Stand out this holiday season with some expert digital marketing tips

By Maria Dalamaras, Creative Director of Rio Consulting Group

We don’t know about you, but our office Christmas tree was up early this year. We are super excited about Christmas and we know you are too!

‘Christmas’ is trending on Social Media platforms. It’s clear we’re all looking forward to Christmas, with mentions significantly higher. To no surprise, with a disastrous year due to the Australian bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re all looking forward to the Christmas sparkle.

This holiday season we expect online shopping to hit record levels. With many events and celebrations spent in lockdown, now is the time to gift and be merry!

So here we are with a handy survival guide to help you with your holiday marketing.

1. Use Email Marketing: Free, easy to control and guaranteed to reach your audience. New to email marketing, check out our favourite Email Marketing platforms: MailChimp and Klaviyo.
2. Social Media: Facebook and Instagram- time to get creative!
3.  Stories: a great way to give consumers a real life experience by sharing information and being collaborative through quizzes and polls
4. Messenger bots: a chat that can help your customers with any questions 
5. Posts: a visual and immersive way for consumers to discover your products and services
6. Shop links: link your online shop to your platforms
7. Google: Your customer is window shopping online, are you visible online?
8. Website: With many customers shopping online it’s important your website is in it’s best form
9. Gift Vouchers: The ideal gift for all ages! Simplify your gift vouchers by having an option to buy and receive them online.
10. Holiday trading hours: Use all your social platforms to help share these important dates and times.
11. Paid advertising: Social media platforms are a great way to shine during the holiday season! A lot of your other Christmas marketing ideas may include some aspect of social media, and one way to make sure those initiatives are seen is to pay for social media ads. The first step to running social media ads is to determine which platform to use. Instagram and Facebook are both excellent options for retailers.
12. Add Christmas flair to your brand: Temporarily update logo, and social media platforms to get into the holiday spirit
13. Create a ‘Countdown to Christmas’: An ideal Christmas marketing campaign engages your audience and keeps your business top of mind. Counting down to Christmas while sharing promotions is helps engagement
14. Build customer loyalty: Local businesses are known for their ability to build real relationships with their customers. Thank your customers for their support!

Getting into the Christmas spirit offers new marketing opportunities. Many of these holiday marketing tips can be profitable all year-round, but giving them a holiday spin taps into the unique market trends happening this time of year. 

*Maria is a Marketing and Business professional at Rio Consulting Group, connecting local businesses with their customers.