Seasonal marketing comes home for Christmas

Christmas is already upon us, even though the dates vary a little from country to country: in the USA it started in November, with Thanksgiving Day; in Venezuela it also started on November 1st; and in Central European countries like Germany and Belgium, December 6th is the official start date, with the arrival of Father Christmas. However, in China the big celebrations don’t start until the end of the month of January, when Chinese New Year starts; and the festival period closes with the Lantern Festival, in the middle of February.

This is shopping time par excellence in all sectors, but the clothing and footwear, food and toy sectors in particular see a rise in demand. At this time, marketing enters into action stronger than ever, using so-called seasonal marketing, which takes advantage of certain key dates, always with enough advance planning to enable the preparation of appropriate strategies.

Keys to triumph at Christmas

Christmas offers a unique opportunity to sell more, as well as to improve our business. What underlies a strong marketing strategy at this time?

• Christmas spirit: Christmas usually evokes warm feelings and brings to mind beautiful memories that are perfect for initiating emotive marketing actions that establish a special connection with the client. Instead of highlighting the specific qualities of a product, we aim to underline values associated with desires and emotions. Reaching the heart is always effective!
• The excitement of receiving gifts: although marketing strategies are focused on sales, this is the time to be generous. One good idea is to offer a gift or a raffle with an interesting prize. This is attractive because we all like to receive presents.
• Immersion in eChristmas: consumers are focusing more and more on eCommerce. What is more, the smartphone has acquired tremendous influence – increasingly we are looking for products and making our Christmas purchases with our phone. This means that we must remember to implement a good SMS marketing strategy, making sure that our web can be correctly viewed on mobile phones and that online shopping is as easy as possible. Remember that very good results are achieved through BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up in Store), a hybrid between online and offline shopping that allows us to reduce costs and satisfy clients with personal contact in store.
• The power of social media: seasonal marketing finds an edge in these channels when promoting products and sending messages that will have much more impact on the consumer. Both the design and the content of messages on social media can be dressed for Christmas and messages are rapidly and efficiently spread.
• Research into results for improvement: all prediction, analysis and measurement tools should be used. For example, Google Trends will tell us what consumers are searching for and what they need at each moment. And when finalizing the Christmas campaign, analysing our results allows us to discover our strong points and what errors must be resolved. Don’t forget to take advantage of A/B testing.