Christmas is only round the corner and many brands and agencies are getting ready to launch exciting and engaging promotions in time for the festive season.
However you should bear in mind that this is a busy time of year and so you need to stand out for the right reasons, but also get your implement right and avoid a headache in the New Year.
So here are our ten top tips for a successful festive promotion:
- Planning: Start now. We are already working on T&Cs for a number of Christmas promotions and are here to help you too.
- Timing: Unless there is good reason not to, launch your Christmas promotions in late November or very early December to coincide with the peak shopping period. Too early and people will forget about it and too late and people will be too busy with the run up to the big day itself.
- Make it easy to enter: People tend to be very busy around Christmas so easy to enter prize draws or very simple competitions will typically get the best responses.
- Pick your prizes carefully: If your gifts or prizes are seasonal, for example- Christmas gifts or decorations, plan the promotions timeline so you have the chance to deliver them in time for Christmas – who wants a box of baubles in January – or a family holiday that can only be taken during school time. (It happens)
- Sharing: For festive promotions why not use the fact that it is “the time for giving” to encourage consumers to share the promotion (on social media) or the prizes (with others)
- Play Scrooge: There is a significant minority who get tired of the Christmas cheer and want to rebel against Christmas. So try Zigging when everyone else is Zagging. Stand out from the crowd, by running your promotion in January after the rush of the festive period – you may get more attention and give more joy in the New Year.
- Use an Advent Calendar: Daily prizes using the theme of Advent and the twelve days of Christmas are a great way to create opportunities for consumers to engage with your brand repeatedly.
- Consider what consumers want: At this time of year people want to offset the cost of Christmas and provide people with presents. A prize of £10,000 will make one person’s Christmas. 20 prizes of £500 will make 20 families Christmases and probably result in a better response and certainly more happiness and good cheer.
- Drive sales: include a repeat purchase mechanic in whatever you do e.g. a coupon or cashback in January and February when sales may struggle.
- Plan Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest are all great platforms for festive promotions but make sure all of your social media promotions tie-in together. Ask PromoVeritas to help you set up the different campaigns to be sure you aren’t breaking any rules and run your promotions smoothly.
To speak to our team here at PromoVeritas, about your Christmas promotions please call 0203 301 7360 or email info@promoveritas.com.