We just entered the “ber months” and typically in the Philippines, ber months = Christmas season. This is the season when you will see memes of Jose Mari Chan going around the internet. I digress, the upcoming Christmas season is a great opportunity to connect with customers, spread brand awareness, and it’s important to come up with holiday marketing strategies early to seize the occasion.
Filipinos get excited for Christmas because it is a time when loved ones share their time, families get together, spreading love and joy in celebrating Christmas. As a tradition for families to get togethers, it is also a culture of gift-giving, to friends and loved ones. The holidays not only come with an atmosphere of joy and togetherness. It also comes with 13th month pay and bonuses, which afford Filipinos to buy and give to their loved ones and to themselves. In this article, we will provide holiday marketing strategies for this upcoming Christmas season to provide Filipino customers with the best deals and your business with a surge of holiday sales.
Why the Christmas Season is a Special Time for Businesses
The Christmas holiday season is particularly a busy time for businesses as sales would surge from increased consumer demand, spend, and activity. But there’s more to it.
The Christmas holiday season represents much more than just increased sales and consumer demand for businesses. It’s a complex and significant time of the year that offers various opportunities and challenges to your business.
- Increased Consumer Spending – During the holiday season, consumers tend to increase their spending on gifts, decorations, food, and other festive items. This surge in spending presents an opportunity for businesses to boost their sales and revenue.
- Gift-Giving Culture – Gift-giving is a tradition and culture during the holiday for Filipinos. Businesses can capitalize on this by promoting their products or services as ideal gifts, creating special holiday-themed marketing campaigns to attract gift shoppers.
- Emotional Connection – The holiday season is often associated with positive emotions, including joy, love, and togetherness, especially in the Philippines. Businesses can tap into the opportunity of emotional connection to create heartwarming and relatable content that resonates with their target audience.
- Limited-Time Offers – Businesses can use the sense of urgency that comes with the holiday season to their advantage by offering limited-time promotions, deals, and discounts. This encourages consumers to make purchases quickly, driving sales significantly.
- Seasonal Branding and Creativity – Brands have the opportunity to get creative with their marketing efforts by incorporating holiday-themed elements into their branding, packaging, and advertising. This can help them stand out and create a memorable impression.
- Consumer Expectations – During the holidays, consumers expect businesses to offer special deals and promotions. Businesses who meet these expectations can attract new and repeat customers that are waiting to get their expectations satisfied.
What Should You Expect in the Upcoming Christmas Season this 2023
- More online purchases
During the Christmas season, things can get busy, and people may not have the time to go and select products at physical stores. With eCommerce steadily growing, expect a lot of customers to order online.
- Order demands can increase
With the shift toward online shopping, businesses should be prepared for a potential surge in order demands. This may require enhanced logistics, inventory management, and customer support to ensure timely deliveries and a seamless shopping experience.
An eCommerce marketplace in the Philippines, Shoppable Business, can help you fulfill order demands with automation.
- More engagement with customers in social media
Social media in holiday marketing and customer engagement is expected to remain significant. Businesses are likely to increase their efforts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to connect with customers, run promotions, and share Christmas related content.
Tips Before Starting a Holiday Marketing Strategy this Christmas
- Pick a Campaign Name
Selecting a catchy and memorable campaign name is essential. It should encapsulate the spirit of the holidays and align with your brand. Consider names that stir festivity, like “Sleigh Ride Savings” or “Frosty Holiday Savings.” It is also important to take note that your campaign name is unique and not in use by other businesses.
- Define Target Audience
Of course, whether it’s a usual campaign or holiday campaign, it’s important to clearly define your target audience for the holiday season. Segment your audience if deemed necessary.
- Determine Promo Offers
Yes, it’s a holiday promo, but deciding what promo options you would be offering to your audience is important. Would you go for discounts? Exclusive products? Bundled packages? Free delivery? Buy-one-get-one deals? Vouchers? Another note that it’s important to calculate the financial impact of these promos to provide you a real estimate of what promos you can offer to your target audience.
