Brands will soon be busy preparing holiday marketing campaigns as the end of the year approaches.
While the holidays mean Christmas and Thanksgiving for most people, the truth is that holidays occur year round. Hardly a week passes without some sort of day of recognition. For PR and marketing purposes, almost every day is a holiday. Are you ready for Miniature Golf Day? How about National Talk Like a Pirate Day?
To help marketers, HubSpot created a list of holidays, including a downloadable template with automatic reminders. The calendar may be especially practical for brands involved in different events. Some holidays might be too silly for your brand, admits Sophia Bernazzani at HubSpot. And sharing content and irrelevant hashtags on social media just for attention is not recommended. It’s just plain annoying. But celebrating holidays and special days of recognition can often make good business sense, especially if the day falls within your area of business interest.
Here are some ideas on how brands can tap holidays and special recognition days to energize their PR and marketing.
Planning. Holiday marketing is almost impossible to complete successfully without planning. Essentials include: noting everything you plan to do; assigning responsibility and giving each deliverable a deadline; and checking and rechecking the status to make sure you are on track. Though not absolutely essential, finding a unique or novel approach is what works best in holiday promotion.
Hashtags. Many holidays have dedicated hashtags. Brands organizing their own events can create their own hashtag to boost interest. Promote the hashtag on other branded materials and across all channels before and during the event. Beware of using an inappropriate hashtag or including too many hashtags, which may seem spammy and annoy viewers. The recommended number of hashtags varies between networks.
Understand your customers. Learn where your ideal customers spend their time online, which social channels they use most, and what kind of content they seek. A fictionalized, composite picture of your customer, often called a buyer persona, improves understanding of potential buyers and their purchasing behaviors. By better understanding an audience, marketers can figure out how to reach them more efficiently, which is often the biggest hurdle in building a successful campaign.
Social media images. Google mastered this technique years ago with the customized logo designs for special days, seasons and events. Transform your social media pages with a specially designed cover image that matches the particular day. “It’s the perfect place to announce special holiday promotions and deals. Be sure to create one for all of your social media accounts,” says Susan Friesen, founder of digital marketing firm eVision Media.
Get ideas from social media listening. A social media listening service can identify major trends and product keywords. Knowing those keywords can help marketers find the social platforms their target audiences prefer. Social media listening can also find user-generated content to share, obtain competitive intelligence, and identify influential brand advocates. Social media measurement can gauge the health of the brand’s reputation. The opinions people express on social media give real insights into how they feel about an organization and its products. It’s usually the first clue to problems that need to be fixed – and opportunities to be seized.
Follow up with a clear CTA: Joining conversations on social media can generate brand awareness. Including a call to action (CTA) can drive viewers to your website or landing page to learn more about your brand. The link back to your website enables interested prospects to start their customer journey, advises DMN News.
Create your own holiday. If you can’t find the right holiday, consider creating your own. 7-Eleven established July 11 as 7-Eleven Day and marks the occasion by giving away free Slurpees and other treats.
Give someone special recognition. NBC News on most of its nightly newscasts offers recognition to an individual or organization that has accomplished something special. Other organizations can also pay tribute to good works – and promote the tribute on social media. It creates a good feeling for everyone who sees it and good will for the company that does it.
Bottom Line: National holidays offer a full cart of PR and marketing opportunities. Almost every day celebrates a type of food, product, profession or cause. Most brands can capitalize on at least one holiday or day of recognition during the year.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
