases, costs rise.
Clients have come to us recently worried about how to best optimize efforts going into the holiday season. While in some industries and types of businesses the amount of sales will make up for the additional cost, there are some key items to consider in order to make the most of your marketing efforts during the holiday season.
- Use What’s Already Working
- Don’t Nelgect Email & Social
- Supplement Online Efforts
- Stay True To Your Brand One of the most important balancing acts is to get into the holiday spirit with your message, but not neglect your overall brand strategy. Each brand is different but each has an authentic voice that you want to be sure doesn’t get lost in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Stay authentic to your core audience and customers and keep messaging aligned with your brand and core values.
- Follow Up Campaigns
Instead of feeling overwhelmed and throwing additional money at advertising just because, ramp up efforts leading into the holidays, so you can figure out what works and can approach your holiday advertising in a more focused effort. Find an advertising mix that’s diversified but highly targeted to increase conversions and ROI.
Don’t neglect your loyal customers and your most engaged fans with an email marketing and social strategy. Shift tactics to emailing exclusive deals to your loyal customers and share exclusive offers, contests, and sweepstakes to further engage on social. Look to see who is actively engaged with your brand and reward them when they help you spread the word. Get more great email tips here.
Show love to your customers, family and friends with events. Get influencers involved by sending gift packages. Or host a charity drive/event that is aligned with your brand. Each of these can help with word-of-mouth and PR efforts to get your brand out there in a grass roots approach. Also consider participating in known events such as Small Business Saturday or partner with other larger brands to support your community and/or industry in a memorable way.
If the budget just isn’t quite where you need it to be to make a big splash during the holidays, depending on your industry, it’s not uncommon to go dark and plan a big push for just after the season. Think ahead to opportunities around the new year, and messaging that will truly resonate with your audience coming off of the holiday season when digital advertising rates begin to normalize.
Although consumers spend more during the holiday season, resist wasting money on tactics that don’t make sense for your business. Take a profit-driven over cost-driven approach and stick to what works.
Are you ready for the holiday season? Schedule a time to chat through how to best optimize your marketing and advertising efforts.