Christmas is now fast approaching and you'll need to make sure your business is prepared, way in advance. When it comes to Christmas marketing and advertising, it seems like every year brands are competing to be the first to get their Christmas campaigns out there. So, this begs the question: when should you start advertising for Christmas and is there such a thing as too early? Here's our advice...
The answer really depends on what kind of business you’re running.
If you’re marketing a brand that falls into the hospitality or leisure and tourism industry that hosts a number of Christmas events and packages each year, then you really do need to get in there early to get people’s attention as soon as they begin considering how and where they’re going to spend the festive period.
As a rule, we would suggest promoting this type of content as soon as September hits and the new school term begins. This is the point where people are likely to stop thinking of summer holidays and festivals and begin looking ahead to the colder months.
If you're looking for further advice on promoting your event, check out this blog post.
If your brand/business is in retail, we recommend holding off a little longer.
When it comes to physical products, people don’t need to plan ahead as much as they would with booking events or festive evenings away, and some individuals do grumble that Christmas promotions begin too early. So while you may get some eager customers that begin their Christmas shopping in September, you don’t want to irritate the ones who aren’t ready to think about it yet.
In this case, we would suggest putting out some ‘autumn/winter offers’ for your products and services to appeal to the keen individuals who want to bag a bargain ahead of Christmas and then start actually mentioning the C word after Halloween and Bonfire Night are out of the way. It’s the full focus of people’s attention.
If your business is more B2B than consumer-based, it’s likely you won’t have Christmas offers to promote.
However, you should still consider putting out some Christmas-related content to join in with the conversation since it’s usually the only thing on everyone’s mind as the end of the year approaches! In this case, there’s no need to worry about competing with everyone else’s offers and events so you don’t need to get in there early.
Wait until December when the real countdown begins and perhaps post some festive-themed blog posts, images of your office decorations, snaps from your Christmas do, etc. All this will work to give your business more personality, which is important for brand awareness.
It may also be worth setting aside a specific Christmas budget in advance. Read our post on raising your marketing budget over the festive season for a better idea of what you should be preparing for.
So when it comes to Christmas marketing campaigns and when to start, it really does depends on what kind of business you're promoting.
For more helpful marketing tips and tricks, check out the rest of our blog.
You'll receive an email update every 2 weeks with insight and advice to support you in your digital marketing journey. We treat your email address with care, and you can unsubscribe with just a click.