It’s nearly Christmas!

How to plan your Christmas marketing campaign

Well, it’s not quite that time but if you haven’t yet started to plan your Christmas marketing campaign you really need to get going. Mewsli, our Marketing Cat, has been very busy already.

Christmas is a time for giving, and it is also a wonderful opportunity to show your customers how much you value their business. You don’t want to end up buying cheap, cutting prices or offering deals as you’ll just attract one-off customers who will move on to your competitors before you can say “Ho Ho Ho!”

Following are twelve tried and tested ideas that will help your immediate sales, build loyalty and engender trust. Think “12 Days of Christmas” but earlier as you need to start implementing now!

 

1. Decide what you want to achieve

It’s really important to know what you want to achieve by the end of the season. You should also think about how you will measure the success of your campaign before, during and afterwards. By setting up a simple measurement system, you can actually see what is working and either do more of it or do something else!

What do you want to achieve from your Christmas marketing campaign? Share on X

 

2. What’s Your Christmas Story?

Even in this cynical age, we still get a huge emotional hug from seeing lovely stories played out for us. For example, the launch of the John Lewis and Marks and Spencer Christmas ads are now anticipated events and an event in their own right.

So, what is going to be your theme this year? It doesn’t have to be lavish or expensive, but it does need to chime with the season and be relevant to your business.

Give your Christmas campaign a story to create an emotional pull Share on X

3. Give your customers what they really want!

At this time of year, people are shopping for others. Switch your marketing tactics to be as helpful as possible to help them make the right decision. Tell your customer that your ‘wots-a-ma-flip’ is an ideal present for granny, and why.  Let them know that you have gifts for ‘the man who has everything’, offer teenager-centric bundles. Make it really easy for them to choose you to solve their gift buying problems!

Make it really easy for your customers to choose you to solve their gift buying problems! Share on X

 

4. Don’t offer deals – offer gift vouchers!

Customers view gift vouchers as money, and research shows that customers who redeem a voucher tend to spend around 20% more than its face value. For example, offer a £5 voucher for every £50 spent with you in a single transaction!

 

Research shows that customers who redeem a voucher tend to spend around 20% more than the face value Share on X

 

5. Collecting for Christmas!

Give your customers a loyalty card with ten place markers for stickers. Make sure they understand that once they have collected ten stickers, they win a prize! Let them know what that prize is. The trick is to have already put stickers in the first two spaces. This really works because people love patterns and subconsciously want to complete sequences.

Give your customers a loyalty card with ten place markers for stickers. When complete offer a prize Share on X

 

6. Promote early and often

People start to shop earlier every year so don’t be afraid to start building your campaign early to catch them.

Leaving your Christmas marketing campaign launch until December is far too late.

 

Promote early and often for Christmas! Share on X

 

 

7. Don’t forget Black Friday. It’s the biggest shopping day of the year!

Black Friday has become huge in the USA and the UK is now following this trend. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the first shopping day after Thanksgiving and companies in the USA compete with each other to offer the best deals. This year it falls on Friday 24^th November.

Don't forget Black Friday and Cyber Monday as part of your Christmas campaign Share on X

 

8. Offer ‘Wish Lists’

Why not compile some ‘wish lists’ for all of the various people that your customers need to buy for, highlighting your products as gift ideas and saying why they would be ideal choices?

You could do a list for Mums, Dads, Grans, Grandads, Aunties, Teachers, even pets! You get the idea! Send them out to your mailing list and perhaps offer a bonus, such as free wrapping paper for orders over a certain value.

Compile ‘wish lists’ for all of the people your customers need to buy for, highlight your products as gift ideas Share on X

 

9. Hold an Event – or not…

If you are considering holding a Christmas event, do consider whether it will actually bring in more paying customers. If not, don’t do it unless you have a long-term marketing strategy in place.

For example, you could hold an early fun event with the express intention of filming it to put on YouTube and Facebook as part of your campaign.

Hold an early fun Christmas event with the express intention of filming it to put on YouTube or Facebook! Share on X

 

10. Use seasonal keywords

They are everywhere, but these are the search terms customers will be using so you need to use them too.

Think about who your target customer is, that is, the person who is doing the buying not receiving, (e.g. Grandparents of teenagers), and use the keywords they will be using to search.

Think about who your target customer is and use seasonal keywords Share on X

 

11. Pester Power!

Children have a huge amount of power at Christmas time and if you can tap into this you have a huge market at your fingertips.

Research suggests that pester power is more effective than ever as parents say modern life has made them closer to their children and less able to say no. In today’s fast-moving online society, the demand for instant gratification means that pester power is now more alive than ever!

Don't forget Pester Power! Children have a huge amount of power at Christmas tap into this for a huge market Share on X

 

12. Don’t Forget Your Existing Customers

Build on your campaign and offer a special something to those customers you already have.  Existing customers are a gold mine, so it’s really worth spending the time to build a sub-campaign just for them.

Remind them you exist and make them feel special by offering them a small ‘present’ for shopping with you in the past year, a special incentive for them to visit you again.

Make existing customers feel special by offering them a small ‘present’ for shopping with you Share on X

Takeaway Tip:

It’s never too early to plan your Christmas marketing campaign.

It's never too early to plan your Christmas marketing campaign Share on X

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