“Deck the shops with tinselled trolleys, Fa la la la la la la la. ‘Tis the season for spending folly Fa la la la la la la la.”
The season has arrived for people’s inboxes to be inundated with happy, jolly winter wonderland messages. But how can you prevent yours from coming across as cheesy and insincere? How can you save your holiday season marketing from getting an eye roll?
1. Understand your audience
With user behaviour analytics and surveys, you can get a deeper understanding of your target audience and ensure that the holiday message which you send them will resonate with them. For example, if your client base is in South Africa than try to ensure you seasonal message has a summery feel as their festive season is during summer, not winter.
Another aspect to consider is how different generations like to purchase their services or goods. If you are focused on Generation Z consumers than your approach will need to be focused on mobile and if Baby Boomers are your target audience you will need to focus on more in-store promotions as they are not very comfortable buying online and if they do buy online, they are very cautious. Keeping this in mind, it is important to make the online purchasing process as simple and problem-free as possible.
2. Provide entertainment
Many people start to wind down towards the end of the year and don’t mind some entertainment in their e-mail. You can design a quiz around your brand which is fun and entertaining. If you are in retail, you could offer entertainment like a wheel with different discounts on which you can spin and give them a discount on their purchase.
3. Tailor it for the holidays
Ensure that when you want to incorporate a holiday in your marketing strategy that you tailor-make it for that holiday. It should not be a marketing strategy which you had that you then added a holiday spin to it. As they say a pig with lipstick on is still a pig and the same goes for a market strategy which has had the holiday season slapped on. Your audience will see it and it will affect their trust in your brand.
4. Focus on your niche
With many different holidays happening during the festive season, it is critical you focus on the holiday which is most important to your niche market. If your niche market is mainly Jewish, you may want to focus on Hannukah, and if your customer base is Christian you would focus on Christmas but with a less commercial twist on it.
5. Check your message
During this time many messages are being sent out and a sloppy message may be ignored, or worse still, damage your brand. Make sure you get the basics spot on and proof-read your message, ensure the links work, and check that the tone and style of your email reflects the brand’s identity and values. May you create holiday marketing which is relevant, on point with your brand, and brings joy to your niche audience.
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