Christmas ? it?s the most wonderful time of the year ? for retailers! The unceasing jingle of festive tunes, the cheap free-flowing wine at Christmas parties, and the laudable sentiment of goodwill to all men are enough to pry sales from the most scroogey of Scrooges.
Online businesses certainly get in on the act, and you?ll no doubt already have been inundated with early holiday campaigns via email, social media, and notifications from brands looking to get their mittens on some of your Christmas shopping budget.
Because of this competition, it?s worth stepping back and considering what really works in a holiday campaign so you can maximize your returns.
Delight Your Audience
Instead of thinking about your bottom line first, your general plan should be to entertain, delight, and inspire your customers.
Associating your brand with Christmas in December can fill people with that warm, nostalgic festive feeling they have for Christmas every time they interact with you.
Instead of thinking about how to squeeze the last dollar out of every person, find ways to make your Christmas campaign about community, caring, warm hugs, and fireside family fun. In the end, the customer will choose your services and products because you?ve aligned yourself so well with the emotions they want to feel at Christmas.
Festive Theming
Spruce up your website and social media pages with a festive theme. It doesn?t take long to change your banners on Twitter, Facebook, and community forums to reflect the season and add Santa hats to your profile pictures and logos.
You could choose a photo of Christmas presents, a Christmas tree, snowflakes, etc. for your banner, but if possible create a festive scene that shows people enjoying the use of your products or services, showing how your brand can be central to the perfect Christmas experience.
Great Holiday Giveaways and Discounts
Christmas is all about presents, and who doesn?t like a free gift?
Giveaways are huge engagement magnets, and you can extend their power and reach by running multiple themed challenges during the run-up to Christmas. Make a relevant and memorable hashtag and give away increasingly good prizes each day. Your loyal customers will be looking out for those posts every day, keeping them engaging with you throughout the whole Christmas period.
Not only will you gain goodwill for giving away free stuff at Christmas, but you?ll also get back lots in return! You can set rules such as entrants must re-tweet your post, share a hashtag, share a photo of themselves using your product, refer a friend ? all things that help boost your campaign and build your social media presence.
If you have a physical store, you can entice people to take a selfie of themselves in front of a festive mirror in your store, both encouraging people to visit the store and expanding the reach of your campaign.
Show Your Products as Perfect Gifts
Creating a gift guide positions your products as the perfect gift. A guide to buying your products as gifts can be very powerful:
- You?re offering value to the reader
- You?re making choosing a gift easy
- You?re lowering their holiday stress
- You?re helping them find a unique gift
- You?re highlighting your products? strengths
- You?re creating an easily-shareable guide that?s good for SEO and SMM
- You?re offering a time-limited discount that drives sales
You can also consider reaching out to influencers and offer something in return for them adding your product in their holiday gift rundown.
Christmas is about Community
As advised, the best Christmas campaigns get people involved and part of your brand?s Christmas story. Boosting some of the stories of your users who deserve attention and perhaps even awarding them a free gift or discount for their service shows your business has the Christmas spirit.
It?s also a good time for your company to get involved in community efforts or to look back on some of your successes in community events that you?ve participated in over the year.
Think about the type of causes that your readership would personally like to help and find ways to do so. Look for other businesses to engage with that have a similar mindset so you can pool together to make a bigger impact.
Think about engaging in social media simply to spread Christmas cheer and get discussions flowing. Ask followers for their favorite Christmas recipes. Run a mini-competition for the funniest Christmas stories. Share ways to make Christmas great.
Reap the Rewards
The Christmas period can be a very jolly one for you and your customers if you speak to the emotions of the season. Christmas is about love, family, warmth, peace, and togetherness, and if your campaign can draw upon the feelings we all have at Christmas then your end-of-year sales will be very merry indeed.
