When Should You Start Working On Your Christmas Marketing Ideas?
What makes festive marketing effective? Depending on your niche, you probably have needs and requirements distinct from those of eCommerce businesses. However, your content marketing tactics aren’t that much different. You still need to focus on what your customers need and how you can offer it to them in a creative way and at a discount. And you should do all that while jazzing up your marketing tricks by incorporating Christmassy imagery. But when should you start thinking about Christmas advertising? As the years go by, more and more businesses prepare their Christmas marketing ideas and ads in the fall, right after Thanksgiving is over. This is because 49% of consumers start their festive shopping in October, meaning that the earlier they are aware of your products, the earlier they will make a purchase.
Generally, though, brands have their B2B marketing campaigns ready in early November, so people have at least three weeks of ad exposure before buying anything. While you may see some brands starting their Christmas promotions in October, the best timing is around mid to late November.
Keep reading if you want to find fresh and successful ideas that will help you build your next Christmas ad.
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10 Smart Christmas Marketing Ideas You Can Follow
1. Modify Your Landing Page
You don’t have to mess with your website’s code to sprinkle some Christmas joy into your landing pages. You can incorporate easily accessible Christmas themes or simply add recognizable holiday images, with red being your main color. Make sure to add your special discounts in bold so people can easily check them out. For example, Macy’s uses large fonts so nobody can ignore them. Also, you may add different discount numbers depending on the products. This way, your promotional campaign is multifaceted and not uniform. Macy’s Christmas marketing ideas make people feel like they’re getting something unique at the best price possible while enjoying the Christmas spirit.
2. Urgency
Your Christmas lead magnet ideas should focus heavily on creating a sense of urgency. The fear of mission out (FOMO) should be prompting people to proceed with their purchase quickly. How can you do that, though? To boost Christmas business, you must give your customers unique offerings and discounts that are active for only a limited time. Don’t use gimmicky methods, like extending your offers for longer than you initially claimed they would last, as clients may feel like you were being dishonest. Simply add a powerful and accurate CTA that describes your offer without creating false perceptions.
3. Email Campaigns
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to engage customers and improve your conversion rates. Especially during the holiday season, when people are actively looking for deals and presents, you can’t avoid leveraging the benefits of email marketing. You may set various offers and discounts depending on the product and create a countdown. For every day that passes, you inform your audience that they are closer to missing an opportunity. Additionally, you can create a “12 days of Christmas” marketing campaign, where each day you’ll promote different discounts and free offerings. To increase your open rates, you must use catchy email subject lines that push people to click on your emails instead of sending them to the bin. However, don’t make the subject lines clickbaity. Once your audience sees that your promotion isn’t as alluring as the subject indicates, they may mark your email as spam.
4. Special Deals
If you don’t want to use the “12 days of Christmas” technique since it has been overused in the past years, you may go for 24 days of deals to increase brand awareness on social media and boost sales. What is this tactic? You simply offer a different discount and deal every day until Christmas. If people don’t use the deal within 24 hours, it goes away. Talk about urgency, right? You may use intriguing Christmas marketing slogans in your CTAs to attract audiences. You can offer free goodies, loyalty rewards to long-time customers, discounted subscriptions, and wish list offers. Don’t forget to conduct iterative testing, especially A/B testing, to identify the most promising CTAs.
5. Social Media Contests
To build an effective social media strategy, you must create engaging posts and interact with your audience frequently. Fun, interactive Christmas posts don’t only boost brand awareness but also build a positive perception of your brand. You can take things one step further by organizing a UGC contest. For example, you may ask your audience to share pictures of their holiday decorations and let them vote for their favorite in the comments. You may award the winner with some sort of prize, including a generous discount or free corporate goodies. This way, your social media account and your posts can become viral as people often tag their friends, generating even more interest.
6. Influencer Partnerships
Social media marketing is any marketer’s sacred book. One of the most popular Christmas marketing ideas is collaborating with influencers and asking them to promote your services or products. You should choose people who are relevant to your niche and have deep expertise. This way, their followers trust their words regardless of being sponsored placements. Typically, brands pay individuals per post or story or give them a special discount code, helping them earn a small percentage for every purchase. So, this tactic is also affiliate marketing. However, when we talk about influencers, we also mean digital marketers who can promote your banner ads effectively to niche-related audiences. For instance, eLearning Industry has a vast audience of eLearning and HR professionals waiting for new solutions and effective software.
