As one beloved singer says every year, in mid-November, with a high-pitched voice: It’s tiiiiime! The holiday season: a time of joy, generosity, and massive spending. For businesses, it’s the Super Bowl of the calendar year. According to the National Retail Federation, “Retail sales during the 2023 holiday season grew 3.8% over 2022 to a record $964.4 billion”. Whether you’re a small startup or a corporate giant, well-executed holiday campaigns can be a game-changer.
But here’s the catch: the market is crowded, and everyone’s aiming for the same consumer dollars. So, how do you cut through the noise and create a campaign that captures your target’s attention while driving real results? Here are six keys to lay the ground for a successful holiday marketing campaign.
Start With Clear Goals
Before you start dreaming about snowflakes, jingles, and festive offers, let’s talk about your why. What’s the purpose of this campaign? Without clear goals, you’re just sliding aimlessly.
- Set Specific Objectives: Are you trying to drive sales, build brand awareness, or retain existing customers? Your campaign strategy will vary depending on your focus. Remember to align your goals with your business objectives. If your yearly focus is customer retention, a holiday loyalty program might work better than a discount-driven sales push.
- Define KPIs: Make your goals measurable, whether they’re revenue, website traffic, social media engagement, or newsletter signups.
Know Your Audience Inside-Out
Your audience is everything. Holidays mean different things to different people. For some, they’re a time of gifting. For others, they’re about self-care or family gatherings. Understanding these nuances is your golden ticket.
A great way to address this is to segment your audience. Not all customers are created equal. Segment them by demographics, purchase behavior, or even holiday shopping habits. For example:
- Early Birds: Those who start shopping in October.
- Last-Minute Hustlers: Shoppers scrambling for deals on December 23rd.
- Gift Givers vs. Self-Gifters: Tailor your messaging accordingly.
You can also use personalization to your advantage: A dynamic email that says, “John, here are the perfect gifts for your loved ones” will always outperform a generic blast.
Craft a Holiday-Ready Value Proposition
Now that you know your goals and audience, it’s time to decide what you’re offering. This isn’t just about slapping a discount on your products; it’s about creating a compelling reason for your audience to engage. How?
- Tie Your Offer to the Season: Why is your product or service perfect for the holidays? Highlight features that make it festive, giftable, or stress-relieving.
- Emotional Appeal: Holidays are steeped in nostalgia, love, and generosity. Tap into these emotions in your messaging.
Meet Your Audience in The Spaces They Already Hold
The key here is meeting your audience where they already spend their time—whether that’s Instagram, TikTok, or their inbox. Leverage integrating multiple channels to create several touch points along the buyer’s journey and keep consistency so your audience recognizes the campaign no matter where they see it. Social networks like Quora, Reddit, and Pinterest may not get as much attention, but they have millions of engaged users ready for your content. Pinterest, in particular, is great for holiday marketing since users often visit to plan or make purchases. Choose a niche channel that suits your product and create targeted marketing campaigns for it.
Here are some ideas:
- Social Media:
- Instagram Stories and Reels are great for showcasing products.
- Jump on TikTok trends with holiday-themed content to build awareness.
- Email Marketing:
- Send personalized gift guides, early access to sales, or countdown timers for deals.
- Use subject lines like: “🎁 Don’t Miss Out—Our Holiday Sale Ends Soon!”
- Content Marketing: Write blogs like “The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide” or “How to Host a Stress-Free Holiday Dinner.”
- Paid Advertising: Run PPC ads with holiday keywords like “last-minute gifts” or “holiday deals.”
Add Incentives and Perks
In a season where everyone competes for attention, incentives can tip the scales in your favor. Ensure your offers are clear and easy to understand. Think about these examples:
- Discounts & Bundles: Offer holiday-exclusive discounts or bundles like “Buy 2, Get 1 Free Holiday Candles” to make buying easy.
- Freebies: Gift wrapping, free shipping, a product tasting, or a surprise gift can add a little extra sparkle.
- Loyalty Rewards: Offer your customers double points or early sale access to improve loyalty and maintain the relationship with your captive audience.
Leverage Urgency
One of the most powerful tools in holiday marketing is urgency and exclusivity, as people love feeling like they’re getting something special. Here are some examples:
- Countdown Timers: Add them to your website or emails to highlight limited-time deals.
