Christmas Marketing Ideas: How to Boost Your Sales This Festive Season

We’re helping you take advantage of the biggest shopping season of the year by exploring some simple Christmas marketing ideas that can really boost your sales.

As Christmas is one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year, and with Black Friday and Cyber Monday taking place just the month before, it’s essentially 2 months of a shopping surge.

This makes it a critical time for businesses as it’s a golden opportunity to boost sales and engage customers. People often have a little more money to spend around the time as they know they need to buy gifts.

This means they’re in the perfect position to be marketed to, as they’ll be on the hunt for good deals and discounts.

But with so much competition, and with more brands realising the potential of creating Christmas marketing campaigns that play on the festivities, you can’t afford to sit back.

That’s why we’re sharing some Christmas marketing ideas, helping you make the most of the festive spirit!

Whether you’re a small or large business, these ideas will help you get the most out of the holiday rush.

Christmas Marketing Ideas

These Christmas marketing ideas are sure to help you engage your customers this wintery season, from sending a festive-themed email to adding some cheer to your ads.

It’s about tapping into the holiday atmosphere as this evokes a sense of warmth and nostalgia, encouraging customers to make purchases that align with the spirit of giving.

And the best thing about these Christmas marketing ideas? They’re quite simple to do, so you can make an impact without spending too much money or time – music to any business owner’s ears.

Launch a festive email marketing campaign

Emails land in your customers’ inboxes daily, so it’s important that yours stands out, especially during the busy Christmas season when everyone is shopping for gifts. The good news is that your audience is actively looking for deals, making them more likely to engage with festive promotions. This is your chance to make a bigger impact by adding a holiday touch to your email marketing campaigns.

Even simple changes, such as including festive imagery or holiday-themed subject lines, can grab your customers attention.

For example, instead of a subject line such as “Our Winter Collection Sale” you could use “Unwrap Your Holiday Savings”. This not only creates that much needed sense of urgency but also sets a joyful tone for your message.

You could also consider adding playful images and graphics, such as snowflakes or Christmas trees to your email design to evoke the festive spirit.
You don’t need to change everything though; just adding a seasonal flair to your copy or visuals can set the Christmas tone.

Another idea could be promoting the best-selling gift items with a section labelled “Top Gifts for Those on Your Christmas List!” as this helps guide customers in their gift-buying decisions.

It’s about keeping it fun, relevant, and in tune with the festive spirit.

Create festive-themed video content

Everyone loves watching videos as it’s a great way to consume content, even on the go.

And with platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at your disposal, Christmas is the perfect time to share festive content that resonates with your audience.

Whether you choose to create some behind the scenes content or showcasing some of your latest products, video is a great way to increase audience engagement, and sales. Below are a few ideas for you to get started with video content.

• Behind-the-scenes: Add some personality to your workplace by capturing videos of your team decorating the office or preparing Christmas orders on the shopfloor as this builds a more personal connection with your audience.
• Customer testimonials: You could record some of your happy customers sharing their experiences with your products/services and how they’ve benefited their lives.
• Festive tutorials: Think of how to make your content a little more festive! This will vary depending on your business but as an example, a bakery could record video tutorials on how to make their Christmas cakes at home, or an arts and crafts business could show you how to make your own baubles.
• Partner with influencers: You could team up with influencers or industry figures to create festive-themed videos that appeal to your target audience. Partnering with an influencer also increases your audience reach as they can share it on their platforms too.

Release a Christmas marketing calendar

Creating a Christmas marketing calendar can help build up excitement ahead of the big day as you can release different things in the lead up to Christmas.

For example, this might be daily offers, top marketing tips, or giveaways, helping you create anticipation and keep your audience engaged. You could either do the 12 days of Christmas or a 25-day countdown, depending on how much time and resources you want to dedicate to it. The key thing is ensuring that your audience keeps coming back, boosting sales as Christmas approaches.

