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2022 Holiday Campaigns and Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

Picture of Janko Vukotic
Janko Vukotic

Copywriter / Content Marketer

Why holiday campaigns?

Creating holiday offers and campaigns for your customers is a good way to ensure that your money is well spent this time of year.

And the formula is simple:

Good Offer ==> Happy customers ==> Loyal customers ==> Better customer retention ==> More revenue ==> Happy business owner ==> Good Offer ==> Happy customers

It’s a never-ending cycle of fulfillment, more mingling, more gifts and discounts, more sales, better connections, and everyone’s happy! But how do you get the ball rolling?

While it sounds fun, with all the noise on the web, authentic holiday campaigns are getting harder and harder to launch.

If your holiday marketing campaigns are not authentic, they’re going to get you average results at best, and you’re not reading this so that you can be average.

That’s why we’ll give you some tips that’ll make sure that you nail your holiday campaigns across all digital marketing channels out there.

Make your communication a two-way street

By now you surely know that the essence of a compelling marketing strategy boils down to communication. But what’s the key to captivating communication?

Is it your tone of voice, the quality of your content, structure, or design?

While all of these are essential for communicating with your target audience, there’s one thing that’s even more important.

You’ve surely heard that the most important word in marketing/copywriting is “YOU.”

What does this mean?

It means that people love the sound of their own name. Personalization is one of the most important, and at the same time most ignored, keys in successful marketing campaigns.

It’s in our nature to be a bit self-centered so if you want your audience to pay attention and connect with you, make your communication about them.

Don’t make it about your product, holiday sales, or giveaways, but instead, talk about your prospects and customers.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re running email marketing, SMS or social media campaigns, the more personalized your communication is, the better.

This especially goes for local businesses and SMEs whose driving power resides in lifelong (returning) customers (CLV) and word of mouth.

So how can you personalize your communication? Address people using their first names or nicknames to start. Talk about their problems, wishes, hopes, fears, doubts, and the results that they want to get.

One ultimate trick to personalize your communication is to make it a two-way street. You can do that by asking questions and letting them do the talking.

Think of your email campaign as live communication. No one wants to hear you endlessly jabber, no matter how interesting you may be.

They want to take part in the communication, so give them a chance to do so. Let your customers’ voices be heard.

Ask them what their plans are for the holidays, are they going somewhere, what’s the best gift they ever gave someone for the holidays, what’s the perfect gift that they hope to get, etc.

Just remember to show genuine interest. You don’t want them to think that there are strings attached. Don’t think about marketing and sales. Just get to know their thoughts because they matter. Be genuine and friendly.

Be “disruptive”

For your marketing campaign to be impactful, you must first grab the attention of your prospective customers, and you can’t do that by being generic.

If you really want to click with your audience (and make them click as well), you’ll need to lure them into reading.

Avoid buzzwords and common phrases. Seek to stand out, not fit in!

It might take a little courage and creativity to say the same things in a different way, but your audience will love you if you succeed.

How many “Merry Christmas, we have a discount” emails and commercials did you see last year? And how many of them did you open? Exactly.

There’s nothing special about them, and they show that there’s nothing special about you. You’re just some random customer/client that will (not) use that discount.

But if you ask “What’s your fondest memory of Christmas (and why)?” that’s a bit different.

Also, think of all the different marketing channels that you can use. Social media, video commercials, pictures, reels, and user-generated content.

There are all sorts of tools at your disposal, be genuine and original.

Remember that all businesses out there are racing to increase sales and “cash in on the holiday shopping frenzy.” If you want to stand out, do the opposite.

Instead of looking to earn money, invest it and use the holiday atmosphere to launch memorable marketing campaigns.

Always remember that marketing drives sales. Not the other way around. So in order to be visible, be different.

Giveaways

We said that “you” is the most important word in marketing. Well, the second most important word in marketing is free. We don’t need to explain that one, right? People love free stuff.

However, not everything that’s free is equally valuable.

A well-thought-out gift is often much more valuable than an expensive gift that has no meaning to it.

If you think about it, the point of gift-giving is to communicate that someone matters to you and that you are devoted to them.

Attention and time are the most valuable currencies so, make sure that your clients see how much time you put in the little tokens of affection you’ll give out.

Your giveaway can be focused on your product or service, but you can also think outside of the scope of your offer. It doesn’t matter what you sell. What matters is what they want. It is a gift after all.

Don’t think about your holiday promotion as something that should put money in your pocket. Think of it as a chance to form long-lasting connections and share memorable moments with your customers.

