It’s a bit early for those holiday decorations (at least for most of us), but there’s no more important time than now to get started planning and preparing for the upcoming holiday shopping season.

In 2022’s holiday shopping season for example, “U.S. retail sales grew by 7.6% year-on-year” according to a Mastercard SpendingPulse report shared by Forbes.

So, whether you’re looking for ways to enhance your sales promotions, want to be on the right marketing channels so you reach new customers, or are looking for ways to stand out in a crowded market, your business should have every chance to make the most of this peak purchasing season.

And in today’s blog, we’re helping you answer the big questions you’ll want to ask yourself (and your team) as you prepare for a successful holiday shopping season.

Let’s get down to it.

Question #1: When Should I Start Marketing Ahead of the Holiday Season?

This is one of the questions we get most often at Revelation Creative. And while there are some guidelines, the truth is this: It depends.

Your ideal clients, the offers you want to sell, how your clients make buying decisions, and even what platforms you select to market your products can impact your business’s unique timeline.

This means that while for Company A it may be best to start marking after Thanksgiving, that may be too long of a wait for Company B. 

A good first step is to review your past years’ data for insight into what’s worked best.

If that data doesn’t represent what you think is truly possible, you may be reluctant to lean on it as a guide for what to do this year. But it may offer you vital information on what’s not working. That can be just as important to the success of your current year’s holiday sales season.

And when in doubt, reach out to your marketing consultancy or agency partner and collaborate with them on a timeline that makes sense given your offers, clients, and goals.

Question #2:  What Marketing Goals Can I Set and Measure for the Holiday Season? 

We covered a set of vital marketing KPIs last month and we’re bringing back this discussion this month. 

While you may have overarching marketing goals for the year, selecting a subset of those goals to track during this peak season can help you to get excited and strategically move toward those big goals without exhausting yourself by chasing shiny objects. Because that old “Oh look what X business is doing!” feeling hits hard this time of year.

In fact, selecting the right measures for your success will help you to decide what really matters and help you to point all of your efforts in the right direction. 

The result?

Focus that helps the right outcomes flourish so your business and your bottom line can grow.

Bonus Question: How do these holiday shopping season marketing goals align with my annual or quarterly business goals? 

When you answer this question, you’ll see that, no matter the seasons, your goals support and build on one another.

Question #3: What Channels Should I Use to Market My Products or Services for the Holidays?

Creating goals and selecting KPIs puts you on a solid footing to begin exploring the potential channels you can use to reach your potential customers. When you’re marketing through online channels, your options can seem virtually endless. 

But, when you really zero in on the psychometrics, demographics, and typical buying behaviors of your specific ideal customers, the pool of potential platforms narrows. 

And this means you’ll be better able to decide where to spend your energy.

It’s worth noting here that the channel that works best for you may not be the right fit for someone else, even if they’re in the same field or offer similar products and services. Tailoring your channels to your offers and ideal clients really makes a difference and can help you stand out in a crowded market too.

Question #4: Will I Run Any Promotions, Challenges, Email Campaigns, or Ads?

Once you’ve discerned where your audience is and what channels you’ll use to reach them, it’s time to explore the strategies, approaches, and methods you’ll use to market your products or services to those who are most likely to buy from you.

This is a great place to start when working with an agency or consultancy too.

Either way, answering this question will help you map out a strategy that reaches likely shoppers before, during, and after they buy from you. This approach allows you to increase the lifetime value of a customer but it’s also just good business practice because it keeps loyal customers feeling connected to your brand and the work that you do in the world.

Question #5: What Support Do I Need to Reach My Marketing Goals? 

We covered the value of working with a marketing agency back in July, but it bears mentioning here too.

Once you know your timing, channels, and business goals for the pre-holiday season onward, it’s time to consider how you can make your marketing strategy easier to take action on.

And the right agency partner can make a world of difference, especially when your goals are big but you’re short on time. So, this holiday season might be the perfect time to collaborate with a marketing agency or consultancy. It’ll save you time and give you true peace of mind.

Are you ready to make the upcoming holiday sales season your business’s best yet? We’d love to help make it happen!

Contact us here to get started.