Holiday Marketing #2 — Simple actions your brand can take now

Happy Tuesday! Here is the second half of our 6-Point Holiday Marketing Checklist. If you missed the first half, you can read it here.

3) Focus on amplification: No matter how ‘small’ you are

Ask yourself: Who can help me boost this?

Typically when we talk about amplification and boosting, paid ads and influencer marketing come to mind. If you’re trying to make your budget go even further, consider how you can turn your community into brand advocates. Incentivise your existing community, such as running a competition for the top three people who refer the most email subscribers or offering a bonus gift to the first 50 people who purchase the item.

By embedding your amplification strategy into your offer, you’re getting 2 types of benefits, the ever-coveted ‘network effect’.

4) Don’t overlook the psychological sales drivers: desire and urgency

In a crowded market of many options, the brands that can tap into deep desires will always win. That’s our philosophy at SBM — it’s always about entering the consumer consciousness, rather than jumping on the next viral marketing trend that won’t work the same way in 5 months. When a customer becomes a ‘friend’, they’re more likely to stay loyal.

In a similar vein, one of the biggest mistakes I see emerging brands make is overlooking the pivotal role that urgency has to play in their brand. Instead, they will leave poor-performing products on the site for months, or run various sales and discounts back-to-back. That sends a subconscious signal to your customer that your products aren’t in demand — either because they’re undesirable or not very good, and damages your brand perception in the long term.

Here are some things you can do to drive scarcity and urgency:

• Create scarcity by making a limited number of items available
• Set a deadline to create urgency. For example, run a promotion for one or two weeks instead of a month

5) Choose alternative timing

Find a time when other brands aren't speaking as loudly, such as launching before or after Black Friday. This is also what our client, KAI achieved with their ‘We Don’t Do Black Friday’ mystery box campaign.

Another option is to launch now, after Black Friday but not too close to the final shipping deadline for December 25th. This is something Phoebe Philo did when she launched her highly anticipated, fast-selling new fashion brand outside of the Fashion Week cycle. More on that in an upcoming newsletter.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your business is step away from the noise and operate outside the traditional timelines. As the TikTok saying goes: why compete when you don’t compare?

6) The unseen essentials: The Mechanics

Now for the ‘less glamorous’ but incredibly important back-end essentials. A huge part of marketing is ‘MarTech’ - the technology and the Operations that sit behind your business.

• Check stock levels are sufficient as if products sell out too fast you run the risk of missing a huge revenue opportunity
• Make sure your Facebook and TikTok ad pixels are set up correctly
• Ensure that visitors know where to go on your site and how to join your mailing list easily — a frictionless experience is the #1 goal
• Consider the communication and immediate actions after someone joins your mailing list

And there you have it, your Holiday Marketing Checklist in a nutshell. Happy Holidays! ??

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