5 Christmas marketing campaigns you should avoid

The holiday season is the most wonderful time of year for eCommerce businesses like yours, but it can also be the busiest and craziest. That's when you need magical Christmas marketing ideas to wow online Christmas shopping customers, boost your sales, and end the year on a joyful note. It's also the time for your brand to launch meaningful holiday campaigns, create a memorable customer experience, and stand out.

But for successful seasonality marketing, there are retail seasonality trends during this time of year that you should be aware of:

• People have a greater intention to buy.
• Time-sensitive holiday campaigns create a sense of urgency that drives customers to buy.
• Brands must redesign their search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. Holiday SEO strategies can generate more qualified traffic than “regular season” SEO tactics.
• Shoppers tend to use social media to find gift ideas and inspiration.

In addition to a strong awareness of e-commerce seasonality, you also need a well-planned strategy to maximize holiday economics. If you're just starting this year's seasonality marketing activities, we're here to help.

Since most Christmas marketing tips cover advice on what you should do, let's take the road less traveled and show you what NOT to do. Stay off the naughty list by avoiding these six holiday marketing campaigns:

1. “Visit our website” campaigns

These campaigns involve using captivating Christmas ads to convince customers to click on links. However, these links take interested buyers to the site principal.

The mistake:

You might be thinking, What's wrong with this Christmas advertising idea? Aren't ads supposed to bring potential customers to our website?

The flaw in this type of campaign lies in your website.

Online Christmas shopping can get hectic; People have limited time to buy many things at once. Therefore, they want to skip snippets of text to get to what you promised in your ads right away. Your main website usually contains general information about your business. It's not what your visitors want right now. It's just something that delays your online Christmas shopping trip.

The solution:

You don't need to revamp your entire website for your holiday marketing strategy. Rather, create new landing pages designed specifically for seasonality marketing. This allows you to implement your Christmas or New Year marketing ideas quickly and cost-effectively. It will also help you attract busy shoppers doing holiday shopping online and improve your user experience.

Here are some Christmas marketing tips to make your landing pages even more effective:

• Include countdown timers so shoppers know how much time they have left to access your offer. This encourages them to act soon.
• Have an attractive pre-checkout popup to encourage shoppers to stay on your landing page and consider your offer.

2. “Same old keywords” campaigns

These are campaigns that successfully capture Christmas cheer in terms of images and messaging. However, something seems wrong with the keywords they use…

The mistake:

Search engine optimization involves understanding your audience and their search behavior. It also involves targeting search terms consistently. That said, it also includes recognizing changes in search intent throughout the year.

Targeting the same old keywords in your holiday campaigns prevents you from maximizing brand awareness and sales opportunities that can only be found by tapping on holiday-related search terms.

The solution:

Get your brand in front of audiences with high purchasing intent by studying holiday SEO, looking at holiday economics, and capitalizing on seasonal searches. Use tools like Google Trends to identify trending keywords and incorporate them into your messages. Partnering with an agency that understands holiday SEO can also help you appear in relevant search results during this busy time.

3. Campaigns without hashtag

Festive looking landing pages, all ready . Vacation Keyword Research, all complete ! These types of campaigns seem to have it all. Except for one thing: relevant hashtags.

The mistake:

It's easy to be too focused on the big picture of your holiday or Christmas marketing ideas to miss the little details, like hashtags. However, remember that your offers or specials must be seen first before they can generate the results you want.

That's why hashtags are important. They help put your holiday posts in front of the public in the midst of online holiday shopping so you can build greater brand awareness and reach a wider audience.

The solution:

Strive to find the hashtag that best represents your brand or your holiday campaign. If you're feeling stuck, get inspired by trending topics relevant to your business.

You should also get creative with how you will integrate your hashtags into your campaign. For example, you can use them to:

• Collect all updates about your sales and promotions in one convenient space.
• Encourage buyers to use the hashtag and create user-generated content with your product or service.
• Generate more interest in your business.

Hashtags are very effective on Twitter and Instagram, but they are not as popular or useful on Facebook. Keep this in mind when creating your holiday marketing strategy.

4. The “No Ads” campaign

These are Christmas campaigns that include wonderful Christmas marketing ideas, icon and header updates, sales announcements, and cute hashtags. However, they omit paid ads; Those are just an added expense, right?

The mistake:

Paid ads aren't just another added expense in your holiday ad campaign, so don't leave them out. When done right, pay per click (PPC) and social media advertising gives you greater visibility, better holiday sales performance, and better return on investment (ROI).

The solution:

Craft your time-sensitive offers or holiday promotions as you normally would. However, take the time to develop your paid advertising strategy.

Take the time to draft your Christmas ad copy and design eye-catching images. After this, strategically place your ads on major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. You can also consider investing in PPC ads to drive more traffic to your website or landing page.

If you're unsure about overseeing your holiday advertising efforts on your own, there's also the option of hiring holiday marketing services.

5. “Lackluster Customer Experience” Campaigns

Although the holidays are bright and cheerful, these campaigns don't seem to have that festive feel. They offer the same customer experience found any other time of the year.

The mistake:

Online and offline Christmas shopping isn't all fun and games. And with the stress of holiday shopping and long lines dominating Christmas and the new year, marketing ideas should be aimed at addressing these pain points. Additionally, you need to understand these time-specific trends and prepare your online store for e-commerce seasonality.

If you see any of these in your current eCommerce marketing approach, it's time to change things:

• An online store that is not prepared for a sudden influx of visitors and orders
• An ecommerce website design without a hint of Christmas cheer
• A frustrating payment experience

The solution:

Make it your ultimate goal to reduce stress for your customers. Here are some tips worth following to provide a magical experience for online shoppers:

• Pay attention to retail seasonality trends and prepare your inventory in advance. Doing so will help you quickly meet the needs of customers doing holiday shopping online.
• Answer customer queries through an easy-to-read FAQ page or live chat feature. You can also share gift ideas or tips for hassle-free online holiday shopping.
• Work with your web developers to ensure your eCommerce store runs smoothly and quickly.

Dive into a magical holiday marketing season with an experienced agency

For companies that want to have a more successful Christmas and New Year, marketing ideas for these seasons must be smart and carefully planned. After all, the holidays are the most opportune time to build emotional bonds with the public, boost fourth-quarter sales, and close the year on a cheerful note.

With all this in mind, you should spend time generating your Christmas marketing ideas and understanding the seasonality of e-commerce. You should plan your Christmas campaigns thoroughly to make the most of the Christmas economy. Doing so also helps you stay away from the unproductive campaigns listed above and instead generate the ROI you deserve.

If you're still unsure how to approach seasonality marketing for your online store, having experts on your side, even just for this season, makes a big difference. Our team of eCommerce consultants, SEO professionals, PPC specialists, and content marketing experts are always ready to turn your holiday marketing ideas into a fruitful holiday campaign.

From eCommerce optimizations and holiday email marketing campaigns to New Year's marketing ideas, we've got everything you need to hand out gifts and cheer up your customers. Get in contact us today and let's create a magical season for your business.