Our Christmas tree is lit up and decorated, our festive candles are burning, and Home Alone is on the telly...

The festive period is upon us!

Across the world, a lot of people celebrate some form of holiday from November to December – some of them buying presents for loved ones – these should be your customers.

So how do you effectively market your products over the festive holidays?

Grab a mug of mulled wine, don your ugliest Christmas jumper, and grab another Quality Street – we’ll tell you how.

1. Start prep early

In marketing, it’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas – it’s why people who work in the press and media host ‘Christmas in July’ events.

Even if you aren’t launching your Christmas marketing campaigns (let’s face it, July is pretty early for Christmas to your consumers), planning and preparing everything you need for Christmas is fundamental to a successful campaign.

Get your festive press releases and gift guides ready to go for Christmas in July, and reach out to relevant publications for potential features – the right feature could boost your holiday sales in a big way.

You can also save money by planning for Christmas in July, pinpointing exactly what you’ll need for your festive marketing, and, if you’re a brick-and-mortar shop, holiday decorations.

2. Play with your audience

Christmas is a time for games, so why not incorporate that into your festive marketing?

Gamification is something we’ve discussed before at NSC, because it’s a great way to engage your audience and encourage them to purchase – converting them from leads to customers.

With gamification, your audience feels like they’ve worked towards something, like they’ve earned it, and they’ve enjoyed the whole process: they’ll subconsciously love your brand.

Here are a few ways you can use gamification in your Christmas marketing:

• Incorporate a quiz on your website or on social media, with an incentive to purchase, like ‘Tell us what your favourite Christmas movie is for 5% off your first order’ (PS, ours is Home Alone). Plus, if you are able to use consumer feedback to create new products, like a Home Alone-themed candle, then they’ll feel even more involved and more likely to purchase from you.

• A lot of websites are also using a ‘wheel or fortune’ style of gamification, so when a new prospect lands on their website, they can spin the wheel for the chance to win a discount.

• Advent calendars are another great way to gamify your marketing whilst getting into that holiday spirit. Reward loyal customers who visit your website daily with special offers and discounts each day, and encourage them to share with their friends and family or place orders for later in the year.

• If you have a bigger budget for Christmas, consider hiring someone to code a more detailed interactive game on your website, like having Santa catch presents that are falling from the sky, or guiding Rudolph through the sky whilst avoiding rainclouds and birds. Then reward customers who get to certain points in those games with levels of discounts – the further you get, the higher your discount. Visitors wanting to bag that extra discount will stay on your page for longer, and keep returning, boosting your search engine rankings.

• Take your gamification to the real world with scavenger hunts, and encourage participants to share their progress on social media for shout-outs from your brand – win/win!

3. Festive branding

Show how much you love Christmas by switching up your branding to something more festive.

Work some snowflakes into your website (without looking like a tacky 00s MySpace page), pop a jaunty Santa hat on your social media profile picture, or add faux Christmas wrapping to your packaging.

It’ll make your audience see your brand as something for Christmas, and they’ll be more likely to consider buying from you for gifts for their loved ones.

A word of warning: don’t sacrifice your brand to Christmas entirely, because you still want your brand to stand out.

4. Use inclusive terms

Not everyone celebrates Christmas, and not everyone’s Christmas may necessarily be rooted in religion.

There’s more than one holiday over Christmas, and they don’t all mean the same.

Your customers may not celebrate the holidays in the same way as you or your brand, so it’s up to you to be mindful of that.

In most of the Western world, Christmas tends to dominate the festivities, but it’s worth being mindful to other cultures and religions as well – after all, you don’t want to alienate your audience, or make them feel unimportant.

You could choose to highlight other holidays around November and December, like Hannukah, the Winter Solstice, Diwali, Bodhi Day, Kwanzaa, and, I’m sure, many more.

However, never forget that these holidays do not exist for your marketing, or for you to adopt their aesthetic to market your product.

It can be an idea to use terms like ‘happy holidays’ or ‘festive’ when discussing general winter holiday vibes, to avoid distancing your audience – it’s why we titled this ‘25 Tips for Marketing Over the Holidays’ rather than specifically over Christmas, although we at NSC celebrate a non-religious version of the yuletide Christian holiday.

Be considerate, and have respect for other cultures – this goes for holidays throughout the year, not just Christmas.

