7 Seasonal Marketing Tricks Only a Marketing Agency Would Know

While the sight of Christmas trees in October might be alarming for some, businesses know better; the holiday season is a great time to capitalize on some specific marketing strategies that are guaranteed to increase your sales during the busy holiday season. Take advantage of the rush of shoppers to try out some new advertisements, products, and incentives, and then sit back and enjoy the increased ROI that your efforts are sure to produce.

If you’re not sure exactly how to work the holidays to your advantage, read on to learn some new tips that can teach you how to make the busy season work for you and your business.

1. Utilize Holiday Shopping Campaigns

Only those who have physical products to sell will be able to take advantage of this strategy, but if your business falls into that category you definitely want to jump on this idea! The holidays are the perfect time to create specific shopping campaigns that aren’t relevant during the off-season. Google Shopping Campaigns make it quick and easy for consumers to make split second, emotional purchases without having to browse through a bunch of websites and pages to find what they’re looking for. This could be extremely beneficial for your business if you create the campaign(s) the right way. Choose a product, or products, that are season-specific. Keep in mind that your product isn’t going to be the only one featured; you’ll essentially be listed right next to all your competitors, and the best price (and ad feature) will win. So make your prices competitive, your photos outstanding, and sit back and enjoy the extra conversions that the holidays are bound to bring.

2. Incorporate Ad Automation

Ad automation is another marketing trick that can be extremely lucrative if used correctly. Normally we recommend a combination of automation plus hands-on activity, and the holidays are no different.The important thing to remember is that ad automation is great in terms of time sensitive holiday campaigns. Google Adwords is a helpful tool to use in order to setup your automated ads, just make sure you monitor them from time to time to make sure you’re getting the desired results.

When you’re creating your automations, think about the best times to run specific ads and promotions. Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), for example, is a huge holiday shopping day, so consider running an ad around that time and/or offering a promotion that begins or ends on that day. Then change up your ads for Christmas—run a different ad for the weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, with another one targeted for after Christmas when everyone is rushing to make returns. However you choose to do it, holiday ad automation is a great way to take advantage of the holiday shopping rush while still leaving you time to focus on issues that require more hands-on attention.

3. Work the Holiday Rush

Another way to work the holiday rush in your favor is to truly understand what it means for your consumers, and then use that to your advantage. Let’s face it, the holidays are stressful for even the most organized person, and holiday shopping is at the top of that stress list. Be the solution for your consumers and alleviate some of that holiday anxiety. Run promotions that offer discounts for clients (who doesn’t want to save money during the holidays?), guarantee product arrival if shipped by a certain date (another huge source of worry for consumers), and even consider offering free shipping. Create contests and giveaway campaigns that can be advertised on social media to get the word out about how holiday-friendly your business really is. Think about what stresses you out during the holidays, and then incorporate solutions into your marketing strategy.

4. Use Social Media to Your Advantage

Social media is the perfect place to advertise all your wonderful holiday incentives. Many shoppers will be purchasing gifts online in order to try and avoid the holiday rush at the mall, and if they’re already on the computer shopping chances are they’ll be clicking back and forth between social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Consider investing in paid advertisements through Facebook. After all, the holidays are the perfect time to start these campaigns since they’ll reach more consumers than in the off-season, and Facebook advertising has incredible options for audience targeting.

You can also ask loyal customers to share reviews of your business on social media, and consider creating a clever hashtag for them to use along with the reviews. Let your followers drive traffic to your site and do the work for you!

5. Give to Charity

There’s nothing like the holidays to put people in the giving mood, and your clients will appreciate any and all incentives you offer towards charities. While it’s great to give to charity throughout the year, it doesn’t hurt to amp up your charitable giving during the holidays. When you choose what charity or charities to support, you definitely want to pick a cause that you’re passionate about so that your efforts don’t come across as false. However, also consider choosing one that relates somehow to your business and products. For example, Starbucks supports economic and social development in the regions that supply their coffee, tea, and cocoa. Another good idea might be to support a charity that is especially in need during the holidays, like the Salvation Army or your local food bank. This is a good way to distinguish your regular charitable giving from your increased efforts during the holiday season.

image credit: timeforkids.com

6. Use the Season as an Opportunity to Grow Your Database

While the holiday rush is absolutely going to be a stressful time for both businesses and consumers, it also presents a great opportunity for business owners to grow their email database. You will most likely to presented with the largest amount of customers, both new and old, during the peak holiday season; don’t be afraid to ask them for their email addresses! Just make sure you give them some kind of incentive or reward to do so, like free shipping or a discount code. Then, when the season dies down, spend some time and reach out to any new leads and try to convert them into loyal customers.

If you’re not exactly sure what to do with all these new additions to your database, read this helpful article on how to increase your ROI through email marketing. In addition, don’t forget to increase the calls-to-action on your website. You should have a ton more traffic, so increased CTA’s should result in additional conversions. It’s definitely going to be challenging to tackle all this while also fulfilling orders for the holiday rush, but just remember that you’ll appreciate your increased database during the off-season when it’s much harder to generate new customers.

7. Change Your Content and Products Based on the Holiday

image credit: hornet.fullcoll.edu

It’s your responsibility to create engaging content, and capitalizing on the holiday season is one more way to do so. It can be hard to constantly come up with new ideas for blog content, so do yourself a favor and write some pieces with a holiday twist. Furthermore, use your content to target specific audiences and build relationships with them that will last beyond the holiday season. If you’re in need of some content-writing tips, check out this article we wrote to help set you on the right path.

In addition to creating seasonal content, strive to change your products to match the seasons as well. This may seem like common sense (there’s a reason why you don’t generally see bathing suits in department stores in the winter) you’d be surprised at how many businesses continue to produce the same products regardless of the month. Think about what products your company produces, and then give them a seasonal twist. Starbucks generates millions just by changing their signature drinks throughout the year (because really, fall doesn’t start until its Pumpkin Spice latte time) and they also create new interest in old products by limiting their release time. Be creative and have fun with something new!

Hopefully now you’re close to being a seasonal marketing expert, so tell us, what strategy are you going to employ first? Do you know any other seasonal marketing tips? Comment in the section below!

About The Author

Jason Hawkins / http://www.themiamiseocompany.com

Jason Hawkins is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Miami SEO Company. He has over ten years of experience in search engine optimization, conversion rate optimization and lead generation. His core responsibilities include identifying ways to increase value of services rendered, training staff on advanced SEO topics, and A/B testing internal processes to consistently improve client return on investment.