If you have somehow managed to avoid shopping for decorations, songs on the radio and the trees popping up around the island, this is your friendly reminder that Christmas is just around the corner.
And like Christmas shopping, when it comes to your business’ Christmas marketing plan, it’s best not to leave it until the last minute.
While it can seem like a daunting task, a Christmas marketing plan doesn’t have to be overly complicated. A few simple tweaks to your existing plan can help incorporate the holiday spirit without overwhelming your customers with its presence.
Start by establishing how your daily operations will change to meet the demands of the season. Will your business have longer opening hours? Sales, discounts and specials? This information will form the basis of your plan. Once you have noted down the dates for all of these seasonal events you will be better able to plot out when you will need to start advertising them and organise your marketing plan accordingly.
The next thing to consider is how Christmas can be incorporated into your company’s branding. To prevent overwhelming your customers with the holly jollies, keep the references subtle. A simple addition of a gift-wrapping bow or Christmas lights to the company logo on social media and other brand assets for the month of December is a great way to give a little tip of the Santa hat to the holiday season.
Christmas time is a great opportunity to thank your customers for their loyalty over the year. A simple but well-designed holiday greeting is one of the best ways to remind your customers that they are the heart of your business. This can take the form of a digital Christmas card, emailed out to customers, a tasteful social media share, to be scheduled for publication on December 25, or even a thoughtful thank you message for publication in a newspaper.
Finally, as this is the season of giving, don’t forget to include giving back to the community within your marketing plans. This can be as grand a scale as organising a company toy drive or as simple as scheduling an afternoon for your employees to walk dogs for the Humane Society.
No matter how you choose to celebrate the holiday season, there is no doubt that it’s the best time of the year to remind your customers what makes your business so special.
