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Planning Your Holiday Marketing Strategy: Seven Key Steps to Take this Fall

The 2024 holiday season is rapidly approaching, and you don’t want to be left out in the cold by customers for lack of a holiday marketing strategy. Q4 represents a critical time for brands and shoppers alike, as your target audience is searching for gifts and they’ll either find your brand or your competitors. In a March 2024 study, 84% of consumers said they found ads helpful during holiday shopping, and 43% said they plan to shop more this year than they did in 2023. Plus, consumers will shop more between October and December than in any other window throughout the year. If you haven’t already started pre-holiday planning a marketing strategy, now is the time. 

Start your 2024 holiday marketing strategy today! Here are seven key steps to take now to make sure you’re prepared. 

1. Identify your goals

Before planning any marketing strategy it’s imperative to first determine what goals and KPIs you want to meet. For many businesses (especially e-commerce brands) it’s likely going to be sales. However, don’t discount this time of year as an opportunity to pursue other goals such as brand awareness or new customer acquisition. While the holidays are only seasonal, you can leverage connections you build during this time of year for the long haul.

2. Define your audience

Determine which audience segments are the best fit for your holiday marketing strategy and goals. You can look at previous campaign performance to see which audience campaigns have resonated most. Employ remarketing to get in front of people with whom you’ve already made a meaningful connection. Keep in mind that, specifically for a holiday marketing strategy, your audience may not only consist of people who would purchase for themselves — but be interested in a gift for someone else. Knowing this, you may want to tweak your audience to include not only people who show purchase intent for themselves, but their close family, friends and even their co-workers.

3. Develop winning creative

Your holiday marketing strategy should include eye-catching creative, particularly as there is increased competition during this period. Along with your high-quality visuals, focus on a compelling value proposition and show how your brand stands apart from the competition. You might consider highlighting social proof to build credibility. 

Last year, Stanley capitalized on its popularity with picture perfect holiday marketing, including this Reel promoting limited edition seasonal cup designs and showing how there’s a Stanley option for the entire family.

Video credit: StanleyVideo credit: Stanley

Video credit: Stanley

Coca-Cola’s brand is synonymous with holiday advertising. In their 2023 holiday spot which was used as a digital video ad, the company showcases a world where Santa’s kindness can be embodied by anyone.

Video Credit: Coca-Cola

4. Consider incentives/discounts

To further entice buyers, decide if you want your holiday marketing strategy to include incentives such as discounts, bundles, free shipping, BOGO offers, extended returns or other special offers.

5. Budgeting

Remember, there is increased competition during the holiday season and, in many cases, numerous companies bidding to reach your same target audience. This drives the cost of advertising up. Keep this in mind while budgeting and be realistic about the increased costs.

6. Omnichannel approach

Pursue an omnichannel approach to maximize your 2024 holiday marketing strategy efforts as well as optimize budget. In addition to running paid digital ads on social or search platforms, be sure to include other channels. Leverage email marketing as a successful and cost-effective channel to connect with those already in your contact list and drive conversions. Nurture your organic social media channels with valuable content and meaningful engagement. Keep your audience engaged by embracing advertising trends when appropriate, and build excitement by sharing holiday gift guides, behind-the-scenes content or other seasonal posts to delight your audience.

7. PR pitching

A skilled media relations team can help your brand get featured in earned media placements as part of your 2024 holiday marketing strategy. Pitch your product to holiday gift guides or themed roundups which are a popular feature for numerous outlets around the holiday season. Think “Best Gifts for Teens 2024,” “Ideas for Dad this Holiday Season” or other similar content types. 

Prepared for the holidays

With so much shopping taking place from October to December, taking time to devise a 2024 holiday marketing strategy will be well worth it. These seven key steps will help your company determine goals, reach your target audience, connect with strong messaging, get the most out of your budget and meet consumers where they are… often hunting for the perfect gift online! 

It’s not too late to get your 2024 holiday marketing strategy under way. Connect with the experts at Beyond Fifteen to learn how we can accelerate your pre-holiday planning.

Connect with a Beyond Fifteen Marketing Specialist today!

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