5 Holiday Marketing Trends to Boost Your Campaign
As a marketer, seasonal trends are one of those things that I love to be aware of and see what’s out there and what brands are doing. For me it makes it fun to see what trends keep going, what ones die off, and what new ones emerge.
On today’s show (tap that play button above) I’m going to name a few of the trends that have caught my attention this season – some you’ve probably seen and heard of, and maybe some you haven’t – but all to help YOU and your brand out this holiday season.
#1. Be early, be first trend
If you haven’t been living under a rock you know about the PSL – Pumpkin Spice Latte – and Starbucks. It seems like every single year they release it earlier and earlier.
As I write the outline for this podcast at the end of August, it’s already been out for a few days!!
Take it from Starby’s: Be early and be first. I think every other coffee shop follows suite shortly after, but they’re an afterthought.
What people think of first is Starbs and the PSL.
What I personally really love is Summer Moon coffee, and others that don’t subscribe to the PSL craze – don’t get me wrong, I love a good PSL, but I really like those that don’t try to “tag along” and do the same thing just because it’s popular.
They do their own thing.
Summer Moon has their own fall drinks- I like the Autumn Moon. It’s a cinnomony seasonal drink that’s so good, and I look forward to when they release it. They’re the only ones I know of that serve that particular drink.
So to be early and be first for the season doesn’t mean you have to follow others and do things that already exist. You could do your own thing, whether that’s something consumable or maybe it’s tangible products or online services, AND you can release it in the same early fashion.
So ask yourself: What makes sense for your brand to create completely new, or spin off of something else- in your own unique way- and then be first and early to market with?
#2. Seasonal Flavor Trend
If there’s anything you can do to make your brand part of the seasonal flavors bandwagon, jump on!
Even if what you offer is nowhere near the food category!
If you offer candles or scents, planners or paper, fabric, glassware, clothing, paint, jewelry… you could try to draw the line between flavors of the season and your products, such as your pumpkin spice scented candle (that’s an easy one) or your new jewelry that is perfect for peppermint mocha season.
You could even show off your planner covers in a social media post next to fall flavors like drinks and treats that match your cover colors or patterns.
These ideas might sound like a stretch, but the purpose is to get you thinking about how you could jump on the flavor train even if you don’t have anything to do with taste or flavors! It doesn’t mean you have to come out with new products to match, it just means you can take what you have and spin it to go with this trend of the season.
Remember, you’re not trying to make it harder to come up with a holiday marketing campaign, you’re trying to find creative ways to do it that makes sense for your business, what you offer, and your goals.
#3. Client or Customer Gifts Trend
The holidays are prime time to be bombarded with sales and ads and emails and direct mail and even client or customer gifts. Whether you hand-write and mail a note and a gift to each of your special clients, or you add something extra special and free to their cart at checkout- Christmas is really the time that you think of giving gifts, right?
So does everyone else!
Consider being different and standing out by giving your gifts as a Happy Fall gift instead.
Or maybe Halloween or Thanksgiving, or even after the new year.
Maybe you could give your gift as a “happy pumpkin spice season” gift, or pick a fun day like National Dessert Day to celebrate.
If someone gave me a gift for Ninja Day, I would probably remember it over all of the other “Merry Christmas” client gifts – just because it is unique and different.
That said, it doesn’t necessarily matter what day or theme you choose, as long as it makes sense for your business and will be memorable and fun for your customers.
#4. The “Bundle” Trend
You might see a lot of bundles this holiday season, because it’s a great way to sell more of your products or services at once, for a discount or percentage off, so that your customers get a little bit of a discount AND you’re able to get higher ticket sales.
For physical products, think of things that are your best sellers, and things you might want to get rid of.
Pairing the two together may help your customers finally decide to go ahead and buy whatever the bundle is, because it is a little cheaper together and they may have been eyeing one or both to try out.
For services or online products like digital templates and courses, consider pairing a course with a template that you offer as an incentive.
I’m sure you see bundle offers many times throughout the year, I know I do, but with the holidays especially, people are LOOKING for that deal so they can save on things they’ve had their eye on.
What can you bundle to make it exciting? Consider giving this one a try. You know this trend works, otherwise you wouldn’t see people using it over and over again!
#5. Holiday Keyword Spinoff Trend
This one is probably my favorite because you get to be creative and think outside of the box for your brand and how the holidays fit your goals.
With the keyword trend, you’d do some research to find the best keywords that fit what you’re celebrating and what you’re selling this season.
So in order to do this well, like we talked about in the last episode, you need to make your holiday marketing plan FIRST.
You need to decide whatever handful of events or holidays you are going to celebrate, as well as whatever products or services you want to focus on FIRST.
Then, you can do some research and find some of the top keywords for those events and holidays and pick out a few to infuse into your messaging and create some campaigns around.
For example, an easy one is Christmas. Keywords for Christmas are: jingle bells, snow, white Christmas, Christmas tree, stockings, holiday hosting… So if you’ve chosen Christmas as one of your days to push sales or content or celebrate in some way for your business, you could take “holiday hosting” and create a fun campaign around it.
Maybe you sell candles and could say something like, “Get the perfect scent to go with holiday brunch”.
Or maybe you sell handmade jewelry, so you could say “The perfect accessories for your holiday get-together.”
Maybe you’ve chosen to celebrate International Coffee Day in October, so you decide to make a cute campaign with the keywords “coffee day”, and say something like “Celebrate Coffee Day on us with a $5 gift card with purchase”.
If you’re a coffee roaster, it might be something like “Grab a free bag of coffee with any purchase on Coffee Day!” Or even if you feel like your business has NOTHING to do with coffee, you could still set up a Keurig or coffee pot with fun creamers in your store on coffee day and offer a cup to everyone that comes in.
Be sure to SHARE this ahead of time on your socials, email list, etc. to get people to come in!
Again, once you’ve decided and planned out your holiday marketing calendar, it’s just a matter of googling or getting on Pinterest or social media to see what keywords come up to get the ideas flowing.
It doesn’t have to be too fancy or too complicated, it’s just to garner excitement and celebrate the holidays and events coming up in a way that gets your clients or customers excited – and probably even more importantly, gets YOU excited and ready to tackle this crazy season ahead.
Just… Try Things
Whether you are trying to sell more products or more services, whether you choose to offer discounts or you don’t, whether you’re planning to host an event or give client gifts or celebrate only Christmas and pass on the other holidays… Trying out a few of these holiday marketing trends might make your season more fun and exciting for you and your clients, and give you a boost in sales.