Holidays are coming

It’s that time of year again. With Christmas just around the corner, businesses everywhere will start to ramp up marketing to make the most of the festive season.

Whether you’re B2C or B2B, it’s a time of year when people are spending more money than usual. If you’re sceptical about Christmas promotions, it’s worth bearing the statistics in mind. 

Typically the UK spends 25% more during the period, with the average person spending an extra £567. 46% of holiday shopping takes place online.

Here are four tips to help you make the most of the festivities.

1. Review your target audience

Maximise the impact of your marketing by making sure your customer personas are up to date. If you are investing extra resources in Christmas campaigns, you want to ensure that they’re targeted effectively.

Revisit your customer insight research to find out if things have changed since you last carried it out. Has the social media landscape changed? Have any new trends emerged? Are there any hot topics that your audience is concerned about?

2. Get creative

There’s a reason why major retailers run Christmas-themed campaigns. It’s a unique time of year when the whole country is in a festive spirit – ‘tis the season to be jolly, after all.

It’s an opportunity for businesses to do something different with their marketing, get creative and run themed campaigns to get a slice of the (mince) pie. Think about your customer experience and how you can enhance it. People are in the mood for humour, fun and delight at Christmas – can you work that into your campaigns?

If you’re stuck for ideas, review what you did last year. Crunch the data and work out what worked well, and build on that.

3. Run a promotion 

The extra traffic that your festive marketing campaigns will generate, coupled with the higher consumer spend, means Christmas can be a great time of year to run special offers. 

At this time of year, shoppers are more price-focused and brand loyalty becomes less important. All of your competitors are battling for those extra £s, so a good promotion can give you the competitive edge.

4. Cover the key dates

Christmas covers much more than 25 December; people are spending throughout November and December. Make sure you’re aware of the key dates during the whole festive period, and work them into your marketing calendar.

You could plan campaigns around some of these: 

• Friday 29th November (Black Friday)
• Monday 2nd December (Cyber Monday)
• Saturday 21st December (last Saturday before Christmas)
• Sunday 22nd December (Winter Solstice)
• Christmas Eve
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day
• New Year’s Eve
• New Year’s Day

Need any help with your Christmas campaigns? We offer a full range of data-driven marketing services. Give us a call on 01273 208913 or get in touch using our online form.