Creating a Holistic Holiday Marketing Plan with a Digital Marketing Agency

There’s nothing worse than being the last one at the holiday party and finding out all the good food and drink is gone. And all you’re left with is Uncle Steve’s questionable eggnog and Aunt Margaret’s stale cookies. No different is the feeling of arriving to the holiday season, frantically trying to put together ads and social posts, and completely missing out on the rush of online shoppers. You say “there’s always next year…” Except now it is next year! So let’s do it right, let’s start early, and let’s ask the experts on what to do and how to do it…

Good Planning Starts Early

Any good digital marketing agency plans ahead. The reality is, you start talking about holiday marketing in January when you’re planning your budget for the year. Once it’s established that you want to reserve a good portion for the holidays, your agency can begin work on spring and summer campaigns with the knowledge that they will run a nice big campaign in the late fall and winter. The actual creation of strategy and content begins probably around summer or early fall.

As your strategy evolves, it’s important you have a good Internet marketing agency that knows how to pivot. Your team is busy with day-to-day operations, but your agency’s sole purpose is your marketing, so they can adapt, create smart campaigns, and analyze in detail.

So, what can you and your Internet marketing agency work on leading up to the holidays?

Your Promo

First, think about what you want to promote during the holidays. Is it a discount? A special gift package? Double rewards for purchases? Buy one get one? Think about what makes sense for your business, then tell your digital marketing agency.

Your Campaign

It’s time to think about the tagline, the imagery, and the vibe. Think about what the theme is behind your big promo and your marketing agency will start creating content around this. September is a really good time to get all your content finalized and scheduled so should anything come up, your marketing team has sufficient lead time to make changes with no mistakes (because mistakes are made when there’s not enough time).

Agencies have a suite of online marketing services that can be applied to this season. Your campaign should include a website landing page where all marketing content can link back too (this may be a special holiday page or your shop page with some holiday design elements), an email campaign to send to your current list, social media marketing, and social media advertising and Google ads. Want to set up automated emails to guide customers through the funnel? Marketing automation should be set up prior to the holidays so your campaign can take advantage of this in time.

And don’t forget, your tracking and analytics must be set up long before you begin your holiday campaign. You’ll need your digital marketing agency to install tracking codes, let those tracking codes start gathering data, then use the data to retarget during the holidays.

Moral of this Holiday Tale…

Get an early start on your holiday campaign… please. It’s never too early to plan what should be the biggest sale season of the year. Making sure your website runs smoothly, has good ranking, is tracking purchases or leads – these are tasks that must be completed (and constantly revisited) months before the fall so your holiday campaign can lead customers to a perfect digital storefront.

Want to learn more about holiday marketing? Register for our webinar in partnership with the Yountville Chamber of Commerce: REGISTER

If you’re ready to dive into holiday marketing and begin creating your campaign, contact our team at WSI Next Gen Marketing.