A Marketer’s Guide to Prepping for Q4 Campaigns
Holiday season is almost upon us SMMs! As we enter arguably the busiest, most magical time of the year, it’s crucial to ensure your Q4 holiday campaigns are set up for seamless execution. Lucky for you, we have a step-by-step guide to prepping for the holiday season!
STEP 1: PREP
No one is successfully getting through the holidays without a game plan - if they are, they are guaranteed to have numerous mental breakdowns in the process 🥲- which is why we’re here to help! September is the ideal time to begin planning for the holidays to ensure ample time for content to be made, edited, and published with as little headache as possible.
First things first: establish which holidays you need/want content for. Popular holidays include:
Black Friday
Small Business Saturday
Cyber Monday
Giving Tuesday
Hanukkah
Christmas
… just to name a few. We know that in and of itself can feel like a lot sooooo…. if you need inspo or want to make sure you haven’t missed any major marketing opportunities this holiday season, we have this entirely mapped out for you in our Q4 Promotional Planning download here (we gotchu, homie 💗).
Once you have outlined the holidays you will be highlighting in marketing materials, we recommend analyzing last year’s holiday content, if it’s available. This will give you a clear sense of what worked in the past and what areas could use improvement this year!
STEP 2: PLAN
For our Type-A, moodboard-obsessed homies, planning is bound to be your favorite step in the process. Here’s the roadmap we like to follow:
🗓 Create Q4 Content Calendar: Map out all the deets about when you want to post for each holiday, as well as any major dates to keep in mind for each campaign to ensure a cohesive finished product.
💡Generate content ideas: Next, generate content ideas with your audience in mind. What will they like to see and share? Scheduling photoshoots are a great way to obtain fresh photography that will stand out, especially in your holiday campaigns. Here is our guide for planning and achieving the best, most seamless photoshoot possible during the busy season.
🎨 Produce content: Whether you’re creating blog posts, planning out memes, or searching for seasonal TikTok sounds, this is where you get to execute the content that will drive engagement and sales throughout Q4.
A note from us to you <3
We know you have a lot on your plate (🦃), but in addition to planned content, it’s essential to stay on top of the seasonal trends and tie them into your sales messaging. By doing this, there’s potential to reach new customers and encourage shareability within your audience. Obviously we recommend planning your campaigns out as much as possible, but it’s advised to leave room for flexibility when you can, otherwise you could be missing out on new ways to connect with your following. Some of the best content is made on-the-fly and is easily shareable, reaching potential new customers!
STEP 3: PRE-CAMPAIGN TEASERS
Don’t wait for the week-of to promote holiday campaigns, sales, giveaways, etc. Instead, give your audience a sprinkle of teasers before the campaigns are live, allowing for anticipation and excitement to build and encouraging more sales in return. October is a great time to subtly include sneak peeks and start getting people engaged before the campaign officially begins.
Here’s a list of brands we love whose pre-campaign teasers (holiday or not) are always spot on:
Teasers can live beyond just socials! Adding email marketing and SMS into the mix allows you to get to know your audience better and target individuals based on their interests. Individuals who have signed up to receive emails and SMS have done so because they care about the brand and don’t want to miss a thing!
Revive Your Email/SMS List
Do you have a stagnant email/SMS list? Lucky for you, the holiday season is the perfect opportunity to encourage your audience to sign up to receive emails/SMS in order to unlock early access, special discounts, and whatever else you want to offer. One of the crucial (and arguably most important) aspects to email and SMS marketing is the ability to tailor content based on the individuals who are receiving it. Personalizing the content being sent to each person is key in increasing the likelihood of conversions. When done correctly, you can directly target the values of the individual, creating a sense of trust and persuasion that can lead to conversions.
STEP 4: IT’S TIME TO GO LIVE, HOMIE
It’s time to launch your campaign that you’ve spent ✨months ✨organizing. If you successfully completed our guide, this part will be cake. The number one thing we have to say about this time in the campaign is ENGAGE, ENGAGE, ENGAGE. Customer service queens, it’s your time to shine!!!
While your campaign is live, it’s key to promptly respond to questions, comments, and concerns from your audience. A great way to boost engagement during this time is encouraging your audience to share content featuring your product or service and tag you. Sharing content made within your audience shows a level of community that is often overlooked, especially during the holiday season. What makes you feel more seen than when one of your favorite brands shares your post you tagged them in? We’ll wait ;)
We hope you found this helpful in planning for your Q4 campaigns. Good luck, we’re rooting for you!!!
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xx,
The Homies