Christmas is just around the corner, and here at MAD Ideas HQ we’re getting very excited! We love the festive season, not only because we get to wear cheesy Christmas jumpers and swap cheeky gifts, but also because it presents a fantastic marketing opportunity. The Christmas period allows us to strengthen relationships with our existing clients and build positive new connections with people we don’t yet know.
If your business would like to do the same, read on for our top tips on how to market your brand this Christmas.
Christmas cards
Sending Christmas cards to clients is a marketing staple, but are you really making the most of the opportunity?
If you’re sending clients an off-the-shelf greeting card with a generic message inside, you may be giving them the impression that they’re just another one of your many business contacts. Branding a commercial card by including your logo and a tailored message inside gives a more personalised touch, but it’s much better to create a custom, bespoke card design. Working with a designer and creating a card that really captures the essence of your brand’s style and ethos shows that you go the extra mile, and reaffirms your business as both creative and professional.
Sending out bespoke cards to everyone on your mailing list could be a time-consuming and costly affair, of course. Instead, try segmenting your mailing list into different groups. Key contacts, longstanding and high value clients could make up one group, with occasional suppliers and business partners placed in another, and a third group comprised of people who’ve signed up to your newsletter at trade shows or via your business website.
You might send a custom professionally printed card, hand signed by senior staff members, to the key clients of your business, but a card printed in-house to contacts in the second group. To the third group, the people on your mailing list who you don’t yet have much of a relationship with, you could send a simple e-card. This is a great way to quickly connect with people without blowing your marketing budget.
Branded gifts
If you have the budget, consider upping your festive marketing game by sending branded gifts to clients and key contacts. At this time of year, sending out branded calendars is a great way of keeping your business in clients’ minds during the whole of December.
The opportunities for branding corporate gifts are only limited by your budget and imagination. Drinkware such as mugs and water bottles can be easily branded with your logo and company name, as too can writing instruments such as pens, pencils and markers, and gadgets like USB sticks and even fidget spinners. Gifts such as branded pens and water bottles, which your clients can use outside of the office, will help your name to reach a fresh audience and could even generate new business leads.
These days social media marketing is where it’s at and sending gifts which encourage online sharing is a great way of generating free publicity for your brand. Quirky or cute gifts can be highly ‘Instagramable’ and when they’re branded with your company logo or name, they’re a great way to subtly promote your business online.
People love to take photos of colleagues doing silly things, especially at Christmas, and so novelty gifts that your clients can hold or wear – for example, a pair of reindeer antlers or a Santa hat branded with a funny slogan – can encourage people to take snaps and socially share them. Encouraging sharers to use a specific hashtag when posting on social media means that you’ll be able to engage with them and share their posts – strengthening your relationship with the client and demonstrating to others the personal and positive ways in which you interact with them.
Charity partnerships
Christmas is the season for giving and helping the less fortunate, so what better time to partner with a local charity and helping them to raise both awareness and much-needed funds? There are many ways your business could raise funds, from holding a raffle, to having a sponsored festive fancy dress day, to organising a special Christmas event and donating to your chosen charity all the money raised through ticket sales.
Fun photos of your charitable activities can be shared on social media, generating goodwill towards your brand and highlighting the fact that your business is active within the local community and cares about those in need. You could also include a report and photos in your next e-newsletter, giving your clients and contacts a glimpse into the more relaxed side of your business and showing them that you are socially responsible and strive to make a difference.
Holding an external festive fundraising event may even attract coverage in the local press, raising the profile of your chosen charity and encouraging the public to donate to them, as well as generating positive publicity and website referrals for your own brand.
However you choose to market your business this festive season, everyone at MAD Ideas wishes you a very merry Christmas! If you would like help with the design of Christmas cards or any other kind of marketing materials, don’t hesitate to contact us.