By Bri Baker
‘Tis the season for meaningful messaging!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but for marketers, it can also be the busiest time of year.
Brands both big and small are competing for the same space across social media platforms in hopes of reaching their audience. We’re here to bring you a little holiday cheer with tips and tricks to help you break through the noise this holiday season.
Marketing
First things first, setting your holiday marketing goals will help in narrowing down your objective. Are you looking to boost sales, increase brand awareness or amp up customer loyalty? Once you land on your goals, be sure they can be tracked so you can measure your efforts at the end of the holiday season. If you have metrics from this time period last year, be sure to compare them to this year’s results – tracking your year-over-year performance will help you to recognize what resonates most with your audience.
We’re always searching for creative marketing ideas for our clients that won’t break the bank. Dressing up your website or blog logo with a fun holiday graphic is one way to get your brand in the holiday spirit. There are a number of free easy-to-use graphic design tools out there if you don’t have a designer of your own – one of our favorites is Canva.
Social Media
During the holidays, your audience is everywhere – checking email via their phone, shopping their favorite stores online, and browsing the web for last minute sales. Your message should be everywhere, too. By creating a multi-faceted social media campaign you can reach your audience multiple times throughout the day on various channels. Your messaging across channels should be consistent and personalized to your consumer.
Create a unique hashtag to use throughout the holiday season. By choosing a hashtag that is fun and festive, you’ll be able to engage your audience while easily tracking your results. You can come up with a hashtag that represents your brand or engage your audience by asking them to share their favorite #ChristmasTraditions or holiday recipes.
Automate your social media efforts. As we all know, the holiday season can get super busy between gift giving, spending time with family and friends, decorating, and holiday parties. It is the perfect time of year to take advantage of tools that can help you automate your messaging. Make it easier for yourself by using Sprout Social or Hootsuite to pre-schedule your social posts.
Fundraising
With 30 percent of all annual donations occurring in December, the most effective nonprofit fundraising campaigns employ powerful emotional stories, evocative photos of clients, and strategic use of promoted social media posts. Follow these 5 easy steps!
Year In Review
Not everyone in your audience lights a Menorah or patiently awaits the arrival of Santa Claus. But most of us celebrate the coming of a New Year. Be sure to set aside time to reflect on the past year. Take the opportunity to share about your brand’s year. Let your audience know of your growth, what you learned, thank them for their contributions, and most importantly, share how you plan to better serve them in 2019.
Whatever your level of effort or budget might be, there are opportunities for you to optimize your holiday marketing and branding. We hope these tips and tricks help you break through the noise this holiday season so you’ll have more time to enjoy holiday cheer!
Now we want to hear from you – share with us your creative, low-cost or no-cost holiday marketing tips and tricks!