‘Tis the Season for Sales! Tips for Running a Successful Holiday Campaign

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, especially for small brands and local businesses! For them, holiday spending is key to a profitable year. According to an American Express Shop Small Impact study, roughly 75% of small business owners have said that they need holiday spending to return to normal in order to stay in business in 2021, and almost half of them expressed the need for above-average spending.

However, there’s good news. As we slowly rebound from Covid-19 restrictions, the National Retail Federation said that it expects holiday sales during November and December to rise between 8.5% and 10.5%, for a total of between $843.4 and $859 billion of sales.

Thankfully, it’s easier than ever for businesses to meet their end-of-the-year sales goals. Online holiday marketing campaigns can reach thousands — even millions of people — within a small business budget. To get results, business owners need to execute holiday campaigns to achieve maximum benefit. Here are a few tips for running an effective holiday digital or social media campaign. 

 

Define your Campaign Theme, Target Audience, and Goals

To define your campaign theme, conduct a SWOT analysis highlighting your brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Perform a SWOT analysis before you commit to any sort of company action, including a holiday marketing campaign. Use your SWOT analysis to discover recommendations and strategies, with a focus on leveraging strengths and opportunities to overcome weaknesses and threats.

 

Create a Marketing Plan

It doesn’t have to be exhaustive, but take time to execute the following steps to ensure a successful campaign:

  • Write a simple executive summary.
  • Set metric-driven marketing goals.
  • Create an actionable marketing strategy.
  • Create a public relations strategy plan.
  • Create a media outreach plan.
  • Set accurate key baselines and metrics.
  • Set tracking or reporting guidelines.

 

Create an Offer

What is the best offer you can advertise that will entice shoppers to consider and purchase what your company has to offer? Once you pin down the “deal”, consider the content that will grab attention and stand out in the crowded holiday commerce crowd.

 

Create a Landing Page

Draw from your offer, imagery, and copy to create a dynamic landing page for your campaign. Incorporate keywords that will be picked up by search engines. Search Engine Optimization is the process of getting traffic from free, organic, editorial, or natural search results in search engines. It aims to improve your website’s position on search results pages. Remember, the higher the website is listed, the more people will see it.  

 

Create Holiday Hashtags

Different types of hashtags tend to perform well on specific social media platforms, and some platforms see more success when multiple hashtags are used in one post. Creating a branded holiday hashtag or two can double your holiday social media campaign visibility, giving you better engagement and profits throughout the holiday season.

Keep in mind that the word “branded” is key to making this campaign a success. While you can use generic hashtags such as #happyholidays and #2021 on platforms like Instagram, these aren’t the hashtags that will generate significant results for you. You’ll need special hashtags that incorporate your products or service, relate to your brand, and are used consistently across social media platforms.

 

Incentivize 

Find an option that encourages customers to spend more in order to get that little something extra. Here are some ways to make this work for you include:

    • Make the free item a gift card or certificate, which encourages buyers to purchase from you again in the future.
    • Give samples as a gift rather than something full size.
    • Set a specific dollar amount that must be spent in order to receive the gift.
    • Offer a percent-off coupon for shoppers who sign up for email or text messages on future promotions.

 

Now go get ’em!

Just because your campaign is holiday-themed doesn’t mean the rules for marketing change. Your campaign still needs to abide by marketing best practices. Also, think about the holiday campaigns you’ve loved throughout your life. If you can draw inspiration from something you love, chances are you’ll be able to create something incredible. Ultimately, a lot goes into a successful marketing campaign; whether it’s digital or otherwise, it’s best if it comes from the heart.

Reflecting on the Benefits of Being Grateful

Thanksgiving 2021 shaped up to be far different than Thanksgiving 2020. We have lifted restrictions on travel and the things we can do in the District. Considering the shift we all have endured from 2019 to now, we should be very grateful!  

When we were physically distanced, it was the small things that mattered most to us during Giving Season, like a smile, a meal, a nap, or a neighbor who looked after pets. Reflecting on those small acts of kindness gives the brain a break and a new focus. That’s what makes the difference to your happiness! 

As we begin to celebrate 2021’s holiday season, new threats – real and perceived – loom large. The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the supply chain, making some items scarce, and those things we can find cost more. Rather than lessening, our anxiety levels are similar or higher than a year ago.

A study (What Good Are Positive Emotions in Crises? A Prospective Study of Resilience and Emotions Following the Terrorist Attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001) done in the weeks following September 11th found that resilient people were less depressed because they were able to experience positive emotions like love and gratitude. When we feel gratitude, areas of the brain light up that are involved with how we regulate emotions and relieve stress, and our brains get a deeper sense of reward from generosity—all qualities that are helpful today.

If that all isn’t enough, practicing gratitude can help you live a quality life.

The health benefits of practicing gratitude are wide-ranging — and maybe even a bit surprising. Research shows that the following activities may enhance your quality of life. An easy-to-remember acronym, HEART, has been suggested by the American Heart Association to help us all remember the steps to a grateful lifestyle:

  • Health: Think of what your body allowed you to do today. Maybe your feet enabled you to walk around the house or your arms allow you to hold a pet you love.
  • Eat: What nourishment did you provide your body today? What was your favorite meal?
  • Activity: Did you do something today that you really enjoyed? Take a moment to reflect on and savor it.
  • Relationship: Did you see or talk to someone today who brings you joy? Or are you planning to see someone on a video chat who fits that description? (Remember: The person in the mirror counts.)
  • Time: There’s no time like the present. Allow yourself to be grateful for the fact that you’re here.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that people who practice gratitude are:

  • More generous and helpful
  • More likely to offer emotional support
  • More likely to share their possessions
  • More willing to forgive others

Here is a tool you might find helpful.

Thnx4.org is a gratitude journaling platform that teaches people how to strengthen habits of gratitude and in turn enjoy the science-backed benefits of feeling and expressing gratitude.

Thnx4.org was created by the Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) at the University of California, Berkeley. It draws on decades of rigorous research showing that being more grateful predicts:

  • Better health, reduced risk of heart disease, and more restful sleep
  • Stronger feelings of social connection and relationship satisfaction
  • More satisfaction with life, more joy and optimism, and less anxiety
  • Increased motivation and productivity in school and at work

Gratitude is a choice that is yours to make. How often you practice gratitude is up to you, just like exercise. Some days, the effort it takes might be more than you can handle. But as reluctant exercisers know, it feels so much better after you do it, even when you thought it wouldn’t!

How do you plan to participate in 2021’s giving season?