How To: Shine Brighter than Rudolph’s Nose this Holiday Promotion Season

By Lily Whorl

As consumers, we don’t start thinking about the holidays until November, but as business managers and owners, we need to be thinking about holiday promotions much sooner. The holidays are a crucial time for promoting your business; not only are you competing with yourself but with other companies as well. According to the National Retail Federation, the holiday season can represent as much as 30 percent of annual sales. So, how can you make yourself stand out this holiday season? Below are some tricks you can combine to form a successful holiday promotion season.

Timeliness: Don’t wait until last minute.

The top three shopping days for the year are: Black Friday (November 23), Small Business Saturday (November 24), and Cyber Monday (November 25.) Although these dates fall at the end of November, don’t wait until then to start thinking about your holiday promotions. Start your promotions as soon as possible. According to a survey conducted by RetailMeNot, “over half (54%) of shoppers plan to begin shopping for the holidays before the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend  year.”

Another thing to consider is that though consumers begin holiday shopping early, they’ll continue shopping until right before Christmas. You need to set time aside as soon as possible to start mapping out your holiday season schedule. Incorporate your plan into your social media content along with your email blasts. Email marketing during the holidays is responsible for 25.1 percent of sales, according to Website Setup.

And the more prepared you are internal with your promotions, the more prepared your customers will be as they plan their shopping dates.”

Be Personal:

You’re not the only company that will be sending out holiday promotions. Your customers will receive them from each company they shop from, but there’s a way to make yours stand out: Make it personal. Being personal in your holiday promotions will set yourself aside from the masses. Customers love to feel like they matter.

A simple way to do this is by adding keywords such as “You,” “I,” “We” and “Your” to your email campaigns. For example: “We have the perfect gifts for your friends and family this holiday season…”

On top of this, you want to think of the struggles consumers face during the holiday season. You need to problem solve for your customers and fix those struggles for them. Each person always struggles to find gifts for at least one person in their family; whether that be their mother-in-law or grandpa, there will still be that one person. If applicable, promote that you have a gift for everyone in their family.

Don’t just endorse your company, make your holiday marketing interesting. Include holiday recipes or decoration tips. An article written by Constant Contact says, “If you’re a Pinterest user, create a ‘Holiday’ board and pin stuff that may not have anything to do with what you’re selling, but that your customers can use.”

Share customer testimonies on how you’ve helped them in their holiday shopping or share a personal story from holidays past. Customers love to hear from you and other consumers. Don’t just promote your service or items, develop your brand.

*Bonus tip: Turn those stories into a holiday video. We are visual beings, so take advantage of that by creating something eye-catching people will want to watch. We offer this as a service, so contact us to learn more.

Make it Shareable:

Make your email campaigns shareable. Don’t just add a share button and think that’s all you have to do. Your customers are willing to share your content as long as it interests them. The power of word-of-mouth is incredible. But, don’t make your sharable promotion all about you; make it relatable. Think about what you would share yourself as a consumer.

A simple way to do this is by creating a personalized holiday message. Each consumer can make it their own and send it out to their friends and family or post it on their different forms of social media. A personalizable holiday message is a way you can subtly get your brand out there while still being engaging with consumers.

Three tips for making your content shareable are: reminding your consumers of your shared interests, engaging your audience with social media campaigns, and providing added content and value with helpful information or resources to make their experience with you even better.

Now, get to work! Form a successful holiday promotion season, and don’t forget to implement these steps. You can shine brighter than Rudolph’s nose this holiday season.

What tips would you add to the list? Comment below with what has worked for you in the past!

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If you still want to learn more about holiday promotions check out one of our past blog posts, Nine Last-Minute Holiday Promotion Ideas You Can Steal.