5 Ways You Can Stand Out with Holiday Marketing

The holidays have a way of bringing out the inner child in most of us. The seasons bring a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and a spirit of giving that brings us together, whether it’s cooking for your friends during summer holidays, trading gifts at Christmas, or toasting the New Year with your favorite people. Your marketing can benefit from the holiday fervor by embracing it. Exceptional holiday marketing campaigns all have several elements in common. 

No matter which channels you choose, you’ll find similarities throughout the most successful holiday campaigns. Let’s look at the elements that can make your holiday campaign stand out.

1. Reach Consumers through Multiple Channels

Holiday marketing builds upon itself. There is a finite deadline that creates anticipation and urgency, two elements of great marketing. The best holiday campaigns are well planned and use multiple channels. People are distracted during this time of year, and using various channels increases the opportunities they’ll see and engage with your brand. Choose your channels based on what your customers use to inform and inspire customers to buy from you. Two of the most accessible and effective channels are radio and digital. 

 Radio makes it easy to reach your target customers by leveraging radio influencers’ extensive, loyal, and engaged listening audience. In the busy and congested advertising environments leading up to a holiday, you need to stand out. Beloved radio hosts have built relationships on-air, through the station website, and with their social following. That means that when they recommend a product or service, it resonates. 

Digital expands your reach. It is an ideal complement to radio, as the same influencers can leverage their online following to reiterate your message. Digital gives customers a way to interact with your brand at their convenience. You also get the benefit of social engagement that promotes the organic proliferation of your message through shares, likes, and comments.  

However, you have many more options beyond this pairing. If your products require extensive research, implementing a content or email marketing campaign instead may be the better option. Understand who your audience is and choose your platforms accordingly. 

2. Adopt Simple Messaging  

Keeping your message simple is better during the holidays. Lean on a classical persona approach to marketing, relying on understanding your target customer and designating one idea per ad. By focusing on creating a consumer connection rather than a price-based strategy, you build trust and loyalty.  

It is vital to remain adaptable during the holidays to adjust your messaging depending on what’s working or not. A digital strategy combined with radio makes it easy to do this. By establishing goals and monitoring the right metrics, you can monitor the effectiveness in near real-time. It is vital to apply this attention and agility to your customer service and internal responses. 

3. Create Reasons to Buy  

The holidays have a natural urgency due to the finite timeline. You don’t need to create false urgency with your marketing. Developing relationships and connections with customers should be your core effort instead of implementing a price-based marketing strategy. A relationship-based strategy allows you to understand what your customers need and want, giving you the ability to create a long-term, loyal customer base.  

Radio influencers are a great way to create this connection. They know their audience, which means they know your target audience. Developing your content strategy to include on-air and online channels reaches customers where they spend their time. Having great digital content empowers those customers searching online.  

4. Cater to Your Existing Customers  

Your current, loyal customers are essentially your lifeline, and your marketing should always keep them in mind. Build customer loyalty and retention into your strategy, as well as brand awareness and recognition. That lets you cater to your existing customers while still trying to attract new ones.  

You can achieve this with your content strategy by developing content for returning customers and new customers. Make the same considerations when developing your website, as well. Broad awareness campaigns, like radio, help to introduce your brand to new customers while reminding old customers about your benefits. These types of campaigns give you the flexibility to reward loyalty and incentivize new leads.   

Take Inspiration from Past Campaigns 

You can look to previous marketing campaigns for inspiration, whether you’re looking at other companies or your own to determine which were the most successful. You’ll want to note which channels were the most effective and what worked best for the holiday celebrated and the tone you wanted to communicate. Digital paired with radio provides a better customer experience, creates more profit for the company, and can build loyalty that lasts far beyond the holiday. 

However, it’s equally important to look at how customers reacted to your messaging. Different audiences respond to different phrasing, so while one group may respond well to sentimentality, others may prefer the austere aesthetic of the holidays. In the time leading up to the holidays, look at current trends and events to help navigate this. As you conduct holiday campaigns from year to year, you’ll get a better sense of who your customers are and what they like, enhancing your campaigns from year to year. 

Plan a Holiday Campaign That Stands Out and Resonates with Customers 

Holidays naturally create a sense of unity and harmony and take us back to our youth’s feelings of anticipation and excitement. They create an atmosphere that is ripe for advertisers. There is an inherent sense of urgency, as there is a finite lead-up to the day, so there is no need to create false urgency. The holidays make people want to spend time with and do things for their friends and family, so they are actively looking for products and services that will help them provide the best experience. 

Holiday marketing is a crucial part of your overall marketing strategy. It takes careful planning to research your target persona, create content that has the ideal tone for each holiday, and reach your target customer. Holidays allow businesses to leverage the seasonal excitement and realize benefits such as increasing brand awareness, creating new customers by converting leads, and boosting sales. Finally, holiday marketing can strengthen your connection with your local audience.