We’re halfway through the month of October, and halfway through our series on holiday marketing. How is your holiday marketing plan coming along?
Here are some tips to keep in mind to make sure you’re putting the best holiday content out there, and giving your audience what they want:
Be a resource for your clients & prospects – Don’t add to the stress of the season by overwhelming them with overly salesy content. Instead, provide something they can actually use this holiday season. It can be something as simple as advice or tips, or even a special coupon for subscribers only.
Depending on what kind of products or services your company offers, you can run something like a 12 Days of Giveaways promotion or Advent Calendar. Whether you’re offering a new article or free download each day, or running a variety of sales or discounts, it gives your followers a reason to come back, since they know that the next day has something new and exciting in store for them. Keep in mind that while this is a holiday promotion, it should still accurately reflect your brand.
Remember What Works For Your Brand During the Rest of the Year – The best practices and strategies you use in your marketing throughout the year will still be effective for reaching your audience in November and December. Things can get crazy as the year comes to a close, so plan ahead by scheduling out social media posts and emails in advance, particularly for The Holidays. Which brings me to the next point…
To Schedule Posts or Not to Schedule Posts – I’m asked this question often as marketers wrestle with whether or not to use a tool such as Buffer or HootSuite to schedule posts in advance. I think scheduling posts (especially during the holidays) is a perfectly fine practice and can make you a more efficient marketer. My only request for those who choose to schedule posts a week or even a month in advance is to stay aware with what is happening in the world around them. We may have a great special offer scheduled to go out next Thursday, but on Wednesday, some type of event could happen that would make that post untimely and insensitive. So if you make scheduling posts a common practice, be sure to stay on top of what’s happening in your community, your country and around the world and pause your posts if necessary.
In summary: It’s okay to automate some of our content as long we don’t allow ourselves to become autopilot marketers.
Don’t Forget About the New Year! – Make sure you don’t put too much focus on the holidays at the end of the year that when we get to January 1, you have no plan for reaching your audience. The end of the year is a great time to focus on new goals for you and your followers, and a hope for bigger and better things to come in 2021.
Check out even more tips to help ensure you have the best plan as we head into the holiday season from Constant Contact and eClincher.
If you’re still unsure about how to best reach your audience this holiday season, or need help implementing your strategy, shoot me an email!