7. Holiday-Themed Videos
Christmas videos are a wonderful content marketing idea many businesses leverage to engage audiences and boost their stats on various platforms. Since the holidays are such a merry occasion, people are more willing than ever to consume promotional content, as they are looking for exclusive deals. Even if your winter promo idea isn’t based on discounts and deals, your video can gain traction and increase brand awareness. Maybe your product is so unique and already well-priced that B2B customers will buy it even without a special deal. Make sure your videos are bright and fun and incorporate popular music.
8. Emotional Messaging
If you plan on creating a Christmas ad you’ll distribute on various channels, including TV and YouTube, you should remember that emotions sell. When you lean on your sensitive side, you show prospects that you are not only about business but you also care about people’s feelings. To generate more leads, use your products or services to create a narrative that births happiness, sadness, despair, fear, and other common emotions. The resolution of the story and your Christmas sale slogans should show exactly how your offers make people’s lives better. You may even create an ad based on a charitable donation or initiative you took.
9. Christmas Quizzes
Another way to spice up your Christmas marketing ideas and boost brand awareness is to create holiday quizzes throughout December. Tailor your quizzes so they prompt people to answer specific questions. This way, you get to know your audience better, and you can cater better options to them. Also, you may attach a discount to quizzes to push even more people to answer while signing up for your newsletter. At the same time, you can publish more generic quizzes on social media to increase engagement. But why stop there? Come up with a few holiday spirit week ideas for work so your employees can also enjoy this time.
10. Charities
The holiday season makes many people realize how lucky they are to be in the position they are, recognizing that others are not as privileged. However amazing B2B content marketing strategies and social media tips are, companies have a responsibility to be conscious of society’s problems. So, locate causes and charities that align with your company values and donate a respectable sum or offer your workforce’s services. For example, you may organize meal distribution for those in need and ask your employees to participate in the initiative. Then, you can create Christmas posts sharing event pictures with your followers.
4 Christmas Marketing Ads That Are Still Remembered
1. Coca-Cola
You’ve probably seen the Coca-Cola polar bear holding a bottle of the famous drink. This imagery was first introduced by the brand back in 1993, and specifically as a Christmas ad in 1995. The initial and newest ads have appeared on every promotional channel available, including social media, print publications, TV, and so many more. It’s been almost 30 years, and we still identify the polar bear as a symbol of the beverage company. How can you come up with such a memorable idea for your content marketing strategy? Think of non-saturated Christmas-related imagery and combine it with your brand; it should be something unique yet recognizable.
2. Macy’s
Every year around Christmas time, Macy’s is at the epicenter of decorations and celebrations, unveiling their iconic storefronts. The company also holds a Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is broadcast live on TV. Once Thanksgiving is over, the company begins its Christmas holiday campaigns, including landing page optimization, so its entire website looks like a large festive present selection. They use smart Christmas marketing slogans and offer tips and ideas about gift-giving. All their holiday TV and social media ads are equally creative every single year, while their email marketing campaigns inform consumers of special discounts.
3. Hershey’s Kisses
Simplicity is simply the best, right? This is exactly what Hershey thought when they built their first Christmas ad in 1989, presenting their chocolate bites as Christmas ornaments. The same ad was recreated again and again until 2012 with pretty much no changes, proving its success. So, consistency is the road the brand chose to ride on and make it easier for consumers to identify them during holiday shopping. Even the sound of the jingle has remained the same over the years.
4. John Lewis & Partners
The retail company decided to stray away from classic Christmas imagery and instead created an emotional story about a bear and a hare. But how do these two relate to the festive season? Well, the genius digital marketing agency behind the ad created a story where the hare doesn’t want the bear to sleep through the day and miss Christmas. So, it decides to make a purchase: an alarm clock, which is available in the company’s stores. Not only that, but we get glimpses of how the wooden characters were built and turned into actionable figures while Lily Allen sings “Somewhere Only We Know.”
Compelling Marketing Tactics For Small Businesses
1. Giveaways
Who hasn’t participated in a social media giveaway, liking posts, following accounts, and tagging friends? This Christmas marketing idea is not only great for B2C companies but also for B2B and SaaS small businesses. Maybe you can’t offer a free full subscription to your services, but you can provide free goodies, event tickets, and discounted offerings. Especially for small businesses that may not have grown their social media followings yet, this lead generation technique should bring many new followers. Although some users may unfollow once the giveaway is over, many of them will remain. Don’t forget to ask participants to follow your account or any other accounts related to your Christmas giveaway and tag as many friends as they want.
