5 Steps to Creating a Holiday Marketing Plan
‘Tis the season for giving, so why not give back to your loyal customers and followers. You can do this by running a contest for the month of November/December, hosting surprise specials, or even having “12 days of giveaways” leading up to Christmas. If you are on a smaller budget, simply sharing holiday tips or guides (baking, decorating cleaning etc.) will do the trick! This will create a buzz around your business this season.
Now that you have all of these ideas in place – it’s time to make a plan!
Step 1: Research and set Goals
Start off your marketing plan by reflecting on what you did last season. Did you hit your marketing targets? Did you achieve what you wanted to achieve? What worked? What stood out to you that other people did? Set your goals for this current season whether it be more sales, more followers, more clients or more newsletter sign-ups – determine what want to achieve with your holiday marketing.
Step 2: Grab a calendar and mark down the days you want to announce your giveaway, tips or holiday specials.
A great way to prepare for this is to work backward. Start thinking about when you want to share the message. Do you want to create anticipation leading up to the giveaway? Will you surprise your audience on the day of? Or perhaps you might drop a hint in an e-newsletter.
Step 3: Create Promotional Graphics for the Holidays
Websites, blogs and social media get more attention when quality images are used and when you sprinkle in some holiday colours and images individuals get more excited!
Tip: make sure your images and messaging are consistent across your social platforms. This will make it easier for you, as well as your customers when they see the same imagery.
Step 4: Schedule Your Content
This time of year is busy for everyone! In the midst of Christmas shopping, planning your goals for the new year, running your business and attending holiday parties – the last thing you want to stress about is getting your content out in time!
Using apps like Hootsuite, Buffer and PreviewApp can save you so much time by posting your content on the date and time that you would like. All you have to do is upload your photo, write a caption and set the schedule date/time.
Step 5: Be Present (No pun intended!)
It’s important to be present and available to your customers when they need you. At this time of year, people are rushing to find gifts, meet deadlines, plan their holiday party.. the list goes on. Block off some extra time in your calendar for answering e-mails and engaging with customers on social. If you are “too busy” to be there for your customers, this is a missed opportunity.
Don’t let the holidays be a stressful time for you. Have fun, get festive and start planning. With these 5 simple steps, your marketing plan should be on its way in no time.
Stay tuned for our next blog on holiday content ideas!