We’ve avoided saying it for as long as we could, but it can’t be denied any longer - get ready, Christmas is coming!

It comes around so fast every year, I won’t even tell you how many shopping days you have left. But don’t panic, you still have plenty of time to get your business ready for the festivities, but you need to act now! Christmas is a great time to make meaningful connections with your customers and clients as well as a fantastic opportunity to show off your amazing brand with some top-notch Christmas inspired marketing.

We’ve done some of the hard work for you (we can’t help with the Christmas shopping, sadly) and put together a festive filled guide to get your business in the Christmas spirit!
 
Christmas 2021 Marketing Strategy
If you haven't already reviewed your marketing strategy for Christmas then you need to act now. This year is slightly different to Christmas 2020, but Covid is still affecting how businesses run and customer behaviour:

• Think about how your customers have changed the way they do business with you. If you’re finding they are more likely to interact with your business online then focus your marketing on those online platforms. However, if you’re finding your customers are embracing being able to do more face-face business then you should turn your attention to printed festive marketing materials that will entice your customers.
• Don’t forget to set a budget when you’re devising your plan. It’s so easy to get carried away but be realistic and stick to your budget.
• Market Research- what are your competitors doing? What do your customers expect and how do you plan to meet those needs?
• If you sell products, do you want to provide a wrapping service? Will you need branded/promotional wrapping paper?

Dec the Halls...
If your business has a physical premises where customers visit then you need to be thinking about festive marketing materials such as boards, banners, posters and decals for the windows. Don’t forget twinkly lights, Christmas tree and, if appropriate, music inside.
 
…and the Virtual Halls
Don’t forget the online window dressing:

• If you have a website with an online shop, then make sure you have a Christmas themed online shop front. You could temporarily change your colour scheme to more festive colours, add a Christmas banner to your landing page or some festive decorations to your brand logo.
• Give your newsletter/email marketing campaign a festive flourish. Include lots of details of any Christmas offers/sales you have planned, consider a Christmas countdown and make sure you include links to your social media channels.
• Run a series of Christmas themed social media posts (don’t forget the appropriate Christmas hashtags!)
• Change your profile pictures/backgrounds to a Christmas themed image.
  
• Create Christmas inspired content

 
Get Personal
To say thank you to your customers and to wish them well for the new year, why not send a branded calendar, stationary or Christmas card? Handwritten for that extra personal touch.
 
As always Creative Remedy are on hand to help with any of your branded printing materials including calendars and cards as well as your Christmas digital marketing. Don’t forget the more notice the better, we can’t change print lead times unfortunately!

1. Give Away Branded Treats
Give away branded treats with every purchase or order. Cupcakes and treat bags are always popular but think a little outside the box… it might just grab you a bit of attention!

2. Hold a Halloween Event
Be part of the Halloween spirit and if appropriate make it a dress up day at work.

3. Halloween Themed Graphics
Create spooky or Halloween themed graphics and add a funky graphic to your branding... this can used on your social media and website.

4. Get Creative with #Hashtags or Voucher Codes!
You can brainstorm a bespoke hashtag or voucher code for your customers to use to promote how they use your products or services or to save money on products and services just for that day. #Halloween2021, #Boo, #FindTheSpider, #TrickOrTreat

5. Hold a Halloween Competition
Hold a Halloween competition with public voting on a specific theme e.g. For a veterinary practice… best spooky dog costume. You will need to advertise this through your website or social media.

Treat by the way!... Happy Halloween!

Hopefully you’ve already got email marketing set up as part of your marketing strategy for your business- if not then we recommend you read ‘Email Marketing For Small Businesses’ to find out why having one is an essential part of your marketing plan.

If you already use email marketing as part of your marketing strategy then great, but it’s important to update your email marketing strategy regularly in order to get the best results for your business. It’s no good just planning then leaving it for a few years. Over time your business changes and so do your customers. If your products or services have changed in order to meet demand, then your customers or your customers’ needs will most definitely have changed too.

Update Your Customer List
It’s so important to make sure you have an up-to-date customer list. If you’re using old contacts the chances are there are several incorrect details as well as subscribers who are no longer interested in your products or services. You need to be tough and cull any contacts that are no longer interested. Finding out who to keep and who to delete might seem like a bit of a task but it’s vital not only for your engagement but also to keep on the right side of the law with GDPR.

Email marketing services such as Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor will help you weed out the old customers and see which customers might just need a bit of a push to re-engage with your business.

