In the business-to-consumer world, holiday marketing campaigns are in the works as retailers push their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. In the B2B space, however, it may be more difficult to incorporate holiday themes into your marketing efforts. It can often feel forced, especially when your clients are already overwhelmed with holiday-related ads from every angle.
But this doesn’t mean your business can’t bring a little joy to the world this holiday season. Whether you’re B2B or B2C, you just have to make sure it’s personal, appropriate and relevant to your customers.
If you’re looking to spruce up your holiday marketing efforts, 11 communications executives from Forbes Communications Council offer their best advice for an innovative, effective campaign.
1. Spread good cheer with live video.
Companies are increasingly bringing real-time video into their marketing arsenal. When agents use video, they can better develop customer trust, personalize conversations and create a truly lasting customer connection. Consider using live video to create a holiday campaign around sharing good cheer. After all, the best gift is a smile, a genuinely friendly face and a sympathetic ear. – Holly Chessman, Glance Networks Inc.
2. Create a special unboxing experience.
In the packaging industry, we push the “customer unboxing experience” and how to improve it. We recommend adding holiday colors, images, ribbons, a personalized thank-you message, etc. inside packages to bring cheer to every customer as they open their box and read their personalized image. – Nishat Jones, Victory Packaging
3. Partner with a nonprofit.
Add dimension to your brand and reach new audiences by partnering with unexpected companies during the holidays. Instead of spending dollars on advertising, invest that marketing spend in a charitable partnership. Find a nonprofit that shares the same values as your company and partner on a “giving” promotion to promote the cause to both of your audiences. – Jennifer Wong, TUNE
4. Use social listening to uncover ‘moments of relevance.’
Social listening can help you understand how people talk about your brand around the holidays and identify moments of relevance for your next marketing campaign. Use these emotional touchpoints to create a campaign leveraging the power of user-generated content to drive engagement, recommendations and ultimately sales during this season of significant spending. – Andrew Caravella, Sprout Social
5. Find your brand’s unique holiday angle.
Use your business model to tell a unique story. At McAfee, our “most hackable gifts” campaign launches around the holidays when few people are thinking about cybersecurity. We’re able to elevate our unique message in a fun, interesting and actionable way, even when consumers are facing a deluge of holiday marketing. It takes time and patience to find your unique angle, but the payoff is worth it. – Brandie Claborn, McAfee
6. Co-brand your campaign.
While we are all busy orchestrating our own holiday campaigns, it is the best time to roll out brand partnerships. By co-branding a holiday campaign with another company, it not only gives your customers something new to consider, but it also reaches a wider customer base. It is one of the most effective ways of lowering cost of customer acquisition and minimizing discounts during the holiday season. – Lu Chen, THINX
7. Sprinkle nostalgia throughout your marketing campaigns.
No one will argue with the incredible power of nostalgia. From making people feel loved to increasing social connectedness, or even giving people a sense of meaning, nostalgia is a useful element to sprinkle throughout marketing campaigns. When crafting your holiday marketing campaigns this year, remember nostalgia. – Lauren Alexander, Underground Elephant
8. Incorporate unique interactive media campaigns.
When it comes to the holiday season, every brand is screaming about holiday blowout sales. If you want your brand to stand out, incorporate different digital ad campaigns that are interactive in order to further engage your audience. – Ani Stepanian, Mercer Vine
9. Use your campaign to make the holidays less stressful.
From shopping to traveling to navigating the office party, everyone wants the holidays to be less stressful. Build campaigns around how you can give people time back to spend with their loved ones, save them money or make their lives easier. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes: Think about their holiday stressors and think creatively about how you can help them navigate the busy season effectively. – Nadja Blagojevic, Axiom
10. Offer helpful holiday tips around your product or service.
Celebrate your customer by offering tips, tricks and discounts this holiday season. Your marketing campaign should focus on customer appreciation, while providing easy-to-follow holiday tips and tricks that feature products/services you provide. Promote socially shareable information with graphics that guide people to your brand. Include a discount offering or coupon to improve conversion rates. – Alysia Gradney, Vision Source
11. Give gifts to your clients’ clients.
Take the traditional holiday gift a step further, especially for B2B audiences. Offer to send a gift to your clients’ clients on their behalf. Your branding can be there, but the gift should come from your client. It creates a hero moment for them with their client and a hero moment for you with yours. It also helps build that layer of community during the holidays that is felt year round. – Jeannie Ruesch, xero.com
This article was originally posted on Forbes
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