- Scarcity Messaging: Phrases like “Last items left in stock!”, “Last chance to get this product!” or “Hurry, it ends tonight!” use scarcity to appeal to the opportunity of the offering.
- Combine the previous two: Combine urgency with exclusivity with messages like “Be the first to shop our VIP-only sale.”
In Summary, What Makes Holiday Campaigns Truly Shine?
The secret sauce to making your holiday campaigns not just good but unforgettable has several of these ingredients:
- Authenticity: Stay true to your brand. If you’re known for sustainability, tie your campaign to eco-friendly gifting.
- Emotional Connection: Holidays are about feelings. Make your audience feel something—joy, nostalgia, generosity.
- Creativity: Unique visuals, stories, or interactive elements can set you apart.
- Timeliness: Start early to catch early birds but maintain momentum for last-minute shoppers.
- Customer-Centricity: Put your audience’s needs first, whether it’s convenience, affordability, or inspiration.
3 Holiday Campaigns We Love
Now that we know the basics, let’s examine a selection of holiday campaigns that are killing it.
Starbucks
Starbucks is well known for launching its holiday-themed cups each year. What started as a simple marketing strategy to design seasonal cups has grown into a much-loved annual tradition that drives consumer excitement, with customers eagerly awaiting the reveal of the new design.
Why It Worked:
- Seasonal Exclusivity: The holiday cups are limited-edition items that customers can only get during the holiday season, creating a sense of urgency and exclusivity.
- Brand Consistency: Starbucks has built a strong association between its cups and the holiday season. It’s no longer just about coffee—it’s about the experience of drinking it.
- Social Media Engagement: Starbucks encourages customers to share photos of their holiday cups, often using a branded hashtag. The cups’ aesthetic appeal creates a visual trigger for holiday excitement and keeps the brand top of mind.
This year, they also released a short film that captures the busyness of Christmas time. The film revolves around one of the brand’s core values—a moment of rest for people on the go—while appealing to emotions and the holiday aesthetic.
Kay Jewelers
How do we become relevant and stand out from the Christmas crowd? You collaborate with the self-proclaimed queen of Christmas, Mariah Carrey. Kay Jewelers took advantage of seasonal content and the star media to create a viral marketing piece that played with the transition from Halloween to Christmas, making it a great example of a holiday campaign.
Why It Worked:
- Appealing to a contemporary tradition: All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carrey has become a Christmas staple, and many relate the song to the beginning of the season.
- Exclusive offering: The jewelers’ collection includes a vast range of earrings, rings, men’s bracelets, and custom necklaces, as well as a curated selection of Carey’s “handpicked holiday favorites” on its website.
John Lewis
British department store John Lewis is known for producing heartwarming holiday commercials every year. Their ads typically feature a touching storyline, often revolving around family, friendship, or giving, accompanied by a popular song (cover versions of classics, for example). In 2024, they launched a short film about two sisters looking for each other.
Why It Worked:
- Emotional Storytelling: John Lewis has mastered the art of emotional storytelling. The ad gives us a nostalgic glimpse of the sisters’ relationship and the mixed feelings of growing up together in a way that connects us with our own experiences. The ad focuses on family relationships and the joy of giving, which ties perfectly into the spirit of the holiday season.
- It presents a solution tied to the brand’s value: The tagline ”The secret to finding the perfect gift? Knowing where to look “ and the way products are presented throughout the piece showcase the store as the ideal place to find something as unique as the person you’re gifting!
- Integrating multiple channels: The ad was adapted for several platforms and is accompanied by a user-generated strategy: the brand invited people to create a cover of the ad’s sonnet.
Wrapping It Up
The holiday season is your time to shine! Creating value for all stakeholders requires planning, creativity, and strategic execution. By setting clear goals, understanding your audience, and delivering engaging value-packed holiday campaigns, you’ll be well on your way to holiday marketing success. Cheers to a festive and fruitful holiday season!
Ready to make this holiday season your most successful yet? Let’s work together to create a tailored marketing strategy that maximizes your brand’s impact and delivers results. Schedule a call with our team today and get started!