How to Elevate Your Digital Marketing for the Holidays
Published on November 17, 2021
Who doesn’t love a good holiday? Whether it’s Christmas, Chanukah, Halloween, Independence Day, or even National Popsicle Day, there’s a celebration for every taste.
And for brands like yours, the holidays aren’t just a time to get together with friends and family, but a chance to drive in traffic and make some serious sales.
The best way to put holidays to work for your brand? Refresh and refocus your digital marketing! Here are four ways to elevate your digital marketing efforts around the holidays:
1.) Start Your Campaign Early
According to AYTM market research cited by Adweek, nearly 50% of US internet users said that holiday promotions before November 4 were effective in getting them to make purchases; in the same study, 25% of respondents “somewhat agreed” that early promotions worked.
The lesson? It’s never too early to get in the holiday spirit! When you and your team sit down to plan your content marketing schedule, take major holidays – including the big winter, fall, and summer holidays, as well as any fun or wacky days that stand out to you (National Donut Day, anybody?) – and plan your year around them. It could pay off in a big way!
The earlier you position your brand in the minds of your audience, the more likely they will be to turn to you when it comes time to make those holiday purchases. But how do you get your prospective customers in the holiday spirit? What’s the best way to send out your seasonal offers? For a start…
2.) Use the Megaphone of Social Media
As more and more of our day-to-day lives head online, it only makes sense that our holiday traditions follow suit. Whether it’s posting spooky pictures of your Halloween costume on Instagram or sharing your Christmas wishlist on Pinterest, social media is the new hot spot for holiday celebrations.
And there’s plenty of proof that tapping into that massive social audience hungry for the holidays can lead to big results for your business: eCommerce made up about 9% of total retail sales during last year’s holiday season, and social conversion rates consistently tick up during the winter holiday season.
So how do you do it? Really get social! Use your platforms to hold holiday themed quizzes, polls, sweepstakes, or competitions. Start conversations about beloved holiday traditions on Facebook or Twitter, share peeks at your amazing office parties on Snapchat and Instagram, and look into Facebook and Instagram marketing, which offer powerful “remarketing” tools that promote loyalty and retention among busy holiday shoppers looking for the best deal possible.
Another great way to spread the word and drive conversions?
3.) Deck the Inbox (With Email Marketing)
Email marketing is the gift that never stops giving – particularly around your favorite holidays. As Inc. notes, “the majority of online shoppers will use an email during their path to purchase” – make it easy for them to commit to your brand by targeting your audience with holiday-specific email offers, advertisements, and newsletters that create real value.
Be clever and strategic with your subject lines and dynamic content, and you may just snag some of those last minute holiday shoppers – at a fraction of the cost of traditional outbound marketing!
And when you’re looking to stuff your digital newsletter stocking, always remember that the holidays are the perfect time to…
4.) Get Creative With Your Content
If social media is that smoky Fourth of July grill, then high quality content is the juicy hamburger patty that you slap on top: You can’t have one without the other!
Content marketing is the backbone of any solid digital strategy; not only do blog posts, infographics, podcasts, and other media provide you with content to share across social media and in your email marketing materials, but they also form the backbone of any solid SEO strategy. Whether your content is evergreen or targeted to the holiday searcher, you never know what kind of boost you may see as eager searchers turn to Google to seek out their holiday must-haves!
Have any more questions about getting started with SEO-focused content, email, or social media marketing? Geek is here to help! Drop us a line to get the conversation started, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. You never know what holiday surprises we have in store!
