Gearing Up for the Holidays

The holidays are a four month extravaganza of music, fun, festivities and great marketing opportunities. In fact, for many businesses, the holidays are where it’s at. So if you’re one of those people sitting there contemplating how to turn the holiday season to your advantage, here are some things to keep in mind.

You’ll want to know exactly what it is you’re trying to do. Do you want to increase sales, raise visibility, or showcase a new product line? Do you want to target a new demographic or test a new market? Your goals for your holiday marketing campaign will determine in large part how you go about it and how you judge the results, so before you start writing that new jingle, take the time to think about what you’re really trying to accomplish and why.

You’ll also want an idea of how much you’re willing to spend to accomplish it. One of the key figures marketers look at is rate of return. In other words, is the money spent on that shiny new TV commercial really going to pay off in terms of sales? What about all that work you put into boosting your social media profile? Is it paying for itself? You might have different ideas about what rate of return is acceptable depending on whether you’re trying to boost Q4 revenues or just get your name out there.

If this isn’t your first holiday marketing rodeo you can look to what you’ve done in the past to get an idea of where to go in the future. A hard self-assessment can be your best friend. What worked in the past? Why did it work? What fell flat? Why didn’t it work? What do you have that can be repurposed? That campaign you rolled out last spring… could it be revamped for Halloween or Christmas?

While you can learn valuable lessons for revisiting the past, make sure you don’t get stuck there. Remember Max Headroom pedaling Coke products or Mister Whipple squeezing the Charmin? They were iconic in their day, but times and tastes change.

Of course, whether you’re just trying holiday marketing on for size or whether it’s a major part of your business year, you won’t be the only one doing it. How will you stand out from the crowd? What will you do to make sure customers remember your ‘Spooktacular Halloween’ special or click to sign up for your ‘Turkey Day Blowout’ event?

As the line in that famous holiday song says: “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” Is your holiday marketing up to the challenge?