There will come a day when you'll be watching television in, say, late September, and the unthinkable will occur: you'll see a Christmas-themed commercial. We know, it's scary stuff, but not uncommon In fact, one report stated that 69% of merchants start planning their holiday marketing strategies in mid-August. 
After all, with all the early advertising, if you drop a holiday promotion two or three weeks from Christmas, it may be too late for it to sufficiently register with customers. We're in agreement that starting early is key. Next you'll need to think of what your holiday promotions will look like. We suggest sticking to a handful of promotions — three is ideal; five max — because anything more will confuse customers and followers. As far as "low-hanging fruit" is concerned, why not consider Free Shipping? According to some estimates, 83% of retailers will be offering it this holiday season. Other promotions should center around specific products and, of course, key dates like Black Friday (Nov. 29), Small Business Saturday (Nov. 30) and Cyber Monday (Dec. 2nd).
Now that you've decided on your promotions, how can you start marketing them? Glad you asked — here are nine ideas to do just that (and Merry Christmas!):
1. Audit your online listings. Many visitors will find your site through search engines: Google, Yelp, CitySearch, Foursquare, etc. Make sure your company's profile on each of these platforms is up-to-date, streamlined and can direct customers to your site. Also, start marketing promotions on these sites where applicable.
2. The classic cross-channel blast. Unifying your messaging across all channels is key. You don't want announcements to trickle out on Twitter, but not on you blog. Take a holistic approach: announce the promotion on your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail list, etc. You will also need to "massage the message" depending on the channel (brevity on Twitter, for example, is key.) And most importantly, make a plan whereby you schedule subsequent announcement on specific days inline with one another when necessary.
3. While marketing, "Don't forget the funnel." As always, your marketing needs to emphasize the next step. Your marketing message should reflect where the customer is in the "purchase funnel." Starting now, you need to first build awareness around a product and promotion, then lead customers towards interest, and culminate an action. It's a subtle thing, but make sure your holiday marketing plan adheres to this principle. Early messages (now-ish) should be around awareness, and gradually transition towards action-based language come the end of November/ beginning of December. (In fact, many of the nine tips on this post align with the "awareness" phase given the fact it's November 6th.)
4. Create and diversify your copy. Here's what we mean: create some crisp, somewhat generic holiday promotion copy that can be pasted on multiple channels. This copy can point to your home page while advertising "incredible holiday deals." But also create product-specific copy that will drive customers to product landing pages. By doing so, you're maximizing your exposure.
5. Highlight shareable product-related content. Studies show that — and we quote — "promotions are cool but cool products are cooler." Take your best-selling product, throw a picture of it on Instagram or Facebook — better yet, have a smiling person accompanying the product — and ask customers to talk about how much they love it. Get a conversation going, chime in, and when the time is right, remind folks that you can get this very product at a discount during your super-cool holiday promotion. In other words, a "promotion" by itself is a bit ambiguous. Highlighting a product, on the other hand, makes it tangible in the eyes of customers.
6. Start differentiating yourselves from competitors. No need to get antagonistic; save that for Christmas dinner with your Uncle George. However, pursuant with our goal of generating awareness and interest, start subtly drawing distinctions between you and competitors in your messaging. Generally these distinctions will manifest themselves either via price point or quality/value proposition. But there are other aspects as well, like "made locally."
7. Go offline. (Well, not completely offline.) Make sure your offline presence complements your online one, and visa versa. For example, if you're a brick-and-mortar retail outlet, start offering gift certificates and coupons at the counter that can be redeemed online. And conversely, direct online followers to your brick and mortar store with similar promotions
8. Pay for an online ad. Facebook advertising can make for some amazingly cost effective advertising. Pay-per-click is another effective online advertising tactic. Of course, do your homework. You'll need to create compelling copy, select keywords that resonate, and conduct some back-end analytical research and demographic targeting to make sure your ads reach the right people.
9. Monitor your social activity and neutralize bad vibes. In a perfect world, there'd be no war, no famine, and no cranky sales associates come holiday time. Sadly, this is an imperfect world, and one unfortunate incident between a disgruntled, Tweeting customer and your sales associate can torpedo your holiday marketing plans. While you're proactively marketing your promotions, also keep an eye on what customers are saying on social media and blogs. Address any negative comments and conversely, notice specific trends — e.g. followers seemed excited about a particular product — modify your promotions accordingly.
Speaking of bad vibes, it's no secret that the holidays can be stressful. With the season approaching why not minimize stress by starting early in your marketing efforts? After all, to quote Ben Franklin, "A good conscience is a continual Christmas."
OK, actually that makes no sense. Let's go with another Franklin quote instead: "The early bird gets the (holiday marketing) worm." Or something like that.
Want to make the most of your holiday marketing efforts? We can help with that! Click the link below for the latest social media marketing tips and techniques:
