As we enter the holiday season, it is normal to start thinking about revisions or improvements you can make to your marketing plan, so naturally, we have constructed the ultimate holiday marketing checklist.

Generally speaking, this list contains just about everything that your brand/business will need to know to plan for this time of year and have also included some specific details for lead generation and e-commerce businesses specifically. Check out the list broken up into six different categories below to get you started and keep you organized before the New Year hits:

Planning Ahead

  • Get organized first and foremost. Develop a spreadsheet that includes your goals, the date you plan to accomplish those goals, and who will be in charge of overseeing that you meet your goals.
  • Utilize whatever work-flow is best for your marketing team, whether that is a computer program, a Google Doc, or a large white board in your office, to stay on task. Communication amongst team members is key.
  • Do a little research on your local competition to see what people are offering this holiday season.
  • Plan your budget and see what you are willing to spend in each of the categories below.

Holiday Marketing for Each Channel

Social Media

Facebook

  • Make sure your profile photo and cover photo are high quality and professional (it might be time to at least change up your cover photo).
  • Look at the results of your Facebook advertisements—see what worked and what didn’t and continue to implement the strategies that got the most engagement. Really digging into your Insights is half the batter.
  • Engage with users commenting on your posts or interacting with your company profile.
  • New Features. Take an advantage of the unique ways businesses can use Facebook with the new features like photo carousel display, slideshow display, and Facebook LIVE!
  • Share Content. Try to share new content at least a few times a week, whether it is sharing your blog post or a photo of something going on with your brand that week.

LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn Pulse. Check out LinkedIn Pulse for the most recent professional news in your industry.
  • Advertise. To get more traffic and measurable engagement, boost your posts as advertisements on LinkedIn. The platform actually has some great tools for analytics.
  • Remember to connect with industry specialists, clients, and professionals that you work with closely. Your goal going in to 2017 might be (should be) to really boost your connections on this platform, and that will take some time and research.

Instagram

  • Post Often. Regular posting on Instagram will help to boost your following and overall engagement. Unfortunately, Instagram does not build over night—and it can be a challenge for small businesses. However, with due time and effort, you are bound to get people interested in your brand on this platform.
  • Use Hashtags. To build a following you really need to extend your reach beyond your current followers, so use hashtags to appear on feeds of relevant users.
  • CTA. Try the new CTA features for business profiles, test out using “book now” or “call us” and see if it drives more traffic through this channel.

Direct Mail

  • Develop an idea for the kind of content you might want to send via direct mail over the holiday season. What deals can you afford to offer? How will you market those deals?
  • Mailing List. If you have not been developing a direct mail list (if you are interested in sending things via snail mail), then this holiday season can be a great time to start. You can also look into direct mail advertisement in conjunction with partners that already have access to an area/local mailing list.
  • Impression is Key. Make sure the mailer you send out makes an impression that will ultimately lead to conversion. Is it time to think about offering a special or promotion over the holidays?

Email Marketing

  • Build Your List. This is the time of year to really focus on building your email list. Social media, website inquiries, and in-store purchases are all times to collect emails. These people engaged with your brand in some way, so they are already qualified leads.
  • Regular Emails. A key to email marketing is being consistent. Decide if you want to send emails out every two weeks, every month, etc. Different industries will have different time frame that work best. In some situations you don’t want to be blowing up people’s inboxes, and in others regular reminders are highly effective and don’t necessarily result in a high “unsubscribe” rate.
  • Use your emails to promote blog content or developments with your brand. You can also use them to offer promotions, as you would direct mailers, and get people to “redeem” emailed coupons during the holiday season.

Website & SEO

  • Mobile Testing. People are typically running around a lot, traveling, and away from their typical desktop computers over the holidays. It is imperative that you optimize your website for mobile. A good way to start of is to test your mobile load time, and make adjustment with your website and graphics team accordingly.
  • Make Regular Updates. Regular updates and content on your site makes for good SEO—anything from positing to your blog, adding new testimonials, or changing staff bio pages factors into play when it comes to SEO.
  • AdWords and Analytics. The holidays are no time to start skipping out on your AdWords and Analytics. Make sure you are constantly checking to see how your online presence is doing and make adjustments where you need to.

Events

  • Host. Consider planning a company event this holiday season that will allow your brand to get in front of a new audience, or in front of your top clients. This is a great way to boost traffic and have face-to-face interactions that could make all of the difference with your sales.
  • Co-Market. Consider working with another company and making efforts to co-market on an event.

Special Checklists for E-Commerce and Lead Generation Companies

E-Commerce

  • Data and Analytic Insights. Data analysis and digital analytics are really everything for an e-commerce business, so make sure you pay special attention to traffic, referral sources, conversions, and keyword optimization this holiday season.
  • Sales and Special Offers. Have a promotional campaign leading up to the holiday season’s end to increase and drive sales.

Lead Generation

  • Optimize! Prepare for the holiday season by make sure your site is in the best shape it has ever been. Optimize your homepage, landing pages, resource pages, product pages, and content. You can learn more about the details of optimization here.
  • CTAs. Make sure your CTAs are very clear and that you pay close attention to their analytics. Are you asking your visitors to do something every step of the way, or are you leaving them to figure it out on their own? Is what you’re asking clear?

Of course depending on your company there are many more items to add to this list, but these basics can help you start checking boxes and spark your memory regarding other boxes you need to worry about before 2017.

What would you add to this list? Let us know in the comment section below.

Photo Credit: cocg.co