What’s Your Holiday Campaign Plan?

It seems like just yesterday we were fully engaged with summertime activities. Then, all of a sudden back to school came into the mix and summer officially came to a close. Holiday planning is probably the last thing on your mind but the truth that savvy marketers know clock is running out. 

The last quarter of the year is usually the busiest and each passing day is bringing us closer: in 2012 online sales reached over $54.5 billion in November and December.[1]  The National Retail Federation expects a 13% increase in online retail sales this year![2] It might be painful to think about Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the last minute Christmas Bonanza now, but it’s important to jump on the holiday bandwagon early. 

Our month-by-month Holiday Campaign Planning Guide will help ease that overwhelming feeling you might have by giving you monthly goals to make sure your campaigns are in tip-top shape as you head into the holidays this year! 

Don’t let the holidays sneak up on you this year, add these 10 tips to your holiday planning checklist to ensure a successful holiday season!

1. Recruit a team of “Santa’s Helpers” to help with every aspect of holiday campaign planning


2. Review your seasonal sales cycles from the past two years


3. Conduct a campaign analysis and review every detail with a critical eye (peak days, slow days, CTR, etc.)


4. Give your business a creative audit: review branding, messaging, images and copy used in your ads.


5. Hold a brainstorming session influenced by the findings of your campaign/creative analysis. Walk away with at least three ideas for ads and three ideas for your landing pages for each campaign period (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, etc.).


6. Get motivated to go mobile. More and more consumers are checking email, browsing the web and making purchases on mobile. You can’t afford not to be mobile optimized.


7. Define your re targeting strategy. How will you reach consumers once they have visit your site or liked you on Facebook?


8. Make enhancements to your ecommerce experience by reducing the number of clicks it takes to get to the cart.


9. Follow our monthly checklist to keep you on track


10. Use our holiday campaign worksheet to help keep you organized

Written by: Kerstin Recker, VP Marketing and Business Development