Your Christmas marketing advent calendar

Are you already tired of seeing festive subject lines in your inbox? Instead of saying “Bah Humbug”, maybe it’s time to consider your own Christmas content.

Summer is a distant memory and Halloween is behind is. We’re hurtling towards… dare we say it? Yes. Christmas. Yuletide is upon us, and it won’t be long until we start to see a flurry of festive campaigns.

While the big brands like Coca Cola and John Lewis seem to dominate the Christmas market, there are plenty of ways to pack a punch with your festive campaign, regardless of budget or creative resource. The most important thing however, is timing. 

With festive advertising starting earlier and earlier each year, it’s important not to get left behind. That’s why we’ve created a marketing advent calendar, to ensure that you make the most of the Christmas period and target all those last-minute shoppers.

6 weeks to go

3 in 5 people start devising their plans for the festive season with less than three months to go. It’s time to deck the halls, down your mulled wine and get planning.

First, establish your angle. Whether you rely on an old faithful style which you know gets results, or seek inspiration for new ways to excite your customer this festive season, get this solidified from the get-go. 

Once you’ve got your angle, take advantage of the milestones over the next few weeks. Black Friday, on the 24th of November, is one of the biggest consumer days of the year, and no, it’s not just tech sales. Insights reveal a number of categories saw a jump in sales - jewellery up 48% and sports and beauty purchases increasing by a third.

Reap the benefits of Black Friday with data - the behaviour of consumers is invaluable, and will set you in good stead ahead of Christmas. For example, you can use remarketing tactics to push consumers further along their journey.

Now’s the time to ensure your website has Facebook and Adwords pixels installed, so you can track your website visitors. Those who started browsing early can be retargeted nearer the festive season, giving them that little nudge they need.

Don’t forget to utilise influencers. They’ll be writing Christmas gift guides as early as the summer, but most start in October. Follow relevant bloggers on Twitter, and keep your eyes peeled for their Christmas gift guide requests or be super pro-active and drop them an email asking if they’d be interested in featuring your brand.

4 weeks to go

With one month to go, it’s important not to leave design and copy as an afterthought. Even if your Christmas campaign is last-minute, make sure you leave enough time for your creative teams to create the content in time for it to be posted and promoted. 

Citations, reviews and listings all make up your local SEO. 76% of people who search for a local business on their phone visit that business within that day - so it’s vital to ensure your local SEO is up to scratch before the last minute Christmas rush.

Although 87% of UK consumers plan to do their gift shopping online, that isn’t always feasible - long delivery times, not being able to actually see what you’re buying and more mean people do still buy in shops. So, if they’re searching for “homeware in Brighton” or “handbags in Brighton” - it’s essential you appear in local search results.

2 weeks to go 

You’ve probably already had your work party and you’ve heard Slade at least 800 times - you can’t avoid Christmas marketing any longer.

Why not create a 12 days of Christmas campaign? Each day, promote a different offer, encouraging people to check back daily. Be sure to let them know about the campaign on a landing page, through emails, and on social media.

If you’re holding an event this Christmas make it memorable with a Snapchat geofilter, which is perfect for engagement and user generated content. Why not have one for your shop, or even your office.

Build some excitement about your product with a social media competition. Not only will this raise your engagement, it will increase awareness of your products for last minute shoppers. Just make sure you have enough time to send out the prize before the big day.

1 week to go

Now’s the time to catch those who’ve left things really late. Offer discounts just in time for Christmas, but make sure postage deadlines are clear - remind shoppers of these to create urgency, e.g ‘last orders before Christmas’. 

If they’ve missed the deadlines, why not promote things that can be used any time, like vouchers or a booking for the future. The important thing is to capture the user data, for your post-Christmas marketing.

After the festive cheer

Christmas might be over but the festive campaign isn’t. 

Boxing Day is a huge opportunity to convert online - with over £3.85bn spent in 2016. Shoppers are likely to be bored of the family politics and soap specials, turning to browsing the online sales or spending the vouchers they were gifted. Plus, those who didn’t get what they expected under the tree might be shopping for it online.

Keep your Christmas leads warm with email marketing - target them with January sales messages or exclusive discounts. This is also a good opportunity to ask for reviews, or just check in and see if they enjoyed their Christmas purchases.

Can’t cope with Christmas campaigns on your own? Find out how Bozboz can help.