The holidays are a great time to tailor your marketing efforts towards a specific theme or audience. Some marketing tactics date themselves, but we have 6 classic holiday marketing tips that have remained effective and productive every year. The amount of money that is spent in advertising between Thanksgiving and Christmas rises every year. Whether you own a large corporation or a small business, the holidays are universally a great time for business and profit. And the good news is that profit making time is right around the corner, so make sure your company is ready to market well this holiday season. Assuming you’ve already done your research by studying your audience and what they want for this holiday season, you’re ready to take on our 6 classic holiday marketing tips for 2013.
Be Price Sensitive
Even though everyone is prepared to spend money on gifts during the holiday season, customers are becoming more and more price sensitive. This could be because people feel like they have less to spend this year, or because of the growth of coupon and daily deal sites. 
Social media also plays a part. Your holiday marketing materials should include price-specific messaging so that your clients know exactly what you are offering them. Consider offering free shipping during the holiday months or holiday specific deals. Consumers are becoming less and less willing to purchase unless there is some sort of discount involved.
Send Personalized Cards
This is the perfect time to send creative and unique or humorous holiday cards or e-cards. This is one of the easiest and most fun holiday marketing tips. Try sending your entire mailing list Thanksgiving or New Years Eve company cards since most other businesses only send Christmas cards. This allows you to shine on a day when other companies won’t. Have fun with your holiday cards. Your company can stand out during the holiday season even when there is a lot of competition.
Be Specific
Every year, certain devices or social media platforms are more popular than others. Whether it’s a tablet, a mobile phone, or a social media site, tailor your holiday marketing specifically for each one. New apps are created every day for all devices. You can target the iPad or Pinterest or whatever is most popular at the time and have great results with that sort of marketing strategy. Tablet users are now doing a lot of their shopping on their devices, so companies are developing very specific ads and deals for that particular device. Research shows that many buyers use their cell phone for research, but their tablet for the actual gift purchase. So logic states that you should focus your branding team on mobile phones users and your direct response campaign on tablet users.
Utilize Contests
Use Facebook or Twitter to run a contest. This can maintain your social media presence during the holidays and gain you some new clients all at the same time. Make sure whatever contest you run has an incentive attached to it so that people will tell their friends about it. After viewing your goals and your audience, decide what contest would work best. You could run an essay contest, a photo or video contest, or even a sweepstakes.
Make Charitable Donations
Instead of sending gift baskets, make a charitable donation to your cause of choice. Your company can go as a team and volunteer time at a local shelter or hospital. You can donate money to a charity or give items to a thrift store. Let your clients know about it. Send them a card with pictures of your team serving and tell them what you did this year instead of sending out gifts. Charitable donations are much more meaningful than a basket of fruit and the act of generosity can become a marketing tool in and of itself. People love to shop from a company that is socially conscious and tries to help those in need.
Create a Catchy Headline
Our last classic holiday marketing tip is to create a catchy headline that is seasonally themed. What does your company offer your clients during the holidays? Add it to your emails, logo, outgoing mail, bills, and social media campaigns. This one might take some creative energy to generate. Have an all-staff brainstorming session one day, have everyone contribute an idea or two and vote on all of the suggested headlines.
With these classic holiday marketing tips for 2013, your company is ready to gain new clients and retain old customers. Put your marketing budget and your creative team into gear for this holiday season and get ready to see results. With the holidays being a busy season for everyone, just a little time and thought will set your company above the rest of your competition.
If you want to find out about what NOT to do for your holiday marketing, check out our helpful blog on marketing mistakes to avoid!
