With the festive season very much upon us, it’s important to target your customers successfully, in order to make the most of this time of year. Whether you’re looking for some last minute inspiration or you want to be prepared for next year, here are our top five tips on how to run a successful Christmas marketing campaign.
The Christmas period is exceptionally busy for most businesses, and consumers are becoming a lot savvier about the type of marketing messages that they’re open to, so it’s vital that you appeal to them directly and grab their attention, rather than just rolling out the same old things.
Reward valuable customers
Customers are what keeps a business going and you need to be looking after your loyal buyers, as well as targeting new customers, at this time of the year.
It’s a good idea to send out a reward to your best customers, as a way of saying thank you for their business and to ensure that you’re at the front of their mind when they’re buying presents. This could be a free gift, money off their order, a free delivery code or a secret sale. It shows you appreciate them and you’ll likely gain additional business from this.
It’s all about the delivery
With more and more consumers purchasing Christmas presents online, they’re searching for the best delivery deals, as well as great value prices on the goods themselves. Free delivery, either on all orders or with a minimum spend, has fantastic appeal for customers and can help to generate more sales, as customers feel like they’re getting something extra from you.
If you’re providing a free delivery service as a limited time deal, then you need to make sure that this is promoted well, such as using your email database to send out the offer, making a prominent feature on your website or taking out online ads on relevant sites.
Give your site a festive feel
Giving your business a Christmas makeover will get your customers in the festive spirit and entice people to shop there. When you have a physical store, this could be Christmas trimmings around the shop or festive-themed point of sale material. Online merchants can give their site a Christmassy design, so that it appears warm and welcoming when potential customers land on it.
Have a festive message
You don’t want to go over the top and appear too sentimental at this time of year, but it’s a good idea to use some type of festive message in your marketing, if this is relevant to your brand. For example, food companies can talk about spending time together with the family over the festive period and fashion brands can tie their marketing into the party season.
Target your marketing
The Christmas sales period runs from around the start of September right through to when stores close on Christmas Eve or when online retailers have their last delivery dates, so it’s beneficial to target your marketing messages accordingly.
For instance, early on in the season you’ll see shoppers who have more time and want to get the best deals, whereas last minute shoppers need help to find the perfect gift, but in a hurry. Online and social media messages can change weekly, or daily if necessary, giving you the opportunity to refresh your messaging as it gets closer to Christmas, which will make your brand appear fresher and more in touch with your customers.
