If you haven't already planned out your marketing strategy through the holiday season, then it might already be too late to get the most ROI out of your investment. Unique opportunities have been created for local businesses this year, with consumers worried about global shipping delays and supply chain hurdles.
Unique Holiday Marketing Opportunities
With Black Friday fast approaching, it's time to get creative with ways to sell your products or services to a hyper-local audience. Create real reasons to buy early and locally, while avoiding false urgency our out-of-place marketing messaging. Understanding your customer is always critical. And, this may seem obvious, but it's more important than ever around the holidays. Consumers are constantly flooded with brand content, x10 during the holiday shopping season.
Capturing the attention of your audience within the first few seconds of an ad (online, Spotify, Instagram, or other platforms) should be a top priority. We've all become used to just scrolling by or tuning out ads unless it's something that truly speaks to us and catches our attention.
While holiday marketing can be easily overdone, successful campaigns are ones that are creative, add value and spark interest or joy. Less is more when it's done right. Here are a few tips to consider as we embrace for a busy holiday season.
Maintain Authenticity. Now isn't the time to experiment with a new brand persona. Keep your brand aesthetic in mind and always come from a place of authenticity in your marketing.
Personalized Experience. All content should feel like a personalized experience. Discover something unique about your target demographic instead of going with mass holiday marketing messaging. This is especially important in small business marketing or when your target audience is your surrounding community.
Give Back STL. The holidays bring increased generosity. Collaborate with a cause that resonates with with your brand and customer base as a way to engage with socially conscious consumers. Luckily St. Louis has an amazing number of non-profits and organizations that do good. Operation Food Search, Yoga Buzz, Forest ReLeaf, Girls on the Run, COCA, and ARCHS all come to mind.
As a marketing consultant specialized in small business marketing, we encourage everyone to shop small no matter where you live. Here is a list of great small businesses in St. Louis that bring all of the holiday magic to shopping locally.