Holliday Marketing Planning Guide

If you have not already put your holiday marketing plan into place for your business, now is the time to get started. Putting a plan together does not have to be hard or complicated, it really is about building out a calendar and then following through with the schedule you come up with. A holiday marketing plan can actually make your work life around the holidays much easier because you already did the work of planning and scheduling ahead of time and there is no stress of last minute scrambling.

Your planning guide should be something you go back to each year and adjust for changes. It should be a combination of things that must be done during the season and some things that are done ahead of time. You should try to get as much done ahead of time as you can because the holiday season also usually means that the marketing department is busier than usual since the entire business is likely to be busier than usual. Plan for contingencies and make notes each year in a post season review so that when you refer back to the holiday marketing plan the following year, you can make the necessary adjustments for better results year after year.

What should be Included in Your Holiday Marketing Plan?

Your marketing plan should be dated and as thorough as possible. You can even list alternate ideas that the marketing team comes up with when brainstorming because those can be used as back up campaigns, or even additional campaigns. One of the most important things to do when planning is to make a conscious effort to be flexible with the plan and make adjustments as necessary so that you can optimize sales and results in the small window you have for the ever important holiday rush. Here are some of the things you should consider having on your marketing plan calendar:

• Buying guides or lists of top selling items.
• Holiday tips for your customers or clients.
• Email schedule with topics and deadlines for graphics and any other ancillary departments that you use to help complete the email send.
• Advertising plan and schedule. This will vary greatly depending on your business; it can include online, mobile, and offline marketing efforts.
• Plan out a social media schedule. This can be themes for each week, or just cascading posts related to the email and advertising plan.
• Coordinate with complimentary and/or local businesses to work together on cross campaigns to reach more of your target audience.
• Stock up on supplies. Take into consideration that since this time of the year is busier, you will need more office supplies and more of everything you use to execute your marketing plan. This includes promotional products, which should be part of your marketing plan since the holidays is a great time for branded gifts.

Execute Ahead of Time

In addition to making the calendar and list of marketing campaigns ahead of time, some other things can be easily taken care of ahead of time as well. Do you publish buying guides or top selling lists that you distribute to clients or customers? This can be done ahead of time and then saved to be modified each year. The earlier you can do this, the better. When you publish lists like these, they establish your company as an authority on the matter and even visionary if you can accurately predict trends for the coming holiday season.