Why bother with holiday marketing?
Well…
Americans typically spend around $800 during the Winter holidays.
They’re also spending about $75 – $150 for other, major holidays.
This is also around the time businesses are spending the last of their year’s budget.
There are big bucks to be made on these festive celebrations.
We’ve created a list of holiday marketing strategies for a few, major ones.
Try these.
Our Thanksgiving Holiday Marketing Tips
Thanksgiving is about food and family so if you can make those your two priorities, in your marketing, then you’re pretty much set in terms of earning some nice sales.
Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas
- Develop posts about Thanksgiving Day activities
- Write family-friendly posts which suggest products and services that’ll make for fun activities
- Use your emails to say what you’re thankful for and integrate offers into the mix
- Involve the community (on social platforms) to share their Thanksgiving ideas/stories
Thanksgiving Marketing Strategies
- Re-theme your website so that it looks and feels a bit like Thanksgiving (turkey, fall colors, etc)
- Do the same for your email marketing newsletters and social profiles
- Work with product/service developers so you can promote discounts and coupons
- Create a number of tutorials around having the best Thanksgiving
- Write a small guide (ebook) that can be used to promote products/services
Tips & Tricks to Improve the Holiday Marketing
My suggestions would be to work heavily on promoting the emotional ties people have with Thanksgiving which is family first and then the food. This is one of the few days people have off and really come together so if you can work in that emotion, then you will get them to overcome the buyer remorse.
Try a few of these:
- BBQing (and other cooking)
- Crafts for the kids
- Lawn games and activities
… all are a good mix to throw in.
These work well because much of the day is spent outside, then in for eating, and usually a Football game afterward.
Of course, I would also suggest taking a look at the competition. This way you can see what they’re doing and get in front of their audience. So, it’s your promotions that gain all the attention.
Our Black Friday Holiday Marketing Tips
Black Friday is one of those days when people go absolutely mental for products. So many businesses are having huge sales. It’s the “holiday” letting you promote just about anything and score a few good sales. If you’re good at it then you can certainly make it one of your biggest earners during the year.
Black Friday Marketing Ideas
- Much of your posts will be about physical products so consider joining Amazon Associates which will give you the largest selection during the holiday
- Divide your community into three types: low, medium, and high spenders – so you can create content tailored to those that have different levels of income
- Make good use of what you have around the house/office already because it’s likely those items might be on sale and so you can create easy reviews (blog posts & videos)
Black Friday Marketing Strategies
- Do a “countdown to Black Friday” which promotes a slew of products going on sale before the holiday starts up (lots of businesses are doing this early now)
- Use your social media to start discussions about a product and keep that going by talking about its features and uses. This way you can get all types of conversations going on (with plenty of points to share product links)
- Write up a “buyers guide” for your niche letting it act like a de facto content piece to survive the holiday shopping event. This is done by compiling reviews and other top ten lists you’re likely making for the website
Tips & Tricks to Improve the Holiday Marketing
My suggestions would be to really push the physical products because people really, really want the electronics. But, in all honesty, you could probably promote anything when people see big discounts.
Your best bet is to stick with the:
- Top 10 lists
- Product reviews
- Buyer’s guides
These are very easy to make in a quick fashion.
Create posts for the different types of people you have in the community (interests, income, etc) so you can have a wide range of products to promote.
Use those images and video wisely as they are the items that can really make the content stand out. This extra exposure gives you the chance for people to click on product links linked to the image.
Our Cyber Monday Holiday Marketing Tips
Cyber Monday follows Black Friday and usually reserved for online sales (Black Friday = retail, Cyber Monday = ecommerce). However, most of this has spilled over so you’ll see a lot of retail stores going after Cyber Monday with promotions. Especially if they can get people to order online and ship to store.
Overall, Cyber Monday has pretty much become Black Friday.
So many people stay at home and order online anyway
The good news is you can use many of the assets and strategies from Black Friday for your Cyber Monday promotions! It’s just a matter of tweaking some of the website/campaign copy.
Cyber Monday Marketing Ideas
- Stay on top of the great deals that are about to be released by scanning deals forums and websites which pre-list items that are going on sale during Cyber Monday so you can get those promotions in order
- Put together a guide on “surviving Cyber Monday” which can help those that haven’t really participated in this shopping spree navigate their way around the various deals (finding the best ones) and using your site
- Do a “price watch” set of live product updates in your market since there will be constant, rolling deals throughout the day which each give you opportunities to share on social media and as part of your website
Cyber Monday Marketing Strategies
- Create lists about all the different types of products & services your community may use within your niche; don’t limit it to products – go after the online services and also doing lists of the online sites you’d recommend which is a blanket approach to getting people through your product link
- Get the community to share what deals they have found by implementing a forum or some form of live blogging/social medium so that others can join in on the shopping; you can use this opportunity to link reviews, lists, and other resources to what others are sharing
- Be “that person” that finds the best deals for people (like family and friends) during this holiday. A lot of them will be overwhelmed but want to score a few deals. This is that sort-of “Miracle on 34th Street” act.
Tips & Tricks to Improve the Holiday Marketing
Try to carry over much of your Black Friday efforts into your Cyber Monday promotions though do so in a way that they don’t look like you’ve just copied and pasted. The easiest way to do this is by theming it from feeling retail to feeling like it’s “cyber” (check out the themes and stock photos on this one).
