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With Halloween and Thanksgiving freshly behind us, it\u2019s time to deck the halls and get merry.<\/p>\n
This time of year, there are holiday marketing campaigns everywhere<\/a>. Whether the campaigns are small and involve dressing up a company’s logo<\/a>, or big, expensive campaigns that manage to go viral, many businesses are keenly aware of the opportunity to take advantage of the spending season and seek out ways to market their brand to enthusiastic customers.<\/p>\n Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the ho-ho holidays, November and December, are a season of riches for businesses.<\/p>\n These two months alone drive an astounding 30% more revenue<\/a> for e-commerce businesses than the rest of the year.<\/p>\n There is no shortage of holiday emails, social media posts<\/a>, and TV ads everywhere you look – it can get overwhelming.<\/p>\n Some brands do great business marketing during the holidays, while others fall flat.<\/p>\n How do successful businesses stand out from the noise and reach customers when every other business competes harder than your Aunt Susan for the last piece of the pie?<\/p>\n Smart brands create campaigns that genuinely delight customers instead of contributing to holiday white noise. They evoke emotional, often nostalgic reactions from their customers. They find the sweet spot that encourages sharing, personal connection, and the spirit of giving.<\/p>\n The key to a successful holiday marketing campaign is analyzing your brand and figuring out which strategy is a natural fit for your business, and then incorporating that strategy.<\/p>\n Here is a rundown of some great small business holiday marketing strategies:<\/p>\n Apple is well-known for creating products that leverage technology to connect people and, in Apple\u2019s mind, make their lives better. Their focus on products that foster communication was brilliantly combined with the holidays in a holiday commercial a few years ago, \u201cMisunderstood.\u201d<\/p>\n In it, a teenager spends his holiday time with family, seemingly fixated on his mobile phone. Scene after scene, while his family is having fun, we see him staring at the screen. You\u2019re left with the sense that he\u2019s detached and separate, that his phone is literally coming in between himself and the rest of the family.<\/p>\n At the end of the commercial, he connects his phone to the TV and surprises the entire family with a thoughtful, heartfelt holiday home video that he created using his phone. Apple\u2019s name never appears in the commercial, and the only branding, Apple\u2019s logo, is right at the very end.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a heartwarming, moving commercial that showcases how Apple effectively communicates its brand and mission through\u00a0the holidays.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another famous example is Office Depot\u2019s now-annual \u201cElf Yourself<\/a>\u201d campaign, currently run in collaboration with internet animation trailblazers JibJab<\/a>.<\/p>\n Office Depot wanted a humorous website they could use for holiday advertising – something to warm up their corporate image. The idea they came up with was a massive viral hit<\/a>.<\/p>\n Elf Yourself lets people upload photos of their faces, which are superimposed on top of existing footage of elves dancing. In 2006, its first year, Elf Yourself received over 36 million visits in five weeks, with 11 million elf videos made.<\/p>\n Their secret? According to Adweek<\/a>:<\/p>\n Keep it dead simple, make it personal and give people a reason to pass it on. These sites might not win awards or wow other creative directors, but they draw big audiences by eschewing the urge to add on features and functions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This focus on ease of use and word of mouth has made the campaign an annual phenomenon. The campaign has been a huge success<\/a>. In the ten years since the first dancing elf hit the screen 1.3 billion Elf Yourself videos have been made.<\/p>\n That\u2019s elfing amazing.<\/p>\n\n
Find your brand’s unique holiday angle<\/h2>\n
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