Just because it’s the holidays, it doesn’t mean that work stops for everyone. Some industries even kick into overdrive during this time of year. Whether you’re busy now or not though is irrelevant to your holiday marketing efforts because that show must go on.
Staying connected with your audience is more always important and the holidays present a perfect opportunity to stay top of mind. Messages this time of year can help humanize your brand and cultivate a deeper connection with your customers so it’s key to not let this chance go to waste.
Understand Your Audience
As per the usual and the holy grail of any effective communication strategy is to deeply understand whom you’re talking to. In all likelihood, you’re already well versed in this and have your customer persona crystalized (and if you don’t, you need to reach out to us!) and the main hurdle to clear is delivering the right message.
Whether you’re selling products or promoting services, the vital thing is to recognize what it is that your customer wants at this time of year and craft the messaging and offer to hook them. Bear in mind though, you don’t need to be hard selling in every text, email or social media post. That said, you shouldn’t be selling in every communication.
If you know that what you offer isn’t going to have a lot of traction during the holidays with your audience, don’t feel pressured to offer a deal just because it’s what you’re “supposed” to do or because everyone’s doing it. It’s not a requirement and there are compelling reasons not to make a holiday offer if it doesn’t make sense for your business.
In that case, a warm holiday greeting goes a long way and helps your brand stick in someone’s mind.
Don’t Discriminate
We’re stating the obvious here but not everyone celebrates the same holiday!
A blanket “Happy Holidays” is inherently going to be read as more inclusive than specifically going with “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Kwanzaa”. Unless your company or product is specifically tied into a particular holiday, a broad approach in the greeting and verbiage is more accessible to a wider audience.
Is it a deal-breaker to just go with “Happy Hanukkah” as the basis of your holiday messaging? Not really but why do it when there are so many wonderful holidays and celebrations at this time of year to include?
It took us multiple sentences to include 3 major holidays in this section, for example.
This is an easy one but sometimes gets lost in the shuffle and becomes unnecessarily controversial.
Send Messages Out at The Right Time
Timing is everything in life and the same goes for your marketing communication.
Paying meticulous attention to the time and day of the week you send anything can be the difference between a great open or click-through rate and subpar performance. That, in turn, can make the difference between converting sales and missing them completely.
During the holiday’s the timing is even more important and you probably don’t want to be sending an email blast during Christmas eve dinner. Not a good look and most likely never going to be read either. If you want people to take action for Christmas or Thanksgiving or New Year’s, you need to be priming them before that. So they’re ready to act when that clinching message which seals the deal comes in at the end.
Reach Out to Us Today at the Snow Agency
Holiday marketing is clearly important but what makes it work is the strategy behind it which includes everything from the timing to the recipients and, most importantly, to the content itself. If you’ve struggled to nail your holiday marketing in the past, get in touch with us at The Snow Agency, this is sort of our thing, we’re called The Snow Agency after all, snow… winter… holidays… you get it.
Totally has nothing to do with our founder’s last name…