‘Tis the season for celebration, and people are beginning to feel a little more festive. Whether it’s the lights, the songs, the warm drinks by the fire, or just taking the time to reflect on family and community, there’s a sense of warmth and cheer in the air. It’s time to break out the digital marketing ideas for the holidays!
On the other hand, the holidays can be a high-stakes, stressful time, as well. By now, many businesses are starting to feel the stress of year-end deadlines, increased sales pressures, and staff vacations looming, but don’t lose hope! We’ve put together a few digital marketing ideas to ease the pressure, melt the stress, and get your business wrapped up in the holiday spirit!
Digital Marketing Holiday Ideas
Have a Holiday Sale
This one’s a no-brainer for retail stores, but lots of businesses don’t think to offer sales or discounts on their services. Free sessions, reduced costs for services, and special offers are enticing, such as taking thirty percent off, if a customer brings a friend.
These sorts of offers perform very well on social media. Many people will repost an offer on their own Facebook wall, for instance, just so they have it for easy reference later, and by doing so, they’re broadening your ad’s audience. If you’re running a sale, or any ad for that matter, make it memorable, make it festive, but keep it tasteful. A single black ribbon says more than a Santa hat, and subtle silvers and blues work just as well as twinkling lights on an evergreen backdrop.
Publish Some Holiday-Themed Content
The holiday season is all about connecting with the people around you, and sharing something special. Maybe a meal, maybe a story or a ceremony, maybe an experience, but ultimately just something done together. If your customers are in a festive spirit, join them in it, and share the season. It can be as simple as a blog post, maybe to thank your customers for building your business by their patronage, or something more complex like an interactive holiday-themed widget. For example, NORAD runs an annual Santa’s Sleigh RADAR feed every Christmas Eve. Perhaps update your chatbot with a Santa’s Elf persona, or develop a Chrome extension that randomly changes the word “holidays” to any of the various events celebrated around the globe at this time of year. It’s a great way to show off what your business can do, and highlight your services.
Host a Holiday Contest
Another idea that tends to perform well on social media, especially for customer-facing businesses, is a holiday contest. For example, have customers post selfies with their Christmas trees and hashtag them with your promotion to win a chance at a dinner for two. Have a short story contest – holiday story in 500 words or fewer – with the top prize being a chance to publish a featured guest blog post with some of their work. So long as it gets customers engaged, and so long as it stands out somehow, you can’t go wrong.
Offer Something for Free
This is another great way to give something extra to the community, and make the season a little more magical. A freebie that requires an opt-in will allow you to capture leads while endearing potential and existing customers to your brand. E-cards are a popular option for a variety of businesses, depending on the customer base. Offering a free gift with purchase, or a limited edition, special release of a particular product works like a charm to bring holiday cheer. You might mail out a small gift to the first hundred new accounts created in December.
If you have a brick and mortar location, generate some foot traffic with social media ads promising free hot chocolate and a coloring table for kids, and post regular updates with photos and testimonials. It’s the time of year to offer your customers something extra, and everyone appreciates a little extra warmth on these shorter days.
Overhaul your Website Graphics
Digital marketing isn’t just about outreach. Distribution is valuable, but quality is first. Remember, content is queen (and optimization her crown), so spruce up your content with a holiday theme. Be advised, animated snowfalls, twinkling lights, embedded music, and festive borders are tacky. Don’t dress your site up like a MySpace page. Instead, use your color palette and background photographs to capture the heart of the season. Red and brown hues, overlaying images of firewood or the pattern of a knit sweater are popular choices, or whites and greys over the blade of an ice skate. Take some time to consider what imagery captures the soul of this time of year, and let your webpages reflect that.
More Digital Marketing Ideas
This season is a time for reaching out, connecting with people, and sharing moments. However you make this time of year special for your customers, do it with warmth and honesty, and your digital marketing efforts should spread that good cheer.
Want help crafting the perfect holiday marketing idea? Schedule a free digital marketing strategy session with a top San Francisco digital marketing agency! No strings attached, and you’ll come away with some solid actionable items for your company.
It’s fun 🙂