By doing that you increase your CLV and your revenue in the long term which is crucial for local businesses.

So think about what your customers really need and give them small, simple but well-thought-out gifts that communicate your attention to detail.

Free cosmetic treatments, spas, haircuts, gym training, scarves, shawls, gloves, cookies… just DON’T make it salesy. Instead, focus on the holiday spirit and share the good vibes. The rest will follow.

Having said that, don’t forget to brand your gifts and be recognizable. You want to be genuine, but you also want to be impactful, so if you ever thought about rebranding, the holiday season is the time to do it.

Don’t forget to prompt your clients/customers to share your discounts with their friends and family. Holidays are a time we spend with our loved ones. Giving group discounts is a great way of bringing in fresh new leads and getting free referrals.

Leverage gamification and generate buzz on social media

Social media is one of the most effective ways to capture the attention of your audience. If they already follow you then they have shown interest and you need to capitalize on this especially during the holidays. Here are two unique ways to do this:

  1. Announce on your social media accounts that you would like to launch a charity drive. Ask for input from your followers about what cause they would like to help you support. This is a good way to give back to your community and people enjoy being charitable around the holidays and are likely to share this drive with their family and friends as well. This will in turn help spread the word about your business.
  2. Gamification is another great way to get traction and grow your business online. You can post quizzes or run tournaments and competitions all from your social media accounts. When you gamify things people get excited to share your social media posts as a way to enter to win prizes and this will help give your business exposure to those who might not know about it otherwise.

One way to amplify both of these actions is to reach out to influencers who can support you and help you generate buzz. If you are looking to increase brand presence, influencer marketing is a must these days.

Content marketing that appeals to all their senses

You’ve surely heard the saying that “content is king.” It means that content is the most important part of your marketing.

While your product or service helps people solve problems or improve their lives, your content educates and entertains them.

Content also helps you build authority in your industry. At the same time, it helps people derive value from your brand without ever buying anything from you.

That’s how brand presence is built.

All the big brands from Coca Cola to Oreo invest heavily in video commercials that are meant to trigger their audience’s emotions.

It’s often said that emotions are what drives buyer behavior. It appears we only use logic to justify our decisions after purchasing.

The most important part of those little video commercials that you see during the holiday season is storytelling.

Of course, the video format amplifies the power of storytelling by including animation, design, acting, and music.

In that way, a brand appeals to consumers’ senses and triggers an emotional response. That emotional response “gets people in a good mood” and they associate that mood with the brand.

Needless to say, it’s much easier to sell afterward.

It’s even better if you can organize an event and prompt people to take part in a story. Figure out a theme or a concept, and make your event look, sound, taste, and smell good.

Even if you don’t have the resources for on-site campaigns, that doesn’t mean that you can’t run offline campaigns. Not everything has to be virtual. You can send entertaining and emotionally charged letters to stand out from the crowd.

Add a giveaway (free donuts) and make it smell good as well.

Trigger the release of dopamine and you’ll lower the barrier of entry for your further sales

Hint: tell a story about your brand facing adversity, fighting one evil enemy, overcoming obstacles, and solving one important problem. Thank your recipient for supporting you in your cause and helping you make the world a better place.

Use various marketing channels

Nowadays the attention of the average consumer is so dispersed that the only way to reach them is to be omnipresent.

Whether it’s New Year’s, Christmas, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Easter, Chinese New Year, or the Holy Month of Ramadan, you want your voice to resonate across all platforms.

To get to your audience, make sure to use different marketing channels like Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest, TikTok, Youtube, Quora, Reddit, even Snapchat, and Discord.

Don’t forget Email and SMS campaigns because the more intimate your communication is, the better your results.

The holiday season is also a good time to send brochures, gifts, and letters through regular mail.

These tips will definitely help you stand out and get people to visit you on-site and convert to loyal customers.

Janko Vukotic

Copywriter / Content Marketer

Janko writes stuff that sells stuff. He's a direct response copywriter with a strong background in digital marketing, conversion rate optimization, and content marketing strategy. In his free time, he enjoys reading everything he gets his hands on. Has a knack for explaining complex stuff in a simple manner... and vice versa. Writes mean copy. Exists.

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Janko Vukotic

Copywriter / Content Marketer

Janko writes stuff that sells stuff. He's a direct response copywriter with a strong background in digital marketing, conversion rate optimization, and content marketing strategy. In his free time, he enjoys reading everything he gets his hands on. Has a knack for explaining complex stuff in a simple manner... and vice versa. Writes mean copy. Exists.

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