- Choose your Marketing Channels
Select the marketing channels that are most effective for reaching your target audience. Common channels include social media, email marketing, search engine advertising, content marketing, and influencer partnerships.
Tailor your content and messaging to suit each channel. For example, social media may be more visual and interactive, while email allows for personalized recommendations.
Holiday Marketing Strategies for this Christmas Season 2023
- Promote Holiday Deals, and Discounts
You know what else Filipinos love besides the holidays? Discounts and deals! When you combine the two, it just gets better. Offering enticing holiday promotions and discounts to attract budget-conscious shoppers. Consider creating a sense of urgency with limited-time offers and flash sales to encourage immediate purchases.
- Make your social media festive
Decorating your social media profiles with holiday-themed visuals, including profile and cover images will make your customers feel the holiday atmosphere. Create and share festive content such as holiday trivia, user-generated holiday photos featuring your products, holiday gifting guides, and more.
- Christmas-themed product catalog
Creating and showcasing a visually appealing digital or print catalog featuring your holiday product lineup. One more thing to add is showcase your products with holiday discounts and promos. This strategy makes it easy for customers to browse and shop for gifts.
- Create Gift Buying Guides
Create comprehensive gift guides for different recipient categories, such as “Gifts for Tech Enthusiasts,” “Gifts for Pet Lovers,” or “Gifts for Gym Rats.” These guides simplify the shopping process for your customers and help showcase a variety of your products, aimed for different audiences.
- Use Christmas-specific packaging
Enhance the unboxing experience by using Christmas-themed packaging for your products. Festive wrapping, personalized holiday messages, and including small holiday-themed gifts or cards can leave a lasting impression.
- Partnership with Influencers
Collaborate with influencers who align with your brand to promote your holiday products or services. Influencers can provide authentic recommendations and reach a wider audience, increasing your brand’s visibility during the busy holiday season.
- Push paid ad campaigns during the holiday season
Invest in paid advertising campaigns across various platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads to increase promotional visibility, leading sales into your sales. Another strategy to implement is by doing keyword research and audience targeting to reach potential customers actively searching for holiday gifts.
- Utilize email marketing
Develop an email marketing strategy specifically targeted for the Christmas season. Send a series of emails that include gift ideas, exclusive offers, and holiday tips, and anything related your business is offering for the Christmas season.
- Extend holiday deals for late shoppers
Recognize that not all holiday shoppers make purchases early or on time. Extend your holiday deals and promotions to cater to last-minute shoppers who may be looking for gifts in the days leading up to Christmas.
- Plan for post-holiday campaigns
So, after the holiday season? What comes next? It’s important to not let your marketing efforts burn out after Christmas. After all, even off the holiday season, it’s important to continue and engage with your customers and audience. Right after Christmas, there are more holidays to come right around the corner such as the New Years, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s, and Summer.
When to Implement your Holiday Marketing Strategies for Christmas
As mentioned earlier, for Filipinos, the atmosphere and spirit of Christmas starts as soon as our calendar marks the very first day of the “ber months”, which is September. You can spot Christmas decor such as parols, Christmas lights, Christmas trees already being displayed at their homes as early as November.
For decors it may be too early, but for devising and implementing Christmas, holiday marketing strategies, November is too late. Don’t wait till November before you start promoting your Christmas season holiday promotions, because you might get behind the competition.
Some businesses start their holiday marketing strategies plan by August or September which leaves their team a lot of time to devise a plan and implement their holiday marketing strategies. And it’s best that you do the same for your business.
Conclusion
The holidays, especially Christmas, is a season to anticipate and watch out for. This season has a lot of opportunities for businesses to drive in sales, if done right. Encapsulating your holiday marketing strategies that trigger joyful emotions is one of the best ways in creating a successful holiday marketing strategy.
But the holiday season is more than just capitalizing and taking advantage of capitalism. It is the season where people spend their holidays together, bringing joy and stories to their table.