5. Get behind the scenes

There’s no denying that the festive season is a busy time of year for businesses – more orders, more marketing, more decorations, and, possibly, more time off.

Don’t be afraid to show your staff (or yourself, if you’re a one-man-band) hard at work (or play) and share your work on social media.

Show your audience how your brand is embracing the yuletide festivities, whether you’re donning ugly Christmas jumpers, scoffing mince pies, or having a boogie to Wham!

We’ve got plenty more ideas on how to use behind-the-scenes content on social media in our guide, which you can find here.

6. Christmassy content

From November, the searches for ‘gift guides’ goes through the roof.

You need to create content to capture your audience’s attention and persuade them to buy from you.

If your business is selling furniture or smaller household products like candles, how about writing and article or shooting a video on tips for decorating your house over Christmas?

If you sell kitchenware, write up some festive recipes, or record yourself baking your own variation of holiday cakes.

Selling clothing and accessories? Why not put together some holiday party outfits, and parade them over social media?

7. Offer discounts

December is a time for generosity, so consider offering some form of discount to new and loyal customers.

Get in on popular offers like Black Friday and Cyber Monday with special offers, emails, social media posts and landing pages.

If you’re not offering a discount around the holidays, you’re missing out on customers – they’ll simply go elsewhere.

8. How do you wrap your products?

Consider what it’s like from a consumer perspective when they buy your product as a gift and have no idea how to wrap it for their loved ones.

If your product is particularly bulky or oddly-shaped, it can be a great idea to go the extra mile and create content demonstrating how to wrap your product so it’s sitting pretty under the tree.

It makes your customers’ experience with your brand that bit more meaningful, and shows them how much you mean to them.

Of course, if you can offer a gift-wrapping service, you can take away that pressure from them.

Putting that extra thought into your customers is what makes them loyal, repeat purchasers, so everything you do should have your customer in mind.

9. Highlight your year’s bestsellers

Take a look at your stock levels over the past year a few months ahead of the festive season, and make sure you have your bestsellers available with plenty of stock for the gift-giving period.

This is where Christmas planning can really work in your favour – you don’t want to miss out on potential customers because you didn’t plan to sell out.

If you can, cross-check your sales performances the previous year, and calculate for this year using your increase of social media followers and reach, number of leads, number of customers, and the size of your mailing lists.

Create content highlighting your bestsellers ahead of the season, encouraging people to get a head start on their shopping to snap up the best deals.

10. Festive SEO

Regardless of whether you have content relating to the holidays, optimising your website copy for the yuletide season is generally good practice.

Copy your existing website copy into a Word or Google Doc (you don’t want to lose it!), and write new, festive SEO copy.

Research key search words your customers will use over the holidays, and work them into your landing page and product page copy, to entice more people to your website.

If SEO seems like a different language, have a browse of our beginner’s guide to SEO to get the basics and boost your search engine rankings with a few easy-to-implement hints and tips.

11. Christmas categories

Your website should have a Christmas landing page, linking directly from your homepage in an easy-to-see place for new visitors to your site.

Make it as easy as possible for people visiting your site to navigate to find out everything your customers need to know about your brand’s offers, opening times, shipping and general approach to everything festive.

Not only is it great for SEO, PPC campaigns, emails and social media, but it also presents your products in a logical, festive way to your customers, and encourages them to purchase.

12. Last shipping day before Christmas

Another key thing to highlight everywhere you can is your last shipping date before Christmas.

Delivery over the festive season is never really a guarantee, especially with the rise of online shopping and deliveries during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, you can play it safe and advise your customers when to buy from you in order to have a higher chance of getting their delivery before Christmas.

Showcase your last shipping day before Christmas prominently on your website, as a badge or countdown widget to drive the urgency to your customers and encourage their trust in you.

13. Treat loyal customers

Your loyal customers are what keeps your small business alive.

So you need to treat them well, especially over Christmas.

Go the extra mile and offer your repeat customers exclusive discounts, and encourage them to buy more from you with incremental discounts, like 5% off when you spend £15, 10% off when you spend £20, etc.

It’s a win-win situation: your customers will feel valued, and you’ll be encouraging them to spend a little more with you over the holidays.

14. Invest in PPC and paid social media

If you have any period of time or holiday where you expect to sell more of your products, you should have PPC and social media ad campaigns set up for those keywords.

Even if your budget is relatively low, you can still get your brand in front of more people with the right bids on the right keywords.

