It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Holiday drinks at your local coffee shop, Santa’s grotto in the mall, and, of course, the return of holiday advertisements when you’re watching your favorite holiday movie at home. Ever wonder why those holiday ads really stick with you? It’s all down to the marketing skills that the people crafting those ads have; everything is carefully planned, from the style of music to the text on the screen. If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to your own holiday marketing campaign, we’ve put together a few useful tips for you to help get those jingle bells ringing.

1. Start planning early

It may feel blasphemous to start planning holiday marketing campaigns in October– that’s Halloween season, after all– but the earlier you start planning, the more content you can have ready when the season actually rolls around. Starting early is a good tactic for anything, holiday season or not, so make sure you start planning your holiday marketing campaign sooner rather than later. Look up past marketing campaigns from other companies and see what they did for their advertisements; if they did something you like, take inspiration from it for your campaign. Make sure your advertising campaign fits your audience and what they’re feeling during the holiday season; this time of year means a lot to people, so lean into that festive feeling as much as you can.

        2. Marketing through emails

There may be lots of physical holiday cards flying around, but one mailbox that people these days never fail to check is their email. Create an eye-catching email template that fits the season to reel your readers in with colorful, festive graphics and bold text advertising what you’re selling. Email is powerful! If you’re reaching out to returning customers, offer them freebies or coupons to thank them for their loyalty (and make sure their loyalty sticks with you, too). However, be sure not to send too many emails at once– you want success, not spam!

       3. Take a content-first approach

The holiday season is one full of ads, but sometimes, some of those ads just don’t hit right. Make sure you take a unique but practical approach when advertising your content to your customers. Why should they buy your product over your competition’s? Why should they get this product at all? Make sure you answer these questions in your advertisements, as they’re questions that customers will be asking themselves, too.

       4. Video, video, video

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: video-based content is making the world go ‘round. Get creative with your videos and create viewable content that customers will keep coming back to. There’s thousands of holiday songs out there– pick one for background music to set the festive tone! Theming your social media, advertisements, and videos around the holiday season shows consumers that you’re as excited about the festivities as they are; it’s a time for giving, after all. Make sure to add some #festive hashtags to your video posts to spread the word about the #holidays, too!

         5. Encourage discussion

 Ever wonder what the most popular form of advertisement is? Word of mouth! Promote discussion in your posts and emails, make your customers feel heard. Ask a question in the caption, like their favorite holiday food or movie; attach quick surveys to thank-you follow-up emails to allow customers to share their opinions on your services, and simply ask them to “share with your friends and family this holiday season”. Do you have any other marketing tips? Share them with us in the comments below! (See what we did there?)

Seriously though, if there’s any other important tips that you’d like to share with us, do so in the comments! We love the holiday season here at Beefy and what it means for marketing. There’s so many ways to promote your products in a festive way, and these are only five of our tips. Happy holidays!