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How to Plan Ahead for the Holiday Marketing Season

As summer draws to an end and Back to School season hits high gear, now is the best time to prepare for the upcoming holiday season! At DigiShopGirl Media, we have developed a holiday toolkit to make this planning easier. You can download our toolkit and read our tips and tricks for making the most of the holiday season.

There are a few characteristics which have come to define the holiday marketing season:

It’s increasingly spread out because of online shopping and online advertising
There is a flurry of last-minute sales and campaigns
Mobile is becoming much more important

In this landscape, multi-channel online marketing continues to become more essential to effectively reach your customers. Follow these easy steps to ensure your email marketing, social channels and website are all optimized for the holidays:

Have a mobile-friendly email design optimized for easy reading
Make sure to include large call-to-action buttons in your emails
Make necessary mobile improvements to your website so it is ready for on-the-go browsing
In addition to your holiday email campaigns, have email templates ready for:
Any last minute promotions or sends
Any customer service issues which come up
A “we are sorry” email for shipping delays or any other issues
Before the holiday season begins, make sure to clean your email lists. Also develop a plan for how you would handle getting your mail server blacklisted

Once your various channels are ready to go, plan the campaigns you want to run through the New Year. Below are the major holiday periods along with recommendations for standing out from your competitors. You can use our holiday planning toolkit to keep track of your campaigns across months and channels.

Pre-Thanksgiving

Make sure to capitalize on pre-Black Friday sales

Thanksgiving-Christmas

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest days during this time frame
You can always start Black Friday earlier in the online space
Capitalize on Amex Small Business Saturday (Saturday after Thanksgiving) if you are a small business
Mobile is especially important during this time. Make sure your email is responsive and that you have a strong landing page experience

Christmas-New Years

Tailor the message of campaigns to “gifts you didn’t receive” along with redeeming gift cards

After New Years

Focus on New Year’s resolutions, staying active and healthy.

There you have our recommendations for developing a successful online retail presence throughout the holiday season. Have fun with your marketing over the next four months and as always, contact us if you have any questions about your digital marketing strategy.

This article was originally published by DigiShopGirl

Published: September 15, 2014
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Katya Constantine

Katya Constantine is a seasoned marketer with over 10 years of online marketing experience. She has developed a well-credentialed background in marketing for large online brands, having significantly increased online performance at several large web properties. Katya also has a deep background in email and multi-channel marketing. Most recently, she was at Expedia and Amazon, leading projects ranging from behavior-based programs to increasing customer acquisition and conversion with great success. Katya is the founder of DigiShopGirl Media. Currently, she advises several ventures with their online marketing. She also contributes to several blogs and publications and readers worldwide regularly read her blog, DigiShopGirl Media Blog. Follow Katya on Twitter: @digishopgirl