Couple that with some stellar festive content, and you’re in for a very Merry Christmas.

Even if people visiting your site don’t purchase, their being on your website and reading your content will increase your search engine rankings for your keywords, so you’ll appear higher and to more potential customers.

Try to find the right balance between niche and popular keywords – realistically, you’re not likely to be appearing high for ‘Christmas gift guides’ if your budget is low, but if you specify your products or industry, you’re more likely to get some solid leads.

For social media, niching down your audience will help, too - retargeting can work absolute wonders.

If you’re pretty new to social media marketing, check out our in-depth guide, with 18 top tips on getting the most out of your social media for small businesses.

15. Give something back

This is something I will always preach to businesses – your corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Your brand’s approach to social issues can set you apart from your competitors, and can convert leads into customers.

The festive period and the winter months in general can be tough times for a lot of people, so if you can spare any time or funds over the yuletide season, give something back.

Advertising your donations across social media, on your website and in emails is a great idea, too, and your engagement with charity can be a source of some unique content.

16. Take part in Christmas markets

Christmas markets are looking quite different in 2020, with the coronavirus pandemic, but rest assured, they are still happening!

Across the UK, virtual Christmas markets are taking the internet by storm, with stallholders hosting videos demonstrating their wares and engaging with their audience.

When the world is ‘back to normal’, it’s worth researching local and national Christmas markets to participate in, because the footfall is alway impressive, and, with the right offering, you can really set yourself apart from the other stands.

Some hints and tips on hiring a Christmas market stall:

• Offer samples where you can, taking into consideration that the majority of people will try and not buy (I’m totally guilty of this, I’ve been known to wander around Bath Christmas market for samples for my lunch).

• Presentation matters, from your merchandising to your outfits and demeanour. Don’t be afraid to dress festively, from jingle bells to Santa hats, and always greet people with a smile.

• Know which products to upsell, with offers and gift bundles.

• Get involved with the Christmas market’s own advertising and marketing – don’t just leave it with them, engage with them, comment, share their social media posts and send emails to your loyal customers to let them know.

• Have your prices and offers clearly displayed for everyone to see.

• Get a card machine – a lot of people don’t have cash these days, or run out, so investing in a card machine can be the difference between a paying customer and someone who walks away.

• Keep merchandising your products – if someone buys a product that takes up valuable space on your stall, don’t leave it empty, fill it with other products.

• Highlight your product features, like whether they’re environmentally-friendly, locally-sourced, or handmade.

• Invest in branded packaging, so if someone buys mulled wine from your stand, other people can see where they got it from. Branded paper bags and boxes are a great idea, too, so your advertising goes further.

• Put your brand first in your decorations, before Christmas. You’re selling your brand, not Christmas itself (Christmas doesn’t need any more marketing!), so always keep your brand at the forefront over Christmas decorations.

• Consider a delivery programme, and place orders for customers on your website for them, to save them the hassle of carrying too much around the market.

• If you offer a lot of products, a brochure or catalogue can be a brilliant idea, to give customers more options.

• Collaborate with local shops, so you support and promote each other during the market – as long as they’re not competitors!

17. Make partnerships

Speaking of collaborations, Christmas is a time for togetherness, so make partnerships with brands with similar audiences to yours.

Why not offer a package bundle on both of your websites, and split the profit for those products purchased?

If you’re close to each other, consider packaging those orders together, gift-wrapped – going the extra mile for each customer.

Shout out about your collaboration across social media, your website and emails, and encourage the other brand to do the same, so you both increase your prospects – mutually succeeding, together.

18. Upselling and combos

People love a package deal – they feel like they’ve got good value for their money, and it’s made things much easier for them if they’re giving it as a gift.

Having pre-made bundles on your website is a great idea for persuading people to spend more with your brand, so putting together selections of related products that go well together is a great idea to boost your sales.

Creating a mix-and-match ‘build your own’ bundle is a brilliant idea, as well, like 3 for £20 deals or ‘buy two, get one free’, as long as your stock levels and profit margins can take that hit.

Adding smaller-priced items as add-ons at checkout is another great way of upselling products to your customers and increasing your sales over Christmas.

19. Gift cards

Some people are terrible at buying presents, but those people can still be your customers.

Gift cards are a staple for these clueless people over the yuletide season, so selling gift cards on your website is another great idea to boost your sales.

