Holidays bring togetherness as it’s an opportunity to spend time with friends and family. They also give a chance to get away from tiring hours of work. Therefore, effective holiday marketing campaigns at this time of the year can bring wonderful profits to businesses.
People look forward to planning the best seasons of the year by shopping, traveling, and eating. Therefore, if you own a business, jump on this train. Whether you have a restaurant or cafe, incorporate holiday campaigns and generate more traffic and sales.
If you have no clue where to start, this article will help you. Here you will find amazing holiday marketing campaign ideas to boost your sales and stand out from market rivals.
Why Wasting the Golden Holiday Season Is a Bad Idea?
Let’s first learn why you shouldn’t waste the holiday season. The business landscape grows too fast, and normal is no more the standard practice. For this reason, offering something different is the only option to get ahead. The holiday season is exciting in this regard.
People look forward to enjoying these days. There is a rush in restaurants, cafes, and hotels. Therefore, if you’re not providing anything unique, you will never be able to catch the eye.
Holiday ads and marketing campaigns are the best way to introduce your creative side to the customers. You can earn a spot among your region’s best restaurants, so do not waste this chance. It is not a coincidence that restaurant marketing offers consider holidays as a consistent part of achieving results.
Moreover, holiday marketing campaigns can be extremely beneficial for fresh businesses. If you are new in town, you need a good customer engagement strategy. Therefore, never miss out on these small time frames that can position your establishment in the mind of customers.
6 Holiday Marketing Campaign Ideas To Decorate Your Tables With Sales
Crafting holiday marketing campaign ideas and fittingly executing them is a challenging task. But it can help you get reviews, sales, and happy customers in your audience.
Besides, it is no secret that making people happy brings them back even after the season ends. Thus, add the following ideas to your holiday marketing campaigns to put smiles on your customer’s faces. However, remember that restaurant marketing ideas and trends evolve with the customer’s preferences. So updating your understanding of the market is an ongoing process.
Holiday Marketing Campaign Idea #1: Holiday Gift Cards Can Never Get Boring
Consumers love gift cards, especially if they represent the spirit of the holiday. Try to incorporate elements of the upcoming season in your gift card.
Remember, it’s not just about designing the card but also about offering the best deals. For instance, if you have a restaurant, give discounts for a limited time on some food items. This restaurant’s marketing tip is effective and brings results.
But don’t stop there. Once your artistic cards and offers are ready, spread the word. Letting people know what is in your bag is a great step to completing holiday marketing campaigns.
Moreover, approach online platforms to target local customers. Send your gift cards to social media influencers because it is the best way to attract the masses.
In addition to online channels, display your gift cards on offline channels such as local news ads and billboards.
Planning a holiday special menu is another hack to start holiday marketing campaigns. The flavors of every season are very symbolic and speak volumes about history. Try to bring the traditional taste to modern treats. However, when it comes to the menu, consider the restaurant marketing trend of the year and prepare something outstanding.
For example, Christmas is all about bringing past cultures to the table. Turn your simple ham into Honey Glazed Ham. Make bean casserole delicious by adding fried onions and cheddar cheese.
Similarly, you can turn food into horror treats on Halloween. You can also add a twist to classic Thanksgiving recipes.
Lastly, Gingerbread houses have had a long association with Christmas since the Victorian era. Therefore, customize the gingerbread house by adding your restaurant’s name and logo. But whatever you do, make sure to win the consumers’ taste buds this holiday. Also, consider using appropriate seasonal pricing strategies to make the most out of your initiatives.
Holiday Marketing Campaign Idea #3: Gift Something on the Side With the Main Course
Coming down from preparing to displaying the menu, let’s not ignore the side gifts. Yes, giving a gift with a main course is one of the brilliant holiday marketing campaigns. This is a common restaurant marketing campaign for special occasions.
Start by creating your list of gifts and give one on each main course platter. It can be a loyalty card or a 5% discount gift envelope for the next dinner.
You can also add a cookbook as a gift with the main course for the culinary enthusiast. Moreover, give away chef’s specials to everyone making a reservation in your restaurant during a particular hour.
However, keep in mind the size of your business when deciding on these gifts. Try to make precise choices that will keep your customers satisfied without burdening the budget.
Holiday Marketing Campaign Idea #4: Offer Holiday Desserts With a Twist
Presenting desserts in a special way is a lovely gesture and an effective practice during holidays. Therefore, one of the best holiday marketing campaigns for cafes or restaurants is renewing the dessert section.
Take an idea from a fortune cookie and make blessing cupcakes or decorate them in Santa’s outlook. Add little messages or predictions to these cakes to excite diners.
Cranberries have a major significance on Thanksgiving. You can add an orangy twist and make Cranberry Orange Trifle on this special occasion. You can also add a layer of peppermint candy crush on Pecan Pie and excite your little customers.
Keep in mind the essence of the season and prepare the desserts accordingly. For instance, a zombie pie is a fantastic Halloween restaurant idea. So, adapt the concept to the holiday itself.
Holiday Marketing Campaign Idea #5: Hold a Happy Hour Event During the Holiday
Entertainment and eating have a charming effect on customers. They like their food more with a sound or a skit. For this reason, you must enlist some shows in your holiday marketing campaigns.
Start by inviting a local superstar for a singing event or arrange a theater act. If it’s Halloween, a scary play is a great idea. You can also adapt famous plays such as “A Christmas Carol’’ or “ The Nutcracker.” However, keep your budget on top of mind.
Alternatively, you can set up a display of Santa’s Christmas preparation. Visualize elves busy wrapping gifts and spice the skit with a bit of comedy.
