Plan your marketing campaign ahead of time to maximise sales

25 Oct 2018

Many marketers today consider timeliness and relevance to be the hallmark of good marketing – just think about Scoot’s and IKEA’s ads that played off the news that a man stole a metal bench from a bus stop.

However, as much as such ads put your company’s agility and adaptability on display, marketing – and indeed business – strategy should still be founded on robust planning. Due to competing needs in the face of limited time, many businesses have found themselves playing catch up and simply following what other brands are doing instead of crafting a proper roadmap for themselves. This is a sure-fire way to ensure that your brand will never stand out as an industry leader.

How then, can you get a head start for your business? As we are nearing the end of 2018, we explore some ways for you to capitalise on the opportunities during the festive season for your marketing campaigns.

Use data-driven insights

With the sheer amount of data being generated and made available today, there is simply no excuse not to make use of it.

First, start with the data that you have access to. For example, you can review your own numbers like sales or webpage visits to find out what items/promotions are popular. You can then anchor your festive promotions based on the results.

For further insights, why not check directly with your customers what they would like? Ask for feedback on your social media pages to find out what they would like to purchase or receive.

You may also want to look externally at the market. Assess the prevailing trends – what’s working well for your competitors? Are there emerging technologies that can create value for your business?

No one can predict what new trends the holidays may bring every year. But data, if used correctly, is an essential resource for you to minimise uncertainty and maximise performance, not just during the festive season, but for your overall business as well.

Develop a campaign strategy

For marketers, Christmas typically starts around October. (isn’t that why you’re reading these tips now?) If you wait until December to come around before you start developing your promotional tactics, chances are you’re going to have to just wing it – not an ideal scenario. Build a clear framework in advance to guide your campaign so that you don’t panic when the holiday rush hits.

Center your communications around the holiday theme – include clever puns and references in your brand messages and add little touches such as a little Santa’s hat to your brand’s social media profile icon. You can also design e-cards to send your well wishes out to your customers.

Holiday-themed offers are going to be an effective tool for driving sales. For example, Thanksgiving and Christmas are conventionally times when people gather their families together to share their appreciation of one another. This is a good opportunity to put together family-sized promotional packages. You can also build goodwill by offering to gift-wrap your customers’ purchases for free.

Be creative

One way to be sure that your brand doesn’t fall behind and become a follower is to get creative.

In a time when most brands will be donning themselves in red, white and green, challenge convention and go black-and-white for to reminisce about past Christmases!

While many brands will be targeting families, how about catering to those who cannot be with their families and ensuring that they don’t feel neglected? For instance, you can organise an event to bring these “lonely souls” together so that they can make new friends and enjoy the company of others. Doing so can not only provide a platform for your customers to experience your brand, it also helps them associate positive feelings to it and know that you care about your customers and the community.

While these are just examples and there are many ways you can show your novelty, the key point to remember is that there should always be a deliberate purpose behind what you plan to switch up, and that should be what you develop your creative concepts around.

Start early, literally

Gain first mover advantage by jumping ahead of the crowd and starting your campaign in October – not to start planning your campaign, but actually start running it.

This is one way to guarantee that your audience will see your brand with a fresh perspective before they start tiring from all the festive ads that will definitely start flooding in come November.

 

The days when Christmas began with that first window of the advent calendar are long past. But much of the reason for this is that people love the season, and many of us are keen to get our plans in order well before December rolls around. After all, those perfect presents are not going to find themselves.”

–Ian Edwards, planning director at Facebooki

By the time the holiday season is in full swing, customers would have more than enough time to learn about your brand’s products and are ready to pull the trigger on gift purchases. In fact, Facebook’s planning director Ian Edwards says that November is too late as 40% of mobile shoppers on Facebook would have completed by Christmas shopping by the start of the monthii.

It’s also worth mentioning that the price for media buys drops by 16.6% when you book your campaigns earlyiii. So go front-heavy and load your marketing budget towards the start of the campaign to welcome the holidays for your customers as a sign of your market leadership.

After these tips, your brand is primed to rise above the clutter during the holiday season. Besides, with a clear strategy in place, it leaves you the time and resources to react comfortably to new developments instead of fumbling to cope with the competition.

 

Follow StarHub Business on Linkedin for the latest business updates.


i https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2017/11/comment-marketers-put-mobile-first-christmas/

iihttps://www.marketingweek.com/2016/10/17/facebook-on-why-marketers-must-plan-for-christmas-earlier/

iii https://www.facebook.com/business/news/christmas-planning-interview

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