Giveaways are a very engaging tactic as no one likes to miss out on a freebie! This doesn’t have to be anything big, as you could offer smaller prizes such as samples of gift cards.

Experiment with interactive content too, such as polls, quizzes, or Q&A sessions tied to your products as this allows the audience to get involved and feel more part of the brand.

Flash sales where you offer exclusive, limited discounts can also be highly effective, giving people a small window to get their hands on their best discounts. Your marketing calendar will work great on social media, but make sure you promote it via other platforms too such as your website and newsletter.

Create Christmas ads

Christmas ads are a great way to capture busy shoppers during the holidays. Whether you’re using Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or traditional TV ads, by creating Christmas-themed content you can highlight festive offers, appeal to emotions, and generate a sense of excitement around products.

For example, a clothing brand could create ads showing their Christmas collection with limited-time discounts to appeal to early shoppers.

Incorporating nostalgia throughout your Christmas ads is also powerful as Christmas is a great time to evoke emotion. With this in mind, consider featuring ads around family time and cosy home setups as this will appeal to people’s interests.

It’s also wise to make use of retargeting ads as these allow you to stay top of mind for customers who have browsed your holiday collections or abandoned their carts, reminding them of why they should make a purchase.

Create festive-edition products

Creating festive-edition products is a great way to attract your audience and get involved in the season.

Think about Starbucks as the perfect example. When it comes to the festivities, everyone’s flooding to Starbucks to get their hands on one of the Christmassy flavours, and that’s without mentioning the packaging.

These lovely festive cups just make you feel warm and happy, which connects with people on a deeper level. By only offering certain flavours during the holidays, you can aso create a sense of urgency as customers know they’re not around for long.

Going back to the example of Starbucks, they only have certain hot drinks and snacks available at Christmas so this encourages people to buy while they can.

Promote your products/ services on Black Friday

Black Friday kicks off the busiest Christmas shopping season as this is when brands are giving away big deals and discounts.

Whilst it falls in November, it’s perfectly timed to set the scene for the upcoming holiday season as this is when people get lots of their Christmas presents.

Promoting your products or services during this time can give you a big sales boost as you’re capturing people who are already in the mindset to buy. To make the most of it, start building excitement early by releasing sneak peeks, early access deals, or email teasers, ensuring people know what you have to offer.

You could also run targeted ads to engage your ideal customers, as this gives you the chance to promote your products and create a sense of urgency.

For example, a fashion brand might promote their holiday range with exclusive Black Friday deals, creating a sense of anticipation and driving sales momentum ahead of the Christmas season.

The messaging you use during this time is also key so make sure you tap into the festivities by using language such as “beat the holiday shopping rush” as this will encourage customers to get ahead.

Give free shipping and returns

People will most likely be ordering a lot of things over Christmas, so they’ll want free shipping and returns.

As this is such a busy shopping period, brands have to make it as easy as possible for people to order online, otherwise they’ll end up shopping elsewhere. Providing free shipping and returns is a powerful incentive as customers will be trying to save costs where they can.

By removing these barriers, you’re encouraging them to shop more as they can save a little extra. You’re also removing the stress from returning an item as this can sometimes discourage people from shopping online.

This also allows you to engage the last-minute shopper who might be on the hunt for gifts that will arrive in a day or two – but with no extra charge.

Essentially, giving free shipping and returns improves the overall customer experience and allows consumers to shop more freely, without the worry of a stressful (or costly) process.

Add a countdown to your promotions

Adding a countdown to your promotions helps create a sense of urgency through fear of missing out!

By encouraging consumers to shop quickly to get their hands on the best Christmas deals, you’re more likely to make the sale.

Whether you’re counting down to the end of a sale or counting down to the last day for Christmas delivery, timers are a highly effective way of driving people to take action.

To make customers aware, post your counter of your social media and newsletter, as well as sending customers updates via email. Your copy could read something like “5 days left to grab these bargains” to really hook customers in and encourage them to buy.

No shopper likes having FOMