We are now deep into December and the festive season is well and truly under way. Christmas is everywhere; oversaturation is an understatement. So, should you be joining in with the rest of the crowd and incorporating Christmas into your digital marketing? Blue Bee are on hand to guide you through the do’s, don’ts and trends for your marketing this Christmas.
Do’s
Be more personal and informal
Most workplaces have a bit of fun over the festive season, whether it’s a Christmas party, decorating the office or getting involved with local charities. These are great things to share with clients and customers, social media followers, subscribers etc. It helps give you a more human face. Social media posts of real people are always guaranteed to encourage engagement, and it will provide a nice break from more sales-y or corporate messaging.
Say thank you to followers and customers
Now is a great time to look back and reflect on the past year, good or bad. No matter how your year has been, it’s always worthwhile to thank your customers for their custom and support. Once again this is a great time to show a more personal touch, addressing your audience directly whilst breaking up the usual sales and marketing content they are used to receiving from you. You can do this with a well-constructed social media post, an email campaign, or even send out a physical Christmas card!
You can go one step further and set up a sale, giveaway or competition. This is a great way of generating traffic to your site during a quitter period.
Plan ahead and look at competition
One way of ensuring there are no misses when it comes Christmas marketing is to plan ahead. This is especially prudent if you are planning a more a complex campaign detailed above. Things can get busy over the festive period, rushing to fulfil orders or finish projects before closing. So, making sure there is a plan in place means you won’t miss out on capitalising on the period.
It’s always worth keeping an eye on what the competition are up to as well. Putting some time aside to do some competitor research, just to make sure you don’t get left behind.
Don’ts
Ignore the festive season
How much you actually embrace the festive season in your marketing is entirely up to, but don’t neglect it completely! It may not be focussing on growth or profitability like the rest of your marketing activity, but as mentioned earlier it helps humanise your business, which in turn helps to build trust and a more engaged relationship with your audience. So don’t be Scrooge! Play along and you will definitely feel the benefit.
Go overboard
This one is a bit in contrast with the previous point. Even though it’s strongly advised that you do some activity over Christmas, like all things in life, moderation is the key.
Christmas marketing for the sake of it will get you nowhere. People get bombarded by Christmas marketing earlier and earlier every year to the point of exhaustion. It’s important to tailor content and messaging to your audience, in order to pique their interest amongst the rest of the noise.
Panic if there is a traffic downturn
For businesses that aren’t trying to sell consumer products through their website, or those that are offering a service, it is perfectly normal to see quite a drop off in website traffic through December. When you go and check your Google Analytics after returning to work after a nice break and see a downturn in visitors and engagement on your site, don’t panic! The closer we get to Christmas and the end of the year people are generaly more focused on other things, and their money is going elsewhere. So, it’s natural they are going to spend less time on websites like yours. You’ll almost certainly see it pick up naturally again in January.
Festive marketing offers a great opportunity to connect with your audience, showcase your brand’s human side, and end the year on a positive note. At Blue Bee, we specialise in helping businesses craft impactful marketing strategies all year round. Let Blue Bee be your trusted partner in navigating the ever-changing digital marketing landscape. Get in touch with the Blue Bee team to learn more.
