For many of the businesses we support here at Newable, marketing and more specifically digital marketing is a key challenge. Finding the right content can be a struggle at the best of times.

To make life that little bit easier and spread some Christmas cheer, we thought it only right to share a few tried and tested ideas for promoting your products and services throughout the festive seasons.

Furnish your branding with a festive feel

The best way to describe this without overcomplicating things is by using Google as an example. Google create fun topical and cultural graphics to add to its logo, without compromising their original brand identity. Tasteful, fun and aesthetically pleasing graphics that give users a meaningful distraction letting them know their service provider, in this instance Google, can identify with them and various social / cultural events taking place.

It is also a great opportunity to demonstrate that your website and social media pages are updated regularly and looks pretty cool at that!

Add seasonal sassiness to your social

Social media is now a huge must when it comes to customer engagement, with the golden rule being: 80% of content that is customer centric, adding value to the digital experience and 20% sales and promotion.

Adding an element of yuletide greetings such as “Ho Ho Ho” or “Santa’s little helpers” for example, to posts, status updates and stories lets customers know you are joining in the festivities and have something in common with their own interests. Creating common ground and an element of festive fun to your social media pages. If you can create sharable content even better, as this helps gravitate customers and followers towards your pages when looking for cheerful messages to add to their own.

Ho, ho, host a holiday competition

Can you see what I did there? What better way to interact with customers than through a festive competition. Research shows that competitions are a great vehicle for customer engagement, with some businesses yielding significant results that have in turn boosted sales and enhanced online visibility.

It could be something as simple as clicking like or reposting your last status, asking customers to create a festive poem or rhyme or by hiding a golden ticket, a bit like the 2018 TK Maxx Christmas advertisement.

To be fair there is a lot of room for creativity with this one, so when creating a Christmas competition, the world is your oyster!

Get crafty with Christmas gift cards

 What do you buy for that friend or relative who seems to have everything? Choosing gifts is a skill, not everyone knows how to select the perfect Christmas present, for the less imaginative Christmas shopper, this is where gift cards come in handy.

Certain types of gift cards such as; experience days, electrical products, clothing or fragrances have grown extremely popular and are commonplace throughout the year.

Gift cards can also be created for more practical things like; a trip to the hair salon, a free manicure, eyelash extensions, and lunch / meal vouchers, or even a car service / valet, which loved ones’, are able to use at a time of their choice, offering greater flexibility. It is also a good way of reinforcing your brand through the introduction of another revenue stream where payments are made in advance!

Say Thank You

We all like to feel appreciated and Christmas is a great time to give something back letting customers know how much you value their loyalty and custom.

Something as simple as an end of year email informing customers that their loyalty has not gone un-noticed, gift vouchers, calendars and other freebies are also great way of rewarding loyalty and incentive to keep coming back.

Depending on the size and nature of your business Christmas parties, wine tasting, networking and other events are also great ways to stimulate customer engagement at this time of year.

These are just a few ways to create seasonal messages that appeal to real human beings in the real world. So what are you waiting for? Get creative and add some festive fun to your end of year marketing….