Everybody knows the old real estate adage of location, location, location. In marketing, we could have a similar adage of timing, timing, timing.
Choosing the best time to spread your marketing messages can be the difference between coming across as savvy and likeable or awkward and desperate. The same message can be seen as flawless and epic or insensitive and even offensive depending on when it’s delivered.
While there are small, unexpected times that are perfect (or perfectly terrible) times to deliver your marketing, holidays give you a fantastic opportunity to plan ahead and connect with your customer base. With dozens of holidays both large and small, you can find an ideal match for your business.
Major Holidays
Most obvious among holidays are the major ones that affect almost everybody. Black Friday and Christmas have to at least be considered, whether you are planning on celebrating them or not. If you are going to integrate Christmas into your marketing efforts, what kind of language and imagery will you use? Where do you stand on “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays?”
Depending on your business and industry, perhaps other holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Halloween, or Labor Day can be important days to leverage your marketing efforts. Almost every month has a major holiday of some sort. Figure out which of these are relevant to you and how to capitalize on them.
Fun Minor Holidays
Many of the casual holidays won’t be applicable to every business. National Avocado Day or National Hairstylist Appreciation Day will only be relevant for some businesses. But when you find one or more holidays that line up with your industry, utilize them to create a fun and engaging persona and provide a little boost.
For example, businesses in the pet industry could put together a 1-2 punch of February 11th (National Make a Friend Day, because dogs are a man’s best friend) and February 20th (National Love Your Pet Day).
Use Holidays to Combat Your Slow Season
Every industry has its inherent slow seasons. During these times, leverage a holiday to give your business a bump.
The key to being successful here is communication. Outside of the major holidays, most people won’t be aware of the minor holidays until others start talking about them. Begin this conversation early and communicate to your audience ahead of time to start getting them excited and prepare them to come celebrate with you.
Craft a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy
While you may have a successful Christmas season without putting much effort in, you will lose many potential benefits if you don’t have a well thought out strategy in place.
What does a holiday marketing strategy entail? It will depend on your business.
A social media component is almost guaranteed to play a key role. There is no better way to create and shape a narrative to businesses than the direct connection with customers that social media provides.
Your social marketing efforts can be reinforced with email marketing campaigns. Between these communication channels, you should be able to directly reach the widest digital segment of your existing customer base possible. If you have a lot of new business coming from digital sources, create digital ad campaigns to drive traffic to your website.
If you have a brick and mortar business, consider taking your marketing offline as well. If you’ve had success with direct mail marketing in the past, plan for delivery a few days in advance, allowing your customers time to plan to come into your store. Look at in-store signage to capture the attention of customers already coming in.
And finally, don’t discount the value of directly telling your customers about upcoming holiday events, especially if you’ve already developed personal relationships with them.
Holiday campaigns might need to run for a only few days or even a few weeks. For example, if you run a sports bar you might advertise for a few weeks in advance to get people to choose you for their Super Bowl parties but only a day or two for National Tequila Day.
Holidays offer a unique opportunity to connect with your customers. Utilize a marketing calendar and plan ahead to build excitement and engagement among your customers.
