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:
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- 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.