People like to unwrap things over the festive period, though, so an emailed voucher may not be the best way to present this to your customers.

Turn your gift card into a Christmas card format, and physically send it out to your customers (or the recipients) for a lovely present to unwrap on Christmas day.

20. Send your Christmas presents early

Not to your family and friends, but to press, bloggers and journalists, so they can promote your products ahead of the festive season.

Plan your influencer marketing campaigns well ahead of time, so you can get the most out of them.

Of course, you need to bear in mind that, when working with influencers, you should also pay them for their time, rather than simply sending them a product to review and promote (asking them to pay for postage will also land you on our naughty list).

Do your influencer research months in advance, draft some decent contracts, so everyone knows exactly what they have to do, and start your campaigns with them in November to plant those festive seeds.

21. Free shipping

There’s a strange psychological effect when it comes to shipping and postage and packaging.

We can spend £150 on products, but baulk at £5 on postage, and leave the site to find somewhere else with free shipping, even if it means paying a little more for the same sort of products.

We know that the products are probably more expensive due to absorbing the cost of the postage, but we feel as though we’re getting more value for our money.

It’s the power of the word ‘free’.

Try increasing your prices by a small percentage to absorb your postage costs and offer ‘free’ shipping – you might find that it helps convert visitors to your site and reduces your number of abandoned carts.

22. Create gift guides

Gift guides are a specific part of festive content.

You should create gift guides so your audience can clearly see who your products would be suitable for in their gift-giving circles.

Here are a few ideas of gift guides you can create to help your customers:

• Stocking fillers

• Secret Santas

• Gifts for Mum/Dad

• Gifts for brother/sister

• Gifts for teenagers

• Gifts for grandparents

• Gifts for children

• Gifts for toddlers

• GIfts for babies

• Gifts for new parents

• Gifts for your significant other

• Gifts for neighbours

• Gifts for the coffee/tea lover

• Gifts for the cat/dog lover

• Gifts for bookworms

• Gifts for Netflix fanatics

You get the gist.

Create gift guides for every specific type of person who should own that product, and develop those into both content pieces as well as landing pages on your website with your products listed.

23. Email your prospects and customers

Email is still a huge part of successful marketing, so if you don’t have a mailing list, you should start building one now – if you’re not sure where to start, check out our guide to email marketing.

Plan a series of festive emails, highlighting your bestsellers, last shipping dates, discounts, collaborations, and everything else mentioned in this list.

Think about pre-Christmas emails in October/November, encouraging your mailing list to buy early, then jump straight into full-on festive emails in December, and follow them up with post-Christmas sale emails to keep the orders rolling in.

Gifs, images and pun-filled subject lines are all par for the course over the yuletide season, so get these ready, written and designed ahead of time, so you can start capitalising on your Christmas email marketing as soon as possible.

24. Offer referral discounts

Even the Scroogiest of people feel a bit more generous over the festive period, and everyone loves a good discount.

To expand your mailing list, add an instant call-to-action for your recipients, encouraging them to forward the email to a friend for a certain amount off for both of them as an incentive, like ‘10% off for you and a friend when you forward this email’.

True, the amount of people who actually forward emails like this are quite slim, but even if it’s just 1% of your mailing list who do, that’s still an increase, and still worth testing in your Christmas email marketing campaigns.

You can also incorporate referral discounts on your website, so when people purchase from you, they’ll get a pop-up with a unique discount code for them to use in the future when a friend purchases from you.

Share the festive love!

25. The ghost of Christmas campaigns past

If you take away one thing from these 25 tips to boost your sales over Christmas (although I hope not!), let it be this: review the success of your previous years’ Christmas campaigns before you even start planning for this year.

The best way to do this is to review your festive campaigns in January, so their performance is still fresh in your mind.

That way, you can use what worked, and improve what didn’t perform as you expected it to, and start building your campaign straightaway.

Set yourself targets based on the previous year for each element of your festive marketing campaigns, and work towards those targets from the start.

The data from previous campaigns is absolute gold (and frankincense and myrrh), and you can’t get that information anywhere else, so don’t let it go to waste!

Those are our top tips for marketing over the festive holidays – give them a go, see what works for your brand, and watch the yuletide orders pour in!

Let us know which festive marketing tips you find work for your small business, and share your Christmas marketing tips with us in the comments – we’d love to hear what you think.

Happy holidays, and merry marketing!