The holiday season can be a time of information and activity overload for many people making it difficult to get your marketing messages noticed. This year, I propose going again the flow in your holiday marketing by doing something different. Here are 5 holiday marketing ideas that will help you stand out from the crowd.
Host holiday family photo sessions.
Find an awesome photographer to partner with and host free holiday photo sessions for your clients and top prospects and their families and/or pets. Make sure you have a great background setting for your photos. Some of my favorites include old brick buildings, barns, open fields and old cars, or even your business location. Provide some holiday and not so holiday props such as sports equipment, hats, etc. Schedule sittings every 30 minutes, and make sure you’re there to talk with people and meet their families. You could work with the photographer to provide a free print to your clients, and then they could purchase other photos from the photographer as they wish.
Start a red envelope tradition.
This a holiday greeting that will be kept all year. In China, a New Year tradition is to give children red packets with an even amount of money tucked inside as a symbol of good luck. Why not send a crisp new $2 bill in a red envelope to your top clients and prospects? Make sure you add the story behind it as you wish them a prosperous New Year.
Send an elephant in the mail!
In 1874 Harper’s Weekly published a cartoon of an elephant trampling on inflation and chaos. And it was then that the elephant became the symbol of the Republican Party. Elephant figurines and charms have long been popular tokens of Good Luck and prosperity. Why not send out a holiday mailing that features pigs? Maybe even send some little plastic pigs, wishing your clients/prospects good luck in the coming New Year!
Never mind!!
This is a guerilla marketing strategy not for the faint of heart. Come up with some totally off the wall event or publicity stunt. For example, a Naked Fashion Show. Announce your intentions to have the event, creating a ton of controversy around it. Then, of course, don’t have it. The buzz around the event will get people talking.
Put up your dukes!
Recently two Phoenix, Arizona, restaurants engaged in a public showdown when Restaurant Noca challenged Joe’s Real BBQ to a contest to see who had the best Brisket. The Brisket throw down was all in good fun, however, the media and the public took it seriously, garnering massive publicity for both restaurants.
Give away good cheer!
Companies like Starbucks and Burger King have adopted this method by giving away coffee. Starbucks had a buy one holiday drink, get one free, while Burger King offered free coffee on Fridays in November. The key is that the offers get people in the store. What could you give away that would bring people flocking to you? You don’t need to have a physical location for this to work.
Hey! I don’t have the corner on holiday marketing ideas! Would love to hear some of yours! Comment here with a creative holiday marketing idea and you will be entered into a drawing to win a free copy of my book “How to Build Buzz for Your Biz!”
Wendy Kenney is the internationally bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the New York Times.
Wendy owns the company 23 Kazoos, a marketing and publicity firm in Phoenix, Arizona, that has helped companies like Culver’s Restaurants, The Arizona Farm Bureau and Tom Chambers Commercial increase their visibility through social media, publicity, and creative marketing strategies. Wendy honed her marketing skills while working for organizations such as MetLife, WebMd, and PacifiCare.
As a Marketing Expert, Wendy speaks internationally to corporations and organizations about marketing strategy, branding, and low cost, no cost marketing.
Wendy lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband Mike, and three teenage sons. Her personal goal is to visit all of the Major League Ballparks in the US before she turns 49. So far she has been to 13.
