Back from school. Time to start planning your Christmas marketing
Now that the kids are back in school and life is starting to get back to normal, it’s time to start thinking about direct marketing for the holidays. Too early? It certainly feels that way, but November and December will arrive before you know it. You don’t want to miss out on the most profitable time of the year because you started planning your direct marketing campaigns too late. Whether you have a physical store or an online business, the holiday season is the perfect time to plan a direct marketing campaign and a great opportunity to generate sales.
Clients begin their holiday preparations earlier each year. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have only fueled that trend. They have become so mainstream that what started as 2 days of savings has turned into a 4-day Cyber Weekend, which in turn, has turned into an entire Cyber Week. It starts a few days before Black Friday and ends a few days after Cyber Monday.
Although shoppers are now saving an entire week, Black Friday is still king of the castle when it comes to pre-holiday shopping. Whether you’re planning an email blast or direct mail campaign, make sure your Black Friday campaigns contain the biggest and best promotions you can offer this holiday season.
Don’t stop at Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They are just the precursor to the main round. After the Cyber Week dust settles, you can really focus your direct marketing efforts on Christmas.
Many companies stop their marketing efforts so they can focus on the holidays and decide to get things back on track in the New Year. If you start planning now, you can keep the marketing machine up and running. Christmas is the perfect time to reach current customers and new prospects with a Christmas-themed email.
A simple card is the perfect way to show your appreciation to your customers, as well as your suppliers. Everyone enjoys receiving a traditional holiday card and your little token of appreciation will be refunded by showing that card for all to see.
It is also the perfect time to introduce yourself to potential clients. Make a powerful and personal impact this year with a simple seasonal greeting and business card.
Many printing companies offer holiday cards with small printed company logos. These are perfect and quite profitable. You get the joy of the card, so it will be displayed, and your logo, to be remembered.
Don’t make the holiday card a complete advertisement for your business or services. Then it becomes nothing more than a promotional piece and will go unnoticed among the rest of the holiday mail. If you have marketing material that you want to present, keep it inside the card. You can include an advertising brochure for your business or even include a New Year’s promotion. You can go a step further and include a small gift, such as a branded pen or something similar. You will be surprised how far a small gift can go!
After Christmas, start the New Year off with a bang.
The New Year is the perfect time to start thinking about trying out new mailing lists. Changing or simply updating your target market will bring your stagnant direct marketing campaign to life. Try to use the intelligence of your current customer list to create a description of your best customers that you can use to help identify your ideal potential customers. Not only will this process provide you with a highly targeted pool of prospects, it will also help you gain valuable insight into the demographic makeup of your current clientele, which is always helpful to know.
Whether it’s an email campaign or a direct mail campaign you plan to send, remember, colossal amounts of emails and mail are sent during the holiday season. You don’t want to risk your email or mail piece getting lost in chaos. The sooner you remove it, the more likely it is to open. If possible, try a combination of direct mail and email. Repetition is so important in direct marketing. The more you can present your offer to your prospects, the more successful your direct marketing campaign will be.
The holiday season is the perfect opportunity to give your annual sales one last boost before the end of the year. Although the holidays are still a long way off, having a solid direct marketing plan will help you benefit from the entire holiday season.