2. Host An Event
Many retail businesses, like Macy’s, create events for their customers to attend. However, Macy’s has a large budget to do all these spectacular events, while you probably work with very little and are not in the B2C landscape. A great Christmas marketing idea is to participate as a host, donor, or sponsor at a relevant event. For example, if a university is hosting a Christmas party and you own an LMS or course creation software, you may sponsor the event. A carefully crafted event marketing strategy can help you generate new leads and bring you in front of the eyes of potential buyers.
3. SEO And SEM
How are your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) skills? You may need them and an effective Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategy to rank higher on SERPs. Your goal as a small business isn’t to target high-volume but high-intent keywords. This means that people searching for them have a higher chance of converting. So, you should create content based on these keywords and improve your link-building strategy. That’s what SEO is. If you have no idea how to do this, you may need to collaborate with an expert digital marketing agency, like eLearning Industry. SEM refers to the creative Christmas ads you create to attract buyers. Once again, you target high-intent keywords and bid on them. The higher the bid, the higher you appear on search results.
4. Remarketing
Chances are you’ve been shown ads for products you just browsed. This startup marketing tactic converts really well since people are already thinking about purchasing that product. There might be even better Christmas marketing ideas for small B2B companies, though. Email marketing informs clients of abandoned carts and makes new product suggestions based on their browsing or purchasing history. For example, if someone already purchased your basic subscription, you can create a Christmas promotion offering a discount for upgrading their plan. This is called upselling, and it pairs beautifully with Christmas marketing ads.
5. Team Up With Other Businesses
How can a B2B company collaborate with another vendor to create holiday promotion ideas? While cross-promotions are not very common in the B2B industry, there are options for small businesses. For instance, you may have developed an LMS that lacks AI-powered automation, so you may want to collaborate with an AI tool and integrate it with your software. You can then join your forces to create Christmas ads and promote your services. But customers should have the option to purchase your individual products, not just the collaboration. This way, both of you can increase sales of your unique products and reach each other’s audiences.
6. PPC Advertising
Pay-per-click ads are one of the most efficient advertising methods for small businesses, as they can target seasonal keywords to increase visibility and conversion rates. You probably already have a PPC strategy for eLearning businesses. However, you need to modify your keywords to align with the season. Check which keywords peak during the holiday season and incorporate them into your paid ads to attract more potential clients. Just don’t wait until mid-December to advertise, as the cost of these keywords may skyrocket. For SaaS businesses, PPC directory listing ads are also a successful way of boosting your product’s visibility to the right type of buyers.
7. Virtual Gift Cards
Christmas marketing ideas don’t stop there. Gift cards may be linked to retail companies, but B2B and SaaS startups can also utilize them to create the best marketing campaigns for Christmas. For instance, if you implement the “24 days of deals” theme, you may offer a gift card each day for the specific offer you’re promoting. Those gift cards should then be used within a certain period. If you can’t offer that many deals throughout the month, you can stick with a longer discount and just one gift card that only a limited number of people can win. This way, you create urgency to prompt your audience to act quickly in order to win your gift card.
Key Takeaway
Holiday social media campaigns are a staple in today’s marketing landscape, and you can’t avoid implementing them into your B2B content marketing if you want to increase sales during Christmas. Sure, people may not buy their mothers a subscription to your software, but they will make a purchase for themselves if the offer is irresistible. To achieve this feat, you must modify your landing page and create urgency in your emails, social media posts, and online advertisements. People will rush to buy something if they know that their window of opportunity is slim. Additionally, you may partner up with influencers and create holiday-themed videos. Remember to create emotional messaging to appeal to your audience. Charitable donations also create a positive perception of your brand.
Coca-Cola, Macy’s, and Hershey’s are a few of the best Christmas ads we’ve seen, but you don’t have to create something as impressive as them. This is especially true when you are a small business with a limited budget. In that case, giveaways and gift cards are the most simple things you can promote on your social media. SEO and SEM are also powerful tools to get your brand at the top of search engine results organically. However, you may need to implement PPC strategies to appear higher than organic results. Don’t forget to remarket your products to customers who already took an interest in you or even made a purchase.
