Christmas Marketing – A Letter to Santa

Last minute Tips for your Christmas Marketing

Ho-ho-ho! Soon it’s time again – the time of gingerbread, love and giving. The facades are covered, the reindeer are set up in the garden, “Last Christmas” is going viral and Starbucks impresses with his Chestnut Praline Latte. Soon it is Christmas. Well, admittedly, it’s not even Decemeber yet, but when it comes to marketing, we’re actually already behind.

As business minded people, we love the Christmas season for completely different reasons. Love, generosity and social sharing also play an important role for us. At least the love for shopping, the generosity for Christmas spending and sharing on social networks. On average, 40% of annual sales are generated during the Christmas season and we should take advantage of that.

If you haven’t just started planning your “X-mas” campaign in summer, the train has left the station. Well kinda. Don’t worry, we’ll tell you how you can still get the attention from your audience with some short-term ideas. And btw: if you don’t like the whole Christmas commercialism and would prefer to stay out of it, please keep in mind that you’re missing out on the most profitable time. So you better stay tuned and play the game.

A touch of festive flair

What would Christmas be without decorations, candy canes, fairy lights and Santa Claus? Bring some Christmas spirit into your brand, whether on the web page, social media or in the shop. This can also be done at short notice by integrating Christmas elements into your social media strategy or by incorporating themed landing pages on your website. With the help of pictures or music you can emotionalize your customers and arouse nostalgia. The perfect way to enchant through storytelling and create a bond between the customer and brand.

An extra portion of content

Content is and remains King. And since it’s the time of giving, why not impressing your audience with some extra content in form of a advent calendar? For example, you can publish new blog posts every day or add variety to your content offering formats that are otherwise not part of your strategy, such as videos or podcasts. Personal content as employee stories or annual throwbacks are particularly suitable. It makes the viewers happy, it creates engagement, builds suspense and motivates the viewers to return again and again for new content. Even if it’s just a last minute countdown for the week before Christmas, it will surely delight the audience.

Personal content lasts the longest

Whether you like it or not, but Christmas has indeed become a big commerce. We are bombarded with newsletters, advertisements and cinnamon biscuits. Relatives of whom we haven’t heard from for a whole year suddenly call us up before they ignore us again for the next 364 days. And hand on heart, as beautiful as Christmas may be, sometimes we are all a little tired of it. So if you really want to stand out from the crowd, you should rely on personal greetings. No, not a digital card. No e-mail.  Handwritten. Old-fashioned and traditional, even in the digital age.

This way, you are not perceived as spam, but create a closer connection to the customer, so that people will remember you even after the holidays. If you don’t have the resources to send a personal Christmas greeting to everyone, contact the most loyal customers. They will become even more loyal and contribute to the brand awareness through positive word of mouth.

Influencer Marketing

If you haven’t yet started a huge, boosted campaign à la Coca-Cola (and that’s what we’re almost assuming, because otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading the article at all), Influencer Marketing is a powerful tool to boost sales, especially in the Christmas season. 84% of consumers trust buying recommendations based on friends or family instead of classic advertising.  Find suitable influencers in your niche e.g. under Location Tags or Hashtags or even better among your own followers. They don’t need to have a high number of followers, quite the opposite: Microinfluencers with followers between 1K-10k are more authentic and have a much stronger interacting community than large influencers. Give these influencers a little treat, send a product or a self-created package all dedicated to Christmas. The rest is in the law of reciprocity, because influencers usually report those positive surprises to their community.

Show some Love

Christmas is the time of giving, making the beloved smile and celebrating the feast of love together. But remember, not all people live in these privileged conditions and experience just as much joy on this day. Therefore christmas is a good occasion, in order to start a charity action. Examples would be a financial support or donations in kind. Actually social commitment should not only take place at christmas time, but be part of a humanitarian behavior and the daily CSR. But if you are not an Oprah Winfrey in general, then at least at Christmas time.

A little social support will also improve your brand image and help building a stronger community. You can donate a percentage of your sales and at the same time motivate your customers to donate goods.

E-mail marketing- yes, if done correctly

The wonderful newsletter causes always a little controversy. Let’s be honest – nobody likes it when the mailbox is bombarded with advertisement. And it’s rather questionable if anyone out there is really interested in a newsletter. But e-mail is still one of the most important communication channels and could therefore effectively boost marketing just before Christmas. Well it could. As long as it is well thought out. Don’t forget: you are certainly not the only company that will send a newsletter for christmas. Mailboxes are literally overflowing.

At this point storytelling plays an important role. Write a christmassy newsletter that really tells a story and moves the reader emotionally. A little nostalgia is always good at Christmas. An emotional connection will also contribute to the purchase, especially during the Christmas season. Classic advertising, on the other hand, ends up in your spam.

Research

Regardless of which short-term marketing method you choose, you should always take a little time for research. What is the competition doing? What does the target group expect? What are current trends?

Firstly, a little inspiration has never hurt, secondly, you should really understand the needs of the target audience. And thirdly, you should know exactly what your competitors are offering to outbid them. This applies to large campaigns as well as short-term marketing strategies.

Takeaway: Off to the Christmas workshop

Whether Grinch or Christmas elf, a little Christmas flair should not miss anywhere. As you can see, there is no need to crackle big bills, bring elves to life, or decorate the Eiffel Tower with a glittering chain of lights. Quite the opposite: In between all the commerce, the Christmas magic should not be forgotten. Focus on  personal, warm-hearted and nostalgic Christmas marketing. With some last-minute ideas you can still draw attention to your brand and truly achieve a Christmas miracle.

And if you do need a little support, how about a Christmas explainer video or a festive presentation for the next event? Well, a little PR for ourselves is also part of the Christmas game… 😉