For about two years I taught an English class to a group of International students at my University, but most of the time they were teaching me. They taught me about their languages, customs, and food, but their questions often taught me things about my own culture I had never realized. One day I asked my students what surprised them most about the US, and one of my students from Korea said “holidays.” It was at this moment that I really and truly realized Americans love their holidays.

I proceeded to write down every holiday that we feel warrants some sort of party or celebration:

• The Super Bowl (and every other championship game for every other sport)
• 4th of July
• Labor Day
• The big ones such as Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving
• Birthdays (which of course you must have a separate kids party and family party)
• Graduation from middle school, high school, and college
• Halloween
• Valentine’s Day
• April Fool’s Day
• Anniversaries, etc.

This led me to wonder: It is worth the time for a company to create a marketing campaign for every single holiday?

Marketing for specific holidays can be tough because a lot goes into a campaign. With all of the new mediums and platforms available to send out information to the public, marketing a product or service has become expensive and time consuming. Most companies want all of their efforts to stand the test of time for this very reason, but holiday marketing tactics simply cannot offer this long-term satisfaction. Consider a few of the reasons it is, however, worth a company’s time and energy:

To Market or Not to Market for the Holidays

Aside from just the time commitment involved, marketing for the holidays can become stressful. It is difficult to know when to start these campaigns (after all, everyone makes fun of those shops ready for Christmas before Thanksgiving), and it’s difficult to know whether or not your holiday tactics have made a difference. For this reason, some companies pass on the holiday marketing festivities. Unfortunately, this is a terrible mistake for a few reasons:

According to Media Post, in 2010 the top five days by sales conversion volume included Black Friday at 23% (the day after Thanksgiving), Nov. 28 and 30 at 17%, Dec. 6 at 17%, and Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving) at 16%. In other words, marketing during the holidays is a great idea. Furthermore, the holidays are on the minds of these buyers, and your company should capitalize on that by getting into the holiday spirit.

5 Tremendous Thanksgiving Marketing Tactics

Although Thanksgiving is coming up quickly, it isn’t too late to create a marketing campaign for the holiday. The general rule of thumb is to start marketing for Thanksgiving just after Halloween (and Christmas just after Thanksgiving), but as the statistics show above, there is still plenty of time. Consider a few of the things you can try to help jumpstart your holiday efforts:

• Greeting Cards – Send Thanksgiving themed greeting cards to your customers thanking them for being loyal. Consider giving out a coupon in the spirit of the holiday.
• Newsletters – The holidays are a great way to jumpstart that newsletter you’ve always wanted to offer. Customers and clients will be more apt to join during the holidays in the hopes that your company will help them know what to buy their friends for the holidays!
• Thanksgiving Deals – If you offer a deal specifically around Thanksgiving, consumers will certainly pay attention. While Christmas promotions are common, Thanksgiving deals are still a hidden secret.
• Fall Occasions – Creating a fall event is a great way to get consumers interested in your company. Consider setting up a corn maze, fall festival, or pie eating contest to help draw in new customers. This may be a bit on the expensive side, but it should be a very positive way to get people noticing your business.
• Volunteer – Thanksgiving time offers many opportunities to get involved with other companies. This will help you not only network and spread the word about your company, but you’ll be doing something that really matters (ex: work at a food shelter, donate toys for children, etc.).

In the end, marketing for a specific holiday is a fun experience. Do not worry about having to pull the marketing tactic after the holiday because it should give you what you need for the short time it’s up and running. Many companies also recycle holiday commercials or materials each year to help make it even more worthwhile.

Author Bio:

Amanda DiSilvestro is an expert writer on VoIP business phone systems based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as document management. You can find more of her articles as well as vendors comparisons for your small business needs at Business.com.

© guestposter for DazzlinDonna, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: black friday, Christmas, Holiday, Marketing, Thanksgiving
This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this in your news aggregator/reader or on DazzlinDonna, then the site you are looking at is probably infringing upon my copyright.

So take some time off today, spend a little money, and have fun!

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Amazon, Amazon.com, black friday, deals, shopping
This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this in your news aggregator/reader or on DazzlinDonna, then the site you are looking at is probably infringing upon my copyright.