Contact Us
Retailers, marketers and children around the world are gearing up for a big holiday season. Make sure your email and online marketing stand out — and get results — this holiday season.
1. Get Started Early
I remember one year we shopped for Christmas dinner on Christmas day. Nothing wrong with roast chicken and frozen brussels sprouts, but let’s just say it wasn’t the best holiday feast ever.
2. Be Analytic
Review last year’s holiday marketing. What worked? What didn’t work? Take a look at what your competitors did. What do you wish you had thought of? What should they have been doing better? Speak to your sales teams and staff and gather feedback. Then use all of that analysis to hone your strategy and tactics.
3. Be Holiday-Centric
If you’re selling products, spotlight gift sections of your website. “Holiday gifts,” gifts “for him” or “for her,” gifts under $20, gift baskets… are all the types of specials or email navigation links that will get customers thinking, clicking and hopefully buying. If your email is for a B2B audience, then rebuild your newsletter with a winter or holiday theme, and focus content on holiday planning or taking time off from work.
4. Get Creative
By any measure, there is too much marketing and too much madness around the holiday season. Creative design, copywriting and offers can help you stand out among competing emails, promotions and noise. And don’t forget it’s Chanukah and Kwanzaa time too. See our post on “Holiday Email Planning and Ideas.”
5. Be Different
You want to stand out from your competition, the holiday rush and, even, your own emails. So find a new angle, a new take on the familiar, or try something intriguing, different. Make sure your holiday marketing has its own identity. If you’re sending holiday emails (and you should be) their identity should be distinct from your standard email template design while adhering to brand guidelines of course. Clicks trump consistency over the holidays. Tis the season for bottom line, not branding. Alternately, if you’re a B2B or professional services firm, downplay the Christmas spirit and tune up the thanks. Non-promotional emails will stand out from the commercial clutter and win over the Santa-saturated.
6. Don’t Forget the Details
Retailers always have a last day for shipping for Christmas delivery and other vital infrormation, so be sure to include shipping info in your email. As shop, ship or other dates or inventory changes, be sure to add that to your communications.
7. Share the Joy
Make sure your emails are forward-able and social-friendly so that you get email traction and all those Facebook likes and Twitter mentions.
8. Socialize
Tis the season for social media, so draw attention to your social media and build community/relationships this holiday season. You can create holiday themes for your social sharing icons (think about how Google celebrates important dates by altering their logo), give your icons Santa caps, or create a holiday theme tab for your Facebook landing page.
9. Make Mobile Mistletoe
46% of US smartphone and tablet users pan to make holiday purchases via mobile devices this year (eMarketer). Build mobile friendly emails, sites, microsites. If your site has a shopping app, then now is a good time to highlight that type of application.
10. Segment Like Santa
Santa doesn’t bring everyone the same present. You shouldn’t either. If you can segment your list and send relevant offers, what better time than the holidays. That may mean a different email for men then women, a different email for your newbies than frequent flyers, a different approach for inactives. The more segmented your list, approach and content, the more relevant the communication.
11. Personalize
Personalize emails so that recipients see themselves, by name, or what they bought last year, something to spark interaction and action.
12. Don’t Overdo It
Remember that holiday dinner when you ate and drank way too much? Not so great, right. Ditto online marketing. There’s a deluge of Santas, Christmas trees and gift wraps about to hit our inboxes, so be nimble, be present, but don’t overwhelm your users.
. . .
Two turtle doves.
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Christmas is coming soon. If you haven’t started implementing your holiday marketing planning, it’s not too late, but now would be a great time to start. That will give you more time to think about what to wear for Christmas dinner or the perfect present your mother-in-law. Don’t wait until you hear the sound of sleigh bells.
. . .
Tags: chanukah, christmas, design, Email, email marketing, Holiday, online marketing, social media
BROADCAST online marketing
