Is a large Christmas campaign what your business needs?

Let's talk seasonal marketing

As the festive period approaches, the algorithms become saturated with everything seasonal: Christmas campaigns, every product has a festive makeover, sales and offers, and brands trying to create the latest viral trend or campaign. With so many businesses participating in seasonal marketing, it can be overwhelming for them and consumers when everything evolves into a version that mirrors the season.

Campaigns should serve a purpose, not simply be something to participate in because everyone else is doing it.

Why seasonal marketing can work

Seasonal campaigns can be incredibly effective, and most of us can probably think of a festive campaign that has stayed with us. Seasonal marketing, especially Christmas, has increased visibility. The emotional connection people have with the seasonal periods really makes it easier for a campaign to be successful. Consumers find campaigns themed around the festive period more relatable because advertisements and campaigns can be catered towards more personal experiences.

Campaigns planned around festive timeframes can also be effective because they have a natural cut-off date. This creates a sense of urgency for consumers, while giving businesses a clear timeframe to work towards. But, timing for when a campaign goes live and how long the audience has to interact is still essential. A campaign needs enough time to breathe, reach its audience and remain relevant.

Christmas isn’t always right for you and your audiences

Knowing when a seasonal campaign is right for your business is considering if it’s right for your audience. Businesses should consider how relevant certain festive periods are to their customers and whether seasonal content fits what their audience actually wants to see. Relatability is important, and consumers don’t want to feel disconnected from a brand, especially during seasonal periods when holiday messages and content can become repetitive.

Although seasonal marketing can be extremely successful and offer increased visibility, it can also lead to customer fatigue. When every brand is posting festive content, campaigns can start to blur into one another. If there’s nothing that sets your campaign apart, it risks blending into the background and being quickly scrolled past.

The wider challenge with trends

Anyone who is active on social media, whether as a consumer, someone who works within marketing or even someone who owns a business, is aware of how quickly trends take shape across social channels. With the rise of TikTok and short-form content, micro-trends are at an all-time high. Short-form content is a perfect way for trends to spread, but they tend to have such a short lifespan before they turn into something different.

Jumping on a trend may seem like the perfect idea, but how much will it really benefit your business? If every business jumps on the same trend on their social channels, the trend becomes oversaturated, and the impact of any content that you have put effort into creating becomes unpredictable. You don’t want to seem like you are chasing relevance; taking part in a trend doesn’t always ensure success. 

Trends are beneficial specifically for raising awareness of your brand - but this is really most impactful if the content has your own spin on it, so it is relevant to your audience and the services or products that you offer, or the goals for your business. We talk more about the challenge of trends and controversial marketing in our blog here.

Keeping it authentic

Joining in on trends can be a reputational risk for businesses, particularly when there’s pressure to act quickly without understanding where a trend has come from. The same applies to seasonal marketing. Just because Christmas content is popular doesn’t mean every brand needs to join in. 

Before joining on a trend or launching a large seasonal campaign, businesses should consider whether it reflects their brand, values and audience. If it doesn’t feel authentic, it can do more harm than good. A strong brand identity can help businesses decide which trends are worth following, and which are better left behind.

When it works

It’s easy to look at brands like John Lewis, Coca Cola and Starbucks and think successful seasonal marketing is only successful for businesses with huge budgets and established audiences. Smaller businesses and B2B brands can still make seasonal campaigns work by focusing on what is relevant to their audience rather than trying to compete with big brand names. 

For a smaller business, this could be as simple as offering a seasonal promotion, sharing useful festive content or finding a creative way to connect their product or service to the time of the year. 

For B2B brands, Christmas marketing might not mean selling a product at all. It could be a chance to thank customers, reflect on the year's work or create content that feels more personal to the brand. The key is making the campaign feel like it belongs to the brand, you don’t need the biggest budget or the most out there ideas, you just need a reason for your audience to care. 

Timing and planning 

Campaign planning is important, especially when it comes to seasonal planning; a Christmas campaign that launches the second week of December will easily become ineffective for audiences because the majority of Christmas marketing activity is already in place, and it takes time to convince people to take action. 

A healthy life span for campaigns ensures the content can reach a range of audiences and grow engagement. Seasonal campaigns will be planned in advance; when visibility can be at an all-time high, scheduling assets and objective planning should be a main priority. Competitiveness during festive periods increases as opposed to all year round, and rushing a campaign that can make an impact undermines how effective they really are when executed well. 

Trends aren’t strategies

Ultimately, the question isn’t whether your business should run seasonal campaigns but if the campaign actually serves a purpose and resonates with your audience. Trends and seasonal campaigns can offer increased visibility, a sense of urgency and the chance of higher engagement, but only when they align with your audience, brand and objectives.

A campaign being seasonal isn’t what makes it successful, it’s how well it’s executed. Planning ahead can help businesses make the most of the seasonal opportunities, from choosing the right idea to creating content and deciding when to launch. At JUMP, we can help you plan campaigns that are relevant to your audience, aligned with your objectives built to make an objectives.