Set the vibe with Winter Wonderland Fantasy and host a talent show. Moreover, you can also organize a Karaoke night and let the consumers sway with their favorite holiday songs.
Decorate your venue with the theme of a holiday. Advertise the upcoming holiday events through online and offline means of advertisement. Holding happy hours is a great marketing idea for cafes and other small establishments.
Holiday Marketing Campaign Idea #6: Bring Charity and Goodwill to the Table
In the end, don’t forget the underprivileged on holidays. Make room for charity and feed people who can not afford to pay. Remember, an act of kindness can bring acceptance and set a mighty example.
However, don’t think of charity events as just holiday marketing campaigns. Rather, think of it as a chance to do something good. After all, the poor also have a right to enjoy the holidays!
Moreover, collaborate with NGOs and social workers. Target orphanages and old age homes in your zone and distribute food items.
If you’re a small business, your efforts don’t have to cost much. Start a “Special Table” campaign and allow homeless families to eat at your restaurant.
Successful Campaigns That Have Marked the Holiday History
Successful holiday marketing isn’t a mere trick because it requires detailed planning. It’s an estimation that the advertising industry brought 154 billion dollars to the US in 2021.
Yes, it is the power of marketing that everybody relies on. Therefore, think about all factors and learn from the world’s best holiday marketing campaigns below.
Successful Holiday Marketing Campaign #1: The Most Expensive Gift Costs No Money
Let’s start this list of successful holiday marketing campaigns with the king of advertising, Coca-Cola. “Wish Yourself a Merry Christmas” was one of its most effective holiday marketing campaigns.
In this ad, Coca-Cola portrayed distant family members and their longing to get together. A girl gives her father, a letter to give to Santa. Then the ad shows him covering a massive distance to get to Santa, only to find he’s closed for Christmas.
But there’s a twist. The father is drinking Coca-Cola the whole time. When he reaches back home, it turns out that the little girl had wished for her father to be home.
Putting Santa behind the wheel was indeed a strategy for mass attention. This is where you can learn to target the emotions of the human mind. You must carefully bring these components to your marketing for an emphatic effect.
Successful Holiday Marketing Campaign #2: What’s a Better Gift Than Food?
Another example of customer engagement and holiday marketing campaigns is Taco Bell’s gift campaign. This works by sending a $2 gift card to anyone you want.
Taco Bell’s campaign was for honoring International Taco Day on October 4. It was an ideal trick to promote the app and online store.
Now the campaign is a permanent addition to Taco Bell’s services. This initiative also includes a special wrapping to adorn the crunchy tacos during the season.
The person who receives the card can get regular crunchy or soft tacos at the participating Taco Bell location.
Another addition to these campaigns was offering free tacos to the first 10000 users of the gift service. This marketing scheme gives an overview of prompting long term offers at an absolute occasion.
Successful Holiday Marketing Campaign #3: Who Needs Turkey When You’ve Got Kentucky?
Turning the circumstances in your favor is a strategy that has come a long way in history. Kentucky for Christmas is one such campaign. To learn about this popular holiday marketing campaign, you need to travel back to Japan in 1974.
A group of foreigners were unable to find turkey in Japan for Christmas. As they were discussing the issue, a KFC sales team overheard them and initiated the idea.
Since then, KFC has become Japan’s highest-selling food on Christmas. The sales go insanely high even with a minor Christian population. That’s what you need to master, turning the clock to your advantage.
Successful Holiday Marketing Campaign #4: Oreo’s Campaign Fills Your Holidays With Colors
Everything above was from a general marketing perspective. Now, let’s take holiday marketing campaigns to a more personal level with Oreo.
How can you make your product look relatable? Oreo’s Colorfilled campaign successfully sets this example.
People around the world can design their holiday packaging with a flair of creativity. It inspired many artistic individuals to take a chance and create their packaging.
The design options vary from colorful to black and white streaks of images and icons. Moreover, there are waving snowmen, singing Partridges, and hugging penguins on the creation list.
Customers can also add scarves and antlers to the wrapper design. And that’s not all because you can get customized cookies by going to their online store.
What Should You Pay Attention to When Creating Holiday Campaigns?
Popular holiday marketing campaigns are not just about changing the menu or seasonal decor. These campaigns need an infrastructure that properly extends into the market. If you want to get to the core of marketing, stick to the following guidelines.
- Find your aim: Before starting marketing, the first thing to consider is clearing your aim and identifying your need. Know if you want to increase your sales, promote your product, or launch an entirely new brand. Each of these objectives requires a different marketing approach, so find your aim.
- Target your audience: Analyze what’s in trend this season and what draws people. After that, build an appropriate strategy by drafting people’s preferences.
- Start before the Holiday: Always plan your marketing at least 3 months before the season. It will take some time to refine the final idea.
- Target Channels: Target both online and offline means. Sponsor Santa Tracker at Christmas or turn to Amazon ads to dilate your target audience. Moreover, turn to local billboards and television for promotion.
Holiday marketing campaigns can bring joy to your business and your customers. Incorporate the ideas that work best for your business and see how they benefit your earnings. Use most of your artistic and creative ability to grab attention. Or, you can rely on traditional or digital advertising. For example, google ads can help you show up for local searches.
With the increased traffic at your venue, you can take advantage of it by employing WiFi marketing solutions. These allow you to capitalize on the results of your holiday marketing campaigns to improve your results during regular times. Beambox is a comprehensive and affordable WiFi marketing platform that allows you to automate marketing campaigns and grow your business. Start your trial today!
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