The holiday season is dubbed family time, party time, or gift-giving season by different people. It's a time when individuals look forward to some refreshing times with loved ones, friends, or colleagues.
Portland residents mark the start of the holiday season with the area’s festivities, by attending events in the city or resident’s neighborhoods. They mark the season of giving by partaking in the FOX 12 Toy Drive, helping to bring holiday cheer to those who are less privileged.
This year, people can spend more time attending events, parties, and festivals that weren't possible last year. Consumer interest in buying gifts and other holiday items started incredibly early. E-Commerce sales alone will likely exceed $200 billion, growing potentially up to 15% from year to year.
While the pandemic has shaped a lot of changes, core elements to your holiday marketing remain the same. You can determine where to focus your time, energy, and advertising budget by reviewing and analyzing your previous holiday campaign metrics. Follow these tips for insight on how to grow your campaign from year to year.
Decide on Your Goals
First things first, you should decide what you want to accomplish this year. Setting clear, on-the-point marketing goals will give your current season campaigns direction and help you achieve your overall objectives.
Review past data, for example, about social media or email campaigns, which will help you decide what you want to accomplish this year. You may find that while you drove people last season to engage with your social media or email content, the conversion rates remained low. Using this data, you can determine where you fell short and update your aims appropriately.
While deciding on the goals, consider the business type and target audience. For example, suppose you have now started selling your store products online through an e-commerce site. In that case, you want your customers to know that they have the flexibility of ordering online instead of visiting your physical shop.
Lastly, remember to apply the SMART method when articulating the goals. Each of them should be:
- Specific — clear and direct to the point.
- Measurable — does it contain KPIs that will help you determine whether you have achieved it?
- Achievable — Realistic is another word you can use here. Aim for what you're truly capable of attaining.
- Relevant — if a particular goal doesn't help you realize your overall business anchors, then it's irrelevant.
- Time-bound — every target should have an expiration date. E.g., "the business should be able to convert 20% more from email campaigns within two months."
Determine Your Past Success
Every successful marketing campaign can tell you where you went right and where you can continue working to find sustainable success. If your end consumers spend most of their screen time on local TV stations, you want to create well-thought TV commercials to capture their full attention. Build on those successes by adjusting your aims to grow with changing consumer trends.
If your past season's email campaigns did very well, you could improve those results this year. In digital marketing, nothing beats personalized content, which you can accomplish by segmenting your email list into different personas. Send those old customers friendly emails reminding them you're still in business and alert them to new items they might have missed. For those who made a purchase last season, aim to make them repeat the same by suggesting other products (or even the same) depending on what they bought.
Finally, you can improve your social media presence by analyzing the past season's campaign data to determine what made your audience engage with your posts.
Find Out Where Your Audience Is
Much like your standard marketing campaigns, your holiday campaigns work best when developed with your audience in mind. You need to dig deeper to get the right holiday marketing strategies for small businesses on the table. Your customers and potential buyers need someone who engages them and is present where they are.
To better engage with your audience, you need to re-think and focus on the platforms they use, and your past campaign metrics can help offer more insight. For example, if you learn that your audience is primarily millennials and Gen Z, who are mainly on social media, you should prioritize your social media marketing and engagement.
Additionally, the best way to make your presence get felt directly is by reaching your local audience through local holiday events, such as Christmas markets or local business gift halls in Portland. If you have the opportunity, also partner with a local charity group. Working with a media company can help facilitate these connections and sponsor holiday-themed programming and community partnerships.
Build on Your Holiday Successes
To win and keep winning during the holiday season, you need to maintain some consistency and learn how to advertise for the holidays. Your past holiday campaign metrics are priceless when analyzed in detail (to give impeccable insights for growth). Notwithstanding, combining them with other marketing insights can reap your business some excellent results.
