But, before you run out and deck the halls with marketing messages remember: holiday campaigns must be integrated with your overall marketing strategy. They must have clear goals, objectives, target audience, and must stay consistent with your overall brand promise. A focused plan can help your company generate sales, increase awareness about your product/service, and show appreciation to your existing customers, employees and partners.
If your campaign will rely on heavy email-marketing, the right time to start will depend on what product or service you are offering, to whom, and when they are likely to buy it. Restaurants may want to begin now in promoting holiday parties and gift cards, while last-minute gift retailers should wait until the beginning of December. Internet marketing expert Paula Skaper encourages that your email campaigns allow enough time for readers to receive the promotion, respond and receive delivery of their products/serivces on time for Christmas (click here for full article).
In her article 10 Tips for Designing Your Holiday Email Campaign, Karen Scharf further suggests to segment your merchandise and mailing lists to make shopping easier, such as Gifts for Men, Gifts for Children, etc. Or if you are a service-based company, segment by market--Specials for Retailers, Specials for B2B Companies. "There is so much competition for the in basket at this time of year, don't waste your customers' time with promotions that are irrelevant to their shopping habits."
Because I'm big on the personal touch, consider investing in a small postage budget and mail a gift card or coupon to selected loyal clients and customers. It's a good way to say "thank you" and generate business.
Bottom line: start planning now for happy holidays. Waiting until Thanksgiving will be a little late and will have you and your team scrambling at the last minute--and there is nothing happy about that.
Click here for more holiday marketing tips.