The Holiday Rush – Advertising, Marketing, and Printing

We’re fast approaching on the most wonderful time of the year – while most are thinking of approaching winter, evenings around the yule log, and re-visiting holiday classics; it’s crunch time for retail businesses and their marketing departments. The winter holiday season gives us the ultimate triple threat – a special season to combine advertising, marketing, and commercial printing into one festive whole; and hopefully to wrap up the year with a successful fourth quarter and a happy holiday for all.

This year the National Retail Federation expects November and December sales to increase at an unusually high rate of 3.6% over last year – to a staggering 655.8 billion dollars! That’s billion – with a ‘b’ – and it’s vital that businesses have a holiday marketing and advertising plan in place to tap into their share of this yuletide glee.

The Holiday season is the perfect time to launch the year’s biggest, most focused campaign – aimed at reaching consumers as they research, share, and eventually purchase their Christmas and holiday gifts, whether they be digital or in-store customers.

Holiday Advertising

The holiday season can be the advertiser’s best friends or worst enemy, depending on how prepared and creative they are willing to be. The competition is fiercer and advertising rates can climb – but the reach and impact of good advertising is never higher.

When planning your holiday advertising blitz – start with the basics and create a sense of urgency. It’s an old trick that never plays better than when you’re reaching holiday early achievers and last-minute procrastinators. Building on the customer’s already existing sense of urgency as the holidays approach is a great way to encourage click throughs and ultimately purchases.

Who hasn’t felt the dread of seeing that there is only 15 shopping days left before Christmas? Capitalize on those fears with your advertising strategy – emails that push last minute gift ideas, ad headlines that show how many shopping days remain, and free or discounted rush shipping can be final push to convert a customer.

Even though the price of online advertising is higher during the season, it is still a good time. The cost of advertising can rise as much as 180% but click-through-rates are higher as well – 11% on mobile, and an amazing 104% on desktop! When it comes to holiday advertising it’s important to not only look at initial cost but to keep return on investment in mind as well.

Don’t miss out on the holiday cheer – get your business out there with new ads across social media, email, search engines, and physical media featuring copy that gets into the holiday spirit (and the holiday rush!)

Merry Marketing

Everyone enjoys a good story, especially during the holidays. Emotions are running high; nostalgia, excitement, and family memories are all a part of the season – so capitalize on that with your marketing efforts. The holidays are a time for stories and the best brands are out there telling the story of how they fit into the season. Show how your product unites families or brings people closer, tell about how your service is based on strong, historic values, and showcase any charity or community work that your company performs.

Telling a great story is only half the battle. It is a great way to get customers in the door, but when it comes to closing the holiday deal sales and promotions are king. Over 73% of consumers ended up choosing a specific holiday retailer because of sales and promotions. So, hook them with a great holiday story and convert them to customers with a seasonal deal. Free or discounted shipping also has a huge impact on consumers’ final choices so it’s a great to highlight any shipping deals – especially rush shipping for the holiday procrastinator.

In the holiday rush, don’t let your social media presence fall away. It’s the perfect time to extend your brand’s holiday story out to more consumers by getting into the spirit of the season. Fresh holiday themed logos and branding, seasonal messages, and deals should all be pushed across your entire social media platform.

The holidays are the perfect time to dive head first into a marketing campaign. Tap into the emotions, traditions, and stories of the season to create a warm and welcoming feeling to potential consumers. Get them in the door with your holiday cheer and close the sale with your holiday deals.

Seasonal Printing

If you’ve created a holiday marketing campaign, commercial printing is a great way to extend that campaign into a physical medium – whether through in-store displays or physical advertising and promotion products.

When it comes to in-store displays, it is important to get into the festive mood. You want customers excited and feeling the holiday cheer from the minute they enter. Setting up point of purchase, in-store displays, and window/wall decorations is a great way to generate that holiday buzz for customers – and holiday buzz results in holiday sales.

Your holiday commercial printing can also include physical advertising – like a direct mail campaign. Multiple studies have shown that combining direct mail advertising with online and email is the best way to get results. So, plan on including a holiday themed direct mail in your next advertising push.

A big part of the holidays is about getting and giving gifts, which makes checking the mail an exciting time. Get in on that excitement by being in your customers’ mailboxes this holiday season.

Happy Customers and Happy Businesses

During the holiday season customers are looking to buy, so the goal of your marketing, advertising, and print campaigns should be to make that easy – and giving them a merry holiday experience. Focus on that: creating an appealing and stress-free experience for consumers that builds on their emotions, traditions, and experiences of holidays past.

And at the end of the season, making happy customers will result in happy businesses. Fusion Group USA, as a full-service marketing, advertising, and printing company, is ready to help make the season merry for consumers and businesses alike. Contact us today to find out how we can help!

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