Have You Found the True Meaning of Christmas?

It made the Grinch’s heart grow out of his chest and it gave Rudolph a sense of belonging. Charlie Brown knows that it isn’t the biggest gifts that make an impact and even Scrooge figured it out eventually.

Have you thought about how your business aligns with the holiday season?

The easiest way to make your holiday advertising feel authentic is to tie the meaning of the season in with your already strong business values. It’s easier than it seems, no matter the industry.

You probably started your business with the intent to solve problems for your customers. With them in mind, you go to work each day to make their lives easier. The holidays are about the spirit of giving and what is a business if it isn’t giving back to the community each day. Consider this when you’re putting together your holiday campaign and you’ll have a winner.

We put together some quick tips so that you have a place to start this holiday season.

Start with saying thank you. 

The easiest place to start? Say thank-you. Every year that you’re in business in another year in which to be thankful. Use the holidays as a chance to show some gratitude to the loyal customer base or the community that has supported you for so long.

If you’re in business-to-business sales, don’t underestimate the power of a piece of mail. Send out personally designed and signed Christmas cards to each one of your top clients and thank them for working with you this year.

In business-to-consumer instead? Consider an email campaign that thanks past customers for spending their money with you. Give your past customers an exclusive discount or a holiday gift-giving guide that speaks directly to their past purchases.

Think of your holiday sales or in-store activations as a form of customer appreciation. Your campaigns will feel less like typical holiday fodder and more in tune with the true meaning of the season. It’s easy to slap together a commercial, but it’s more effective to take some time and thank those that support your business.

Be sentimental, without being cheesy. 

The holidays are oversaturated with commercials and campaigns designed to tug at your heartstrings, to the point of just being cheesy. Every holiday advertisement doesn’t need to be a Hallmark movie, so make sure you take a step back when developing your marketing content to decide whether or not you’re laying it on too thick,

Pay attention to the little things that your customers appreciate about your business. Maybe you run an IT firm and you’re the first line of defense for your clients against the maladies of the tech world. This year, you were able to rescue your client’s server from an inevitable crash and losing all of their data, saving them thousands of dollars. Think about incorporating this into your holiday marketing campaign. You always have your client’s back and you support the aspects of their business that frighten or confuse them. This is an authentic way to bring some sentimentality to a service that isn’t otherwise very sentimental.

Maybe you’re a real estate agent and you were able to find a newlywed couple their first house this year. Run a campaign that shows how your work helps families find homes to start the rest of their life.

When you’ve arrived at a concept, make sure there is just one message that you’re conveying this holiday season. Running too many different campaigns looks like you’re desperately trying to relate your business to the holiday season, landing you right in the cheese.

Keep it authentic, keep it contextual, and most of all make sure it always relates back to your mission as a business.

Don’t lose who you are for the holidays. 

A lot like our last point, don’t compromise the identity of your business for the holiday season. If your client base is likely to be comprised of Grinches, then consider running an “anti-Holiday” campaign. If your brand isn’t about being sentimental and nostalgic, then don’t be. If your brand is wholly against consumer waste, then it doesn’t make sense to positively tie into the holiday season.

Before you decide on any of your marketing for the holidays, decide on how it aligns with your business first.

For example, imagine that you’re a retailer with a mission that ties into decreasing consumer waste and pollution associated with the retail industry. It may be more advantageous to you to run a campaign that directly comments on how the holidays contributes to pollution and the risks of Global Warming. What would your loyal customers say if you were contributing to even more waste this holiday season? It’s better to ruffle a few feathers with an authentic holiday advertisement than to give up who you are as a brand.

So what’s the meaning of the holidays?

We’ve all seen It’s a Wonderful Life enough times to figure out the true meaning of the holiday season. It’s about giving and being thankful. Most of all, it’s about being honest and authentic. Figure out what is honest and authentic to pull into your holiday marketing campaign and come up with one message that you feel conveys that.

If you’re still having trouble figuring out what message you should be sharing this holiday season, don’t worry. November isn’t over yet, you still have a little bit of time. Should you need any help, we are always available for a quick 15-minute consultation phone call to figure out some campaigns that may work for you.