The holiday season is an optimal time for marketing outreach. It allows you to strengthen relationships by communicating with all of your connections at a time when people are most receptive to personalized communication. It’s the perfct time to express gratitude, and foster long-term client loyalty.
But where do you start? The last thing you want is to feel overwhelmed by a cluttered, disorganized campaign. Here are some tips to help you create a streamlined, effective holiday strategy that maximizes impact while minimizing stress. The key is in strategic planning across four essential areas: communicating cheer, curating your contacts, creating collateral, and calendaring your content.
Communicating Cheer
In the hustle of the holidays, it’s easy to forget the importance of staying cheerful and personal in your communications. People are looking for authentic, warm connections with brands during this time of year. Ensure your messaging is upbeat, focused on giving, and not promotional. Whether it’s an email wishing them well or a thank-you note for their business, personal touches go a long way in making your audience feel valued and appreciated. This is a time to nurture relationships, not just sell, so infuse your communications with holiday cheer! Sign cards by hand, if possible, let the recipients know how much you appreciate them, and if you are sending gifts, make sure they are related to the needs of the recipients.
Curating Contacts
One of the most crucial aspects of any holiday campaign is ensuring that your contacts and their information are where you need them to be when it comes time to curate your holiday outreach list. If you haven’t already, it’s time to implement a process for the coming year on how to collect, organize, track, and tag specific contacts for holiday outreach. Whether it’s through CRM software, spreadsheets, or an email list management tool, make sure your contacts are consistently up to date and you have a process in place to keep them there all year long. Organizing and segmenting your contacts early allows you to tailor your outreach and ensure no one is overlooked easily.
Creating Collateral
Your materials should be on-brand, visually appealing, and easy to execute. From holiday-themed e-blasts to social media posts, print cards, promotions, or even a thoughtful gift, it’s important to design materials that speak to the holiday spirit and promote your brand and messaging effectively. Avoid the scramble by planning your materials ahead of time—drafting copy, choosing visuals, and outlining your call-to-action. Be sure to customize each piece for the intended audience to maximize its impact. When designing, consider creating templates that can be reused for different promotions, saving valuable time during the busy holiday season.
Calendaring Content
Timing is everything, and the holidays can fly by in a blink. To keep your content on track and your outreach consistent, use a content calendar. Map out all of your campaigns, posts, e-blasts, and promotional offers across the weeks leading up to the holidays. This tool will help you stay organized and allow for better coordination across different teams. Be mindful of key dates like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all the many different holidays, ensuring you’re sending the right messages at the right time.
By following these four steps—Communicating cheer, curating contacts, creating quality collateral, and calendaring content, you can set up a holiday campaign that runs smoothly and leaves a lasting impression on your audience. Planning ahead ensures that your marketing outreach is hassle-free and as impactful as possible, allowing you to make the most of this festive season and we are here to help you create and execute a Holiday Plan.
Happy Holidays and Happy Marketing!
