Many B2B companies shy away from holiday marketing, reserving that approach for B2C companies that target consumers who are looking for great deals around certain holidays. Unfortunately, that mentality can lead to missed opportunities.
While B2B holiday marketing is challenging, especially because you are talking to multiple decision-makers at various levels of your prospect company, it can be effective.
The key is making sure your holiday marketing fits your overall content marketing strategy to engage your audience and compel them to take action.
How Do You Know Whether B2B Holiday Marketing Applies to Your Company?
When setting out on a decision to utilize holiday marketing to engage your prospects, consider taking inventory of your company, your audience, and your product or solution to know if this is the right opportunity for your company.
– Know Yourself. Evaluate who you are as a company because not every B2B company is the same. If your company is formal and upright, then perhaps B2B holiday marketing is not for you because it would be too “off-brand” for your company.
However, if your company is a little looser or has some flexibility to deviate from your standard messaging to incorporate holiday themes, then take the next step of understanding whether your audience will respond to this type of marketing.
– Know Your Audience. How will your audience receive a holiday-themed message? We’re not talking about incorrectly using a Fourth of July themed email campaign to market to prospects in a different country. Instead, it’s understanding whether your audience would appreciate or not appreciate a break from the usual types of messages they receive from you. This is why it’s so important to understand your personas and the journey they take to purchase.
Some prospects may only want to receive business-related updates in their inbox, only see business-related social posts on their LinkedIn feed, or only read a business-related blog on your website. Conversely, other prospects may enjoy a different type of message that breaks up the “strictly business” messages. You need to dig into your audience to understand their likes and dislikes.
– Know Your Product or Solution. Additionally, you need to evaluate whether your product or solution fits holiday-themed messaging.
It’s straightforward for a B2C company to take their signature hand cream, dress it up in holiday seasoning, and present the product to their customers in a new way. However, when you’re marketing a million-dollar solution to a specific department in your target company, it’s not as simple to dress up your offering around a holiday.
Take a moment to evaluate whether your product or solution fits one or two holidays during the year, then strategize content that sends the right message about your offering.
- Example: You are marketing an eBook about your product or solution to compel your audience to schedule a demo. During the summer, consider surrounding your eBook around the concept of reading on the beach to encourage your prospects to download the eBook to their tablet or mobile device.
How Should You Deliver the Holiday Message?
Your method of delivery is critical for using holiday messaging effectively in B2B marketing. The ingredients will vary depending on what you learned about yourself, your audience, and your offering, but the finished product coming out of the oven should be consistent with your branding.
The goal is to be strategic with how you send the message, staying focused on advancing the prospect to an eventual purchasing decision.
Too many B2B companies make the mistake of crafting and delivering holiday-themed marketing messages just for the sake of breaking from the norm on their blog, social media, or email newsletter. That is not a good use of time or resources.
Remember, be strategic when utilizing holiday-themed marketing! If the content does not support your goal of converting a prospect into a customer, then re-evaluate or scrap the content.
However, if you believe the holiday-themed content will support your marketing efforts, then consider the best methods to deliver the content. Consider this blog example that has worked for one of our clients:
- Instead of writing a “Happy New Year’s” blog post, consider using the start of a new year to create a predictive blog that captures your company’s expectations or predictions for the industry in the new year. This conveys thought leadership and market presence.
- Use the blog as the foundation for timely social media posts and an email campaign to drive prospects to read the blog.
- ProTip: The blog should include a relevant Call to Action (CTA) that compels your prospect to schedule a demo of your offering, call for more information about how your offering addresses their pain points, or take another desired action.
Get Support for B2B Holiday Marketing
Taking the first step of deciding whether holiday marketing is the right fit for your business is challenging. Alternatively, you may be challenged with the second step of deciding what type of content to create and how to deliver the content.
Our digital marketing agency understands both challenges for B2B companies:
- We have helped clients understand themselves, their audience, and their offering to know whether utilizing holidays in their marketing is the right fit for their business.
- We also understand the best type of content to create that fits within your content marketing strategy and how to serve your audience with the appropriate messages to compel them to take action.
To find out more about how we can help your business with marketing around holidays, contact our team today. We look forward to hearing from you!