Organise Your List
Once you’ve decided who to keep and who to throw out it’s a good idea to organise your customer list, whether that’s by the service they are interested in or behaviour such as previous purchases. Once you’ve got your groups sorted it makes it easier to tailor personalised email campaigns and hopefully increase engagement.

Make Privacy a Priority
You want to build trust with your customers and one way of ensuring that is by letting the customer know that their privacy is paramount to you. Keep on top of all legislation regarding privacy and make sure your customers are aware of the things you are doing to keep their data safe and secure - this can be detailed in your privacy policy. Finally, ensure it is easy for the customer to unsubscribe- make it clear and simple.

Make your Customer Feel Valued
Personalised email marketing is bound to have a much more positive effect on your customer engagement than the scatter-gun effect of just random content that might not resonate with all your subscribers. If you sell a product, you could consider sending out personalised birthday emails with discounts or for services- let them know how you are there to help and support them. You could also look at what's happening in the world currently- many businesses offer discounts to NHS staff or Key Workers in thanks for their continued hard work.
 
Book a health check if you need any support reviving your Email Marketing or Marketing Strategy.

What does understanding the customer journey help you achieve?
Before a customer makes a purchase through your website they will first go through many interactions with your brand/business starting with when they first become aware of your brand right through to making a purchase. The route each customer takes to get to the final sale is varied and personal to them. We call this the customer journey.

Finding out about the customer journey is important if you want to help build a strong, loyal customer base. Knowing each stage the customer goes through helps you identify weak points in your communication strategy which you can then be improved to create a better customer experience and increase brand loyalty and sales.
 
How to track your customer journey
To understand the customer journey you need to analyse all the data from your marketing channels:

• Paid Advertising Basically any type of advertising you have to pay for ie. Google Ads or social media ads such as Facebook 
• Offline Activity Business cards, leaflets, networking, trade shows etc
• SEO All the channels you use to improve your website ranking in search engines such as Google  
• Social Media  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, blogs etc.
• Email Marketing

 
The different marketing channels all have the same aim - to lead the customer to your website. But, as you know, just getting the potential customer to the website isn’t enough, what you want is for the customer to take the next step:

• A phone call

• An enquiry/contact us form
• An order/purchase

 
There are ways to measure how all the marketing channels are performing using various apps:

• Website Analytics 

• Google Analytics 
• Mailchimp Stats
• Social Media Insights
• Collect your own data from questionnaires, trade shows, events and networking

 
These websites and apps will collect all the data you need and help you get a better understanding of your audience so you can then adapt your marketing strategy to try and turn those visits into sales and in time increase brand loyalty and keep customers returning.
 
Get to know your customer
For any of this to work it’s important you really get to know your customer at every stage of their journey. This will help you develop content and services that are relevant to your customer. Find out how the customer feels at each stage of their journey - what made them take the next step? What stopped them from making a purchase?
 
To get the most out of your data you need to understand your numbers then you can see where improvements need to be made in order to boost traffic, increase loyalty and get more sales.
 
For help understanding the customer journey and making sense of it all contact Creative Remedy

A marketing funnel is basically a way of mapping a customer journey from awareness of your brand/business through to the final stage (purchase/sign up). There are different types of funnels focusing on specific areas of marketing (social media marketing funnels, video marketing funnels, email marketing funnels etc) but they all have the same role - to follow the steps a customer takes before fulfilling the final stage.

Why do you need a marketing funnel?
Having a marketing funnel will give you great insight into your customer journey. The data you will get from the funnel report will highlight if you are losing customers along their journey and help you focus on the weaker areas of your marketing plan. You will see which areas are strong and which areas you can build on. It will help you focus your marketing to your target audience which will ensure a better conversion rate. Understanding your customers and their needs makes it much easier for you to guide them through the ‘funnel’ and hopefully bring you more sales through your website/leads.
 
It may seem like a lot of data but it all makes sense once you understand your numbers and can see where you can improve brand loyalty or increase conversion rates.
 
How can a marketing funnel help your business?
A marketing funnel is a great way to build brand loyalty which in turn leads to recommendations, new customers and further sales. The marketing funnel is made of stages your customer goes through before making that purchase:

• Awareness - Attracting new customers
• Attention - Make your brand stand out from your competitors

• Action - Encouraging your new customer to make the purchase
• Engagement - Keeping in touch with your new customer through social media channels
• Loyalty - Building trust with your customers so they recommend your business to others

 
The information you will get from a marketing funnel will help you gain understanding of your audience and ultimately help you convert them into loyal customers.
 
If you need help with your marketing plan and would like more information, why not get a FREE Health Check