5 marketing ideas to try this Christmas

Is it just me? Am I the only one that feels that people have been embracing Christmas so much earlier this year? Maybe its because we have finally emerged from lockdown never to return, or maybe its just that this year has sped by and Christmas has come sooner that expected. Whatever it is, Christmas spirit is definitely upon us and people are ready to spend!

With this in mind and with the help of a few inspiring articles mentioned below, I have put together a list of 5 ways you can make the most of this eagerness for all things Christmas and get your business back on track.

So, time to pull up your stockings, put on your Santa hat and make the most of this Christmas exuberance by getting some Christmas marketing ideas and campaigns up and running for your business. You can also read my Autumn Marketing ideas to help with seasonal inspiration.

According to Smart Company 79% of customers say that user-generated content plays an important part of their purchase decision.

User-generated content is basically a review of your business. When your business, your products or your services are voluntarily tagged or mentioned on social media.

So how do you create user generated content?

Here are a few ideas;

• Run a competition- get your social media followers to post a pic of themselves using one of your products or services and enter them into a draw to win a voucher, a free product or maybe even a Christmas Hamper.
• Leverage the power of hashtags – develop a catchy hashtag and promote it in-store. Get your customers to take pics of your products used in amusing or unconventional ways and post it to your page
• Offer rewards – Rewarding fans for their support is a great way to garner user-generated You could produce some branded merch especiallyfor the silly season and give them away free to the top contributers each day. I would suggest limiting the numbers you give away each day to ensure you don’t get inundated and run out too quickly.
• Ask questions – utilise you your graphic design skills and make an engaging post that asks a question you think people will want to answer. It could be a hot topic of the day, a Christmas related theme, or maybe just feedback on their favourite product or service. Just be prepared to for both positive and negative comments and ensure you have a response for them all.
• Use local influencers – if you have customers that have a strong social media presence, or have a high profile in your area, get them to give you some feedback on your business. If they are willing, and its positive, ask them if they could tag your business on their page. They don’t have to be world famous to have an impact on your business, they just need to be known and respected within your local area.

Don’t forget to respond to all the comments and user-generated content you receive to ensure your post engagement is maximised.

Everyone loves an advent calendar. In recent years they have become a very successful tool for many types of businesses to sell multiple products or introduce samples to their customers. You could talk to your suppliers to see if they have smaller sample sizes of the products you sell. Create one for your business or even get together with other businesses for a bit of cross promotion. Just make sure they are value for money. This will ensure a nice surprise and a positive outcome for your customers. After all, they are buying your products in bulk and therefore deserve a bit of a discount. You could even benefit from user-generated content by encouraging pics of the “unboxing” of each days surprise.

If an advent calendar presents too much of a challenge, there’s always a promotion where a different product or service is promoted or discounted each day. You could combine products for a Christmas pack, give discount codes for you loyalty members or team up with another business and put together products or services that compliment each other. lunch and a pedi, flowers and skincare with a floral fragrance, or pyjamas and chocolates are just a few ideas that spring to mind

Just like your physical store gets a Christmas makeover, so should your social media, marketing collateral and your website.

You could try

• amping up your logo with Christmas colours,
• changing your profile pic to a Christmas theme,
• adding some temporary Christmas colours to your brand kit ,
• pinning a Christmas themed post to the top of your
  page,
• turning your email signature into a Christmas theme, or

• spread the spirit of giving with meaningful and kind content.

Show your customers that you have embraced the season and are excited to spread the joy!

Holiday season content is a great conversation starter! Organic content on socials can help engage your followers and bring more eyes to your content and accounts. Running a Christmas themed ‘This or That’ on Instagram or Facebook stories can create a spirited but light-hearted debate between you and your followers. An example is the age old hot or cold debate for Christmas lunch. This topic has been debated for years in Australia with its hot Christmas weather and cold weather traditions.

Anything that causes debate at Christmas is fair game as long as its not too controversial. For example Christmas favourites – savoury or sweet, present giving – Christmas eve or Christmas day, main Christmas meal – lunch or dinner. Add a branded image to help it stand out and you could have a great little conversation starter.

You could even ask your followers a business themed question like what they wish for this Christmas? voucher or product, cash or present, experience or keepsake. It adds fun to your posts, can boost you engagement and may just help you ensure you are marketing the right products or services at the right time.

Gift inspo can be hard to come by sometimes. Grandma probably has enough sherry to last her a while and Christmas socks for dad might be a bit 2019! So how about you do the thinking for them and provide your customers with some inspo of your own. Have a look at your product offering, see what appeals to different types of people and post some Christmas giving ideas. If you have some willing family member you could use them to model the product or service

A few rules to remember when developing your Christmas marketing ideas;

• make sure that whatever you are doing maintains the personality and integrity of your brand.
• be consistent across platforms and channels
• remember with every promotion you do or competition you run, be sure to include basic terms and conditions to cover you legally, and abide by the guidelines for promotions and competitions for the platform you are on and the state or territory you are in.
• ensure you have the time to respond to comments that come with your promotions

You don’t need to be a graphic design guru to create unique and fun Christmas themed posts. There’s plenty of free graphic design software or apps you could use to bring the Christmas season to life on your digital channels. I use Canva for all my graphic design needs because I get to support a great Australian business AND have a lot of fun in the process!

So how about you replace your brand colours, zhoosh up your logo, brighten your website graphics with festive colours, and utilise some user-generated content to create excitement, engagement and Christmas cheer with your customers this festive season.