How to Start Planning Your Holiday Promotions

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People are experiencing pent-up consumerism after laying low during the pandemic, so let’s make this an epic holiday season! Here are some holiday campaign planning tips to get you started making some year-end cheer for your customers —and your bottom line.

Anticipate Shopping Trends

Expect more customers to do holiday shopping online and earlier than usual based on the 2020 holiday season.This projection for the 2021 holiday shopping season means that starting your deals and promotions as early as October could boost your holiday traffic and sales. Also consider reconnecting with online customers and engaging them on email, mobile, and social media to build customer loyalty ahead of holiday promotions. For example, nurture and grow your email list starting as early as August or September. As you plan out your emails, Salesforce suggests using A/B testing, especially if you’re trying new creative holiday messaging, so you can adapt your approach to what resonates with customers. You’ll also want to go beyond general consumer trends and assess your customers’ needs. Review sales performance to confirm what’s trending among your customers and consider cross-selling and bundling opportunities or promoting top-sellers to customers looking to purchase gifts for family and friends.

Get Inspired

Find out what other retailers have done and see if it makes sense to incorporate into your holiday strategy. For example, the popularity of near field communication technology (NFC) and QR codes is growing across many industry verticals. Unlike QR codes, NFC tags don’t require customers to use their phone’s camera feature. Contactless payments are one of the most well-known uses for NFC tags, but this technology can also help you integrate your brick-and-mortar with your online store for a seamless customer shopping experience. Ways you can use NFC tags is to create smart signage, POP displays, posters, and even loyalty cards.

Facebook is also offering an on-demand webinar series, Discovery Commerce for Retail: Holiday Webinar Series, for insights and tips on using their platform to reach your campaign goals.

Consider these other popular tactics:

Buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) service
Voice shopping
Exclusive mobile deals
Free rewards or shipping
Exclusive mobile deals
Digital ads
Remarketing ads
Video marketing
Run a contest

Set SMART Goals

Planning a successful holiday marketing campaign starts with setting SMART goals (criteria that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Specific). HubSpot offers examples and a free SMART Goal Template to get you started. After you’ve defined your goals, you’ll need to figure out how and when you’ll reach your audience and track key dates on a marketing calendar to stay organized.

Happy holiday planning!

We want to hear from you! What is your go-to inspiration for holiday promotion planning? Share in the comments below.

Sources:

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/holiday-marketing/campaign-checklist/#close

https://www.emarketer.com/content/how-retailers-start-planning-2021-holiday-season

https://www.adweek.com/partner-articles/how-can-brands-and-retailers-prepare-for-the-2021-holiday-season/