Marketing Strategies for Christmas

The Christmas season, the most waited time of the year not only for consumers, but also for companies. Since November, companies start to focus all their efforts on marketing strategies for this season. All the streets, shopping malls and stores are filled with ornaments, decorated spheres, large trees, and the red and green are the protagonists colors. 

In most industries, December is the month with the highest sales, since it is a time of giving and sharing with family and friends, and of course it is also a time of gifts and celebrations, that´s why the motivators of purchase and the resources allocated to it increase in a considerable way. 

Marketing for this season is a great opportunity to take advantage of the emotionality generated by the holiday season among consumers and the flow of money to generate sales, as well as to gain new customers or strengthen the relationship with the current ones. 

These are some issues that should be considered for your Marketing strategy. 

Environment 

Don´t forget that Christmas is a time when peace, love and the union of the family are the main feelings. It is important to create an environment that motivates and spreads your consumers of these feelings, adapting the image and decoration of your brand with special themes that make them feel the warmth of this season. Take care of every detail that has to do with the environment: 

• The physical decoration of your establishment. Remember that the visual is the most important thing for the attraction of new customers. 
• Music. Christmas carols are key at the end of the year, these songs begin on the streets even before the start of the month, music affects the mood which makes it a powerful tool as part of your strategy. 
• The uniform of your employees. It is not necessary for your employees to dress in any specific way but make sure they´re involved with the Christmas concept you want to project with your brand, a tip for this is to wear clothes with typical Christmas colors or symbolic decorations. 
• Your store should smell Christmas! The smell is another aspect that you can not miss. The smell can help to bring back memories and convey feelings, for which we recommend aromas such as hay or pine during these dates. Mixing the visual environment with olfactory can be of great impact. 

Social Media  

Not only physical space must change this time. Make sure your site emanates the Christmas spirit as well, the visual identity is the main contact that customers have with your brand. Adapt your pages and your social networks with details allusive to Christmas. For this you can create special Christmas icons, adapt your logo, add effects, etc. 

In addition to the visual identity, adapt your content. Look for Christmas trends this year and create content about it, share special promotions of these dates, etc. This will improve the experience and interest of your consumers during this time. 

Promotions 

December is the month where most offers exist in almost all sectors. In order to penetrate the market and compete at such offer, you need to think about some promotions that help you to attract your customers and encourage purchase. 

Some of these promotions can be discounts. As you know, this month is one of the highest in sales, people are willing to spend more money, but what better if they also have the possibility to save? The discounts are always going to be an attractive tool that will help you to generate more sales. You can apply them for a short period of time to encourage the purchase quickly and safely. 

Another option is the famous 2X1, which, although it will reduce your utility per product, it will also attract more customers, which in the end will generate a higher profit margin. 

Do not forget that interaction with your customers is important, an idea for this is to create contests through social networks where they can earn special prices, exclusive Christmas prizes, etc. 

There are many ways of promotions that in addition to generate profits, will help you to attract new customers and strengthen the link with the current ones. 

E-mail Campaigns  

Contrary to what you might think, e-mailing campaigns can be as effective as they were in the beginning if you know how to perform intelligently, do not forget that the messages must be short, clear and very creative! 

As an initial idea, you can create weekly campaigns throughout the month to announce Christmas promotions and offers. 

Another way to take advantage of this tool is to send ideas and gift tips for friends and family, promoting your own products or services. 

On the other hand, this time of year is a special occasion to thank the preference of your customers for the rest of the year, as well as wish happy holidays to them and also to your suppliers and collaborators. Customers like to feel special and important to the brand, that is a fundamental point for their loyalty 

Don´t leave competition behind 

Keep always monitored all those external factors to your company, one of them is the competition. In what way is it positioned? What kind of promotions do they offer? What kind of content do they generate in social networks? How do they interconnect with their clients? From this type of questions you can start to formulate the most important one. What is my competitive advantage over my competition? What can my brand offer that they don´t? 

The focus of your campaigns  

Nowadays emotions play a very important role in consumer buying decisions. Many times our actions, among them the purchase, are driven by the way we feel at the given moment. This time is full of feelings, love and peace are present in every home, which makes it perfect to captivate and reach your consumers through emotions. 

A campaign that appeals to feelings such as love, peace and family unity can be a fundamental part of your Marketing strategy to connect with your customers these dates.