Vice President Mike Pence, head of the White House’s Corona Virus Taskforce insists elves have natural immunity to COVID-19. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the current director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infections Diseases encourages everyone, including magical elves to wear masks and maintain social distance.
Christmas still falls on December 25th this year. And neither pandemics, riots, wildfires, nor even murder hornets will change that. There’s no doubt 2020 will be one for the history books. And, hopefully, better days are ahead for this divided country.
But one thing is certain to come to red states and blue state alike; Christmas—AKA, the retail fourth quarter savior previously known as Jesus’ birthday. Or, since we prefer to keep this post politically correct, we will henceforth refer to it as the non-denominational holiday season.
Now, if you think 2020 hasn’t been disappointing enough, just wait until you fail to plan for the most important holiday shopping season in decades. We all need a win here. Change is coming and online marketing is gonna spur online buying like there’s no tomorrow.
So if you haven’t started planning for the holiday shopping season yet, here are 5 marketing necessities you should execute immediately.
1. Begin Now
The earlier the holiday season comes this year, the sooner consumers can start pushing the horrors of 2020 out of their minds. Shoppers are pent-up and ready to spend. Online sales have been increasing as brick and mortar sales continue to plummet. Common sense tells us this. But for those who require hard data to back it up numerous industry reports, check out Fast Company detailing the latest retail mall apocalypse victims after you finish reading these words of wisdom.
Online shopping trends will no doubt continue into the shopping season so the earlier you get your campaigns out, the sooner you can start optimizing and measuring consumer reactions. This will put you in a favorable position even as discretionary spending is expected to be down.
You can be sure every brand with a pulse of life and a few bucks in the bank will be marketing early. To that end, you can roll your eyes and say, “It’s Halloween, for Pete’s sake! Not Christmas!” Or you can plan for it now. (This is not the year to be cynical.)
In short; consumers have less money to spend, so get your advertising in front of them early, while they still have some money earmarked for gift giving.
The John Lewis Christmas TV commercials are always epic. Make your advertising epic too.
2. Begin at the Top of the Funnel.
Don’t focus so hard on selling your product. Think about getting attention. We’ve all heard a lot of the same sweet, piano music on commercials and videos lately, and you can expect a lot more brands insisting on playing it safe. But if you hope to stand out and get some attention, forget the same cliche’, saccharine, tinsel, lights, and tired Santa jokes. Boldness wins.
In London, John Lewis holiday ads are a national event. People wait for them like movie premieres. Last year’s, for example, was the story of a sad, fire breathing dragon. The 2018 ad campaign focused on Elton John’s Piano. The Takeaway: Do something that stands out from the crowd, not something that fits the holidays. If it feels supremely holiday, then everyone else is probably doing it too.
Even if you don’t have a large ad budget, you can create things that get people curious. Use design, graphics, any combination of words and pictures that make a point and get people to your website.
Emotional messages, like this billboard campaign for Roku increased sales by 30 percent.
3. Emotion Trumps Logic Every Time.
Rational arguments don’t make people love stuff. Think of the must-have gifts of years past. There’s nothing logical about a Furby, Razor Scooter, Guitar Hero or L.O.L. Surprise! 2-in-1 Glamper. These products struck a chord, made people feel something, created buzz and took off.
So, your mission is to find an essential truth about your product. What does it do for people? Pinpoint the emotional trigger that makes your product stick in people’s minds. Before you tell people that a Roku is the best way to watch streaming content on your TV, tell them it’ll help you “Spend less time talking to your in-laws this Christmas.” Messages like this were followed up with more rational features and benefits, after we got people curious about Roku. The approach increased holiday sales by 30% in every market that used it. You can do that without selling so hard. If you get consumers to your site or a review or a video landing page, you can get them to consider and engage. Then, and only then, you can use logic and the data-driven tools of digital marketing channels to follow up until the sale happens.
Having a social media presence isn’t an effective marketing approach unless you use it as a platform for introducing engaging content for your target audience.
4. Everyone’s using social media marketing.
Social media is not the answer. Great advertising on social media is the answer. A beautiful design on social media is the answer. Unforgettable videos on social media are the answers. Every brand and product in the world is on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok. Being on social media is now as innovative as choosing to make a commercial or to create a website. Being on the same platforms as everyone else doesn’t do anything if no one notices your message. Make sure you create something beautiful, funny, insightful, charming, magical, or any combination of the above.
Social media platforms are inexpensive and allow precise targeting. They are where small and midsize companies get that top of funnel awareness because of those things. Your media dollars will go a lot further and you can test messages easily. But when you test messages, don’t just change a word or a picture. Test ideas to better understand which messages really resonate with people.
If you just look at social platforms as places to sell your product, you’ll only go so far. If you look at social media as a place to make people fall in love with you, you’ll behave differently. You’ll create things that intrigue people, amuse people, entertain people, and attract people. Until, ultimately, they fall in love with you.
The era of ad agency talent behaving like Sterling Cooper is long gone. Just Google “Best Ad Agencies,” look at the work they’ve produced, and then email a few you like.
5. Get Help
You don’t have to know what you’re doing. Reach out to a few agencies you like. Don’t know agencies? Google “Top Ad agencies” or find lists of agencies and just look at their work and see what you like. Then email them. Have a chat. Set up a Zoom call. Tell them what you want to accomplish and what your ad spend is. Then just pick one and go. Make it a project that gets you a target market analysis, strategic media plan, consumer insight, and creative assets to cover awareness to consideration through retargeting. (Remember the funnel: You have to get Awareness before you get Consideration before you get Engagement and then finally Conversion. )
There you go. You just crushed the most important holiday shopping season of your career.
Any questions? Click here. Happy Holidays!
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The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top San Francisco ad agency and digital marketing firm that’s been named Small Agency of the Year twice by Ad Age. The award-winning creative shop services clients on a retainer or project basis. They also offer brand consulting services and hourly engagements for startups and smaller brands. Click here for a free consultation.