Evergreen content, content that never goes out of date and is always relevant, is one of the holy grails of online marketing. It’s certainly true that well-done evergreen content is an excellent choice for keeping your business in the public eye. However, it’s equally true that seasonal marketing and taking advantage of specific holidays or events also go a long way toward attracting attention. Savvy business owners will have to find the proper balance between the two.
Seasonal marketing is a relatively simple task. Consequently, it’s also an easy task to do incorrectly if you’re not careful. As a business owner, you should know how to choose what holidays or special events to use in your marketing and how to do so without causing yourself more trouble. And with Christmas right around the corner, what better time to focus on holiday-specific marketing? Let’s take a look at a few dos and don’ts of seasonal content marketing!
Seasonal marketing and content involve both attention to the season in question and to how the promotion makes your business look. Learn how to jump on the seasonal marketing bandwagon here, just in time for Christmas! #ITVibes Click To Tweet
Promote Products & Services Relevant to the Holiday
What can you offer that people want for an upcoming holiday or season? Maybe it’s a limited-time offering only available for a particular time of year (like the Walmart-exclusive Jelly Donut Oreos released for National Donut Day in 2017). Alternatively, maybe one of your products is available all year round but most popular at a certain time of year. (School supplies such as pens and backpacks tend to sell the fastest at the end of summer, for example.) Take stock of your current product offerings and decide what’s most relevant to an approaching holiday.
Recurring holidays aren’t your only golden opportunities, however. Another example from Oreo shows their huge success with themed cookies celebrating the Game of Thrones finale. The only potential problem is that any brand that attaches itself to a temporary trend risks dating itself. Oreo handled their GoT cookies very well and has quietly phased them out as buzz about the series finale died down. Had they continued to promote this particular design long after most people stopped thinking about the finale, their customer base would have seen the design as irrelevant and assumed Oreo was trying to keep a trend alive for the sake of a quick buck. Don’t make this mistake! Know your market. If a holiday, season, or event is no longer relevant, don’t try to pretend it is. Your customers won’t appreciate it.
Use Holiday-Specific Keywords & Hashtags
As always, no marketing plan is complete without attention to SEO. As a holiday approaches, keywords and hashtags relevant to that holiday will suddenly spike in usage. That’s your chance to jump on the bandwagon! Conduct some SEO research to see what people are searching for and start using those keywords yourself. Take advantage of seasonal trends to direct people to your products.
It also never hurts to try starting a trend yourself! UPS has successfully done this for several years in a row with their Christmas #wishesdelivered campaign, in which they encouraged people to use this hashtag when they posted their newly arrived gifts. UPS also pledged to donate a dollar to charity for each time a customer used the hashtag. Not only was their charity drive successful, but the campaign also gave UPS easy online visibility both for their sales and for their reputation. You may not have the funds to start a charity campaign on the same scale. However, it never hurts to start your own holiday trend and return to it year after year!
Use Themed Visual Content
With Christmas two weeks away, now is not the time to realize you still have jack-o-lanterns in your Facebook header image. Are you lagging behind on your themed marketing efforts?
Some brands go all-out for major holidays, while others only adjust their posts and marketing imagery. Whichever option you choose, make sure your audience knows you’re focusing on the next holiday. Find relevant color pallettes for your social media posts (pink and white for Valentine’s Day, red and green for Christmas, etc.) even if their content doesn’t change too much. The shift in your social media’s appearance will signal to your customer base that you’re ready for the next holiday!
Pro Tip: Even as you customize your marketing strategy for a holiday, don’t overdo it and obscure your brand identity! You’re still running the same business regardless of the time of year.
Take Advantage of Seasonal Opportunities!
Holidays, seasons, and major events like the Super Bowl happen every year around the exact same time, giving you the perfect chance to build a long-term marketing campaign centered around each. Show your holiday spirit to your customer base! Have some fun with your seasonal campaigns and keep your bottom line steady during the most competitive times of the year.
Connect with us to learn more about different types of seasonal marketing strategies and how to keep your content from dating itself in the future.