Try to go with the family/friend route and see what’s on their list of items to pick up during Cyber Monday sales.
Don’t overload your users with the promotions, either, since everyone else wants to bombard them.
Instead, make a curated selection of quality items and services so you don’t ruin your reputation of spamming or having bad taste.
Our Christmas Holiday Marketing Tips
Christmas is the big holiday when it comes to making extra money during the holidays.
Each year the preparations starts earlier and earlier.
Although it’s silly seeing Christmas items up even before Halloween is over it just shows that people want an early start. This means you too should begin with the foundation well before December hits.
During the holiday you can pretty much run wild with the promotions.
Everything is going to be on sale, people have plenty of gifts to pick up, and you’ve got a long stretch of time to run the promos.
Christmas Marketing Ideas
- Re-theming the website to give it some Christmas flair; it’s a bit cheesy but sets the holiday mood.
- A popular thing I’ve noticed during the Christmas holiday is doing a countdown. But, you could do something like the 25 Days of X for your niche.
- Gift cards are always a popular choice because so many are indecisive and purchase gifts at the last minute so be sure to promote those.
- Now would be a great time to crowdsource your community for content where people can share their stories and what plans they have for the holiday.
It’s also a great time to give away a lot of things so if you have a lower-tiered product/service in your assets then consider handing it out to a few of your best community members.
Christmas Marketing Strategies
Ebooks, lists, and reviews are, again, the choice content to create — but also be sure to get heavy with the video, too.
Look at the data on your community and create the content around low, medium, and high-income earners so you can promote a wide range of products versus sticking to a general budget. Be mindful of cultures and their holiday plans so you can include them, too, outside of the Christmas promotions.
Get to guest blogging so you can pull in additional traffic during this time or even team up with a number of other site owners to do cross promotions (this works especially well if each individual of the group has a product to offer so you all could do a bundle deal).
Don’t forget about doing some offline promotions, too, like helping family/friends do their shopping, running a few print ads, or continuing hosting workshops around this time.
Tips & Tricks to Improve the Holiday Marketing
Around this time, I’ve found that it’s much less about the individual products you’re promoting and more about just getting them to the website.
This is also a time a lot of people are taking off for work — you will see a slight dip in traffic on certain days but stay strong and keep at it.
You’ll also notice that other site owners are taking time off which means you have the perfect opportunity to overtake their presence in your niche (if you’re able to promote like crazy).
Think outside the box, too, by offering suggestions for your niche that aren’t found on other websites. Really use your knowledge of your niche to find promotions that pair up well with the normal promotions. Lots of people want to find that unique item for their loved ones and if you try enough it could be you that brings it to their attention.
Our New Years Holiday Marketing Tips
Ah, New Years.
One of the busiest day and night of partying celebrated around the World.
People out having fun, staying home to watch the ball drop, BBQing during the day, going out on special dates, getting presents for best friends, and making resolutions for the new year.
New Years doesn’t have quite as much income potential as the other main holidays. But, it does create an interesting opportunity to set the stage for the upcoming year.
New Years Marketing Ideas
Need some good ideas on some last minute content and marketing ideas for the New Years holiday? Here’s what we’ve got in mind:
Lifestyle Design
People are ready for change and it’s not just in their habits and physical image; they want to try new things and buy new things because they want a change in their lifestyle so if you can fit your work around this shift then you can capture them early and bring them along for the journey throughout the year.
Education
Learning should be something you really stress to improve. Last year your audience may have begun skirting the idea of really diving head first into the niche you cover but never really made the jump.
This is the year they can start fresh and go all out. Promoting learning materials will be the way to go because everyone wants to do better. And, have a better understanding of their interests.
Goals
Now is a good time to share your New Years resolutions with your audience…
…such as what you have planned for the future.
Or, maybe it changes you plan on making, things you no longer want to do, and maybe even a few details and revelations from the former year.
New Years Marketing Strategies
We’ve got a couple different ways to approach the content and marketing creation for the New Years. Here are a couple of ideas you could roll with:
- Types of posts like “The Best of 201X” or “Expect X in 201X” are great ways to get people to dig into old content and get ready for new changes to your niche. Doing so introduces them to new, exciting things that may become big sellers in the new year.
- The new year is a great time to do an update to one of your products (or freebies); this will let you promote new products and have a reason to make a huge announcement/promotion.
- You can periodically check up on people to see how they’re progressing through the year; it makes for a great set of case studies (helps with authority) and keeps people locked into a course you may have developed.
- You could also create a mastermind group for those that have similar goals for the new year; it also locks them into your brand – could even be a membership thing.
Tips & Tricks to Improve the Holiday Marketing
I would say the best bet is to do a combination of:
- Releasing an updated version of one of your freebies or paid products
- Forming a mastermind group alongside these updates and new goals
The offer is a great way to get people hooked on your community. It’s something they could include as part of your New Years resolution… doing more! Then, people will feel inclined to stick with it throughout the year which could turn into recurring revenue if you monetize these items and services.
Save the Assets. Repeat Next Year.
As with every marketing campaign, we would suggest keeping all assets you generate for these holidays.
The assets can be used again next year!
Each year you’ll get better and better at promoting offers during this holiday (this will be reflected in your earnings).
Get started asap – the earlier the better – if you want to gain the most opportunities.
Good luck and happy holidays!
