Ramping Up Marketing for the Holidays

We at Little Jack love the holiday season. No other time of the year is filled with such a spirit of joy and hopefulness. It just so happens that the holidays are also the ideal time to launch a new campaign and try to get a piece of the $580 billions Americans spent during the season last year. For some retailers, holiday spending makes up 20-40% of yearly revenue, which should tell you one thing, your holiday strategy does indeed matter, and could actually affect the financial outlook of your entire year. To specify, the numbers above are for the 61 days from November 1st through December 31st. Yes, Halloween gets gypped, but unless you’re the next Hershey or Mars, it most likely won’t be a game-changer for you.

General Planning Tips

• Start your planning early. If the official season starts on November 1st, you should be ready to launch your campaign by that date, which likely means starting the process around the beginning or middle of October at the very latest.
• People are more tolerant of marketing during the holiday season. After all, they’re mandated by society to consume. So if you’re one of the companies that is usually afraid of overmarketing (rightfully so), keep in mind that the rules for the holidays are different—people won’t hate you when you send them more offers, reminders, or updates.
• As you know, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the busiest shopping day of the year. However, more and more businesses are jumping on the Cyber Monday bandwagon. The right one-day-only deal on that day, presented electronically to your customers in an irresistible package, could seriously affect your bottom line.

Stick to the Classics

The most popular holiday sale strategies keep coming back for a reason–namely, because people find them incredibly appealing. Don’t be afraid to jump on the bandwagon. The top three campaign trends are:

• Post-holiday shopping – from Black Friday to the days after Christmas, consumers are getting the hint that the biggest savings actually happen after the holidays. So, while they might be obligated to shop for others in time for the holidays, more and more of them are waiting to shop for themselves until the days after.
• Free fast shipping – this one is pretty self explanatory. Parents, husbands, and all other kinds of ball-droppers wait until the last minute, and offering them a chance of (free) redemption might be just the thing that takes them from browsing to buying.
• Buy 1, Get X – the idea of increasing savings with increasing spending is old, but it still works. Joseph Bank has taken it to its natural conclusion (Buy 1 suit, get 3 others free!! Really, guys?) Regardless, polls have revealed that ultimately, it’s the amount of savings that really pushes people over the edge and makes them pull the trigger more than any other incentive. Figure out what amount of savings is still financially viable for you, and go from there.

Remember, you’re close enough to the holiday season that you likely can’t wait to plan for it any later than right now. And if you happen to need any help on the way to Santa’s village, we’d be more than happy to help.   [templatera id=”10395″]