It’s Holiday Campaign Time… Already
55% of consumers say that they will start their holiday shopping before Halloween this year. This means, the holiday season is here early! Consumers are worried about increased shipping times and product outages, pushing them to get their shopping done early. Americans are also expected to spend 7%-9% more this holiday season! What do you need to get your Holiday campaign set up on time?
Supply Chain and Shipping Issues
Pandemic-related shipping delays have gotten a lot better this year, but many companies are expecting large delays, due to volume, this holiday season. Also, many shipping companies’ deadline for Christmas deliveries is earlier this year. For example, FedEx’s Economy deadline is December 9th, UPS is December 16th, and USPS is the 15th. USPS also updated Holiday pricing this week on October 3rd.
Just about every part of the supply chain has been disrupted. There’s a shortages of factory workers, shortages of cargo ships and containers, large scale storms, a lack of truck drivers and warehouse employees, and retail workers. Big companies like Nike, H&M, and Ikea have already been affected.
What does this mean for you?
The best time to get started on your holiday campaign is RIGHT NOW. Especially if you are a small business; take advantage of all those big companies’ supply chain issues!
Good campaigns take time to set up and the sooner you can get your message out, the better. In the past the rule of thumb has been to have your campaign live by November 19th; however, a lot of brands have already started easing into their holiday campaigns. (Looking at you, Pottery Barn.)
What do you need to set up your holiday campaign?
Step 1. Have a plan! That’s why it’s a campaign and not just content! A strategy is key! How do you know what should be holiday 2021 strategy? Start by asking the “why.” Why are you doing a holiday campaign in the first place? Do you have an awesome product that a lot of people would love? The next step is the campaign objectives. What do you want to specifically do you want to accomplish with this campaign? Are you trying to build brand awareness, drive traffic, or sell a specific product? Once you know what you want to accomplish, the next step is to figure out what channels and methods would be the most effective way to reach your audience.
All of these things are your strategy: the why, the what, and the how.
The next step to planning a campaign is content and message. You know what your goal is, now you make the creative that goes with it. Whether that be social content, print and mail, or digital ads, or hopefully, some combination of all the channels!
After putting your campaign out into the world, the next step is to learn. This is the data gathering and retargeting phase. A one step campaign isn’t going to be as effective as a campaign that customers on a journey.
Marketing Channel highlight: TikTok
TikTok is going to be a powerful channel this holiday season. 47% of surveyed TikTok users said that TikTok is likely to inspire a gift this year. 39% said that they discovered a product or brand on TikTok, and 77% said that they have bought things because of TikTok. TikTok is also offering incentives for advertisers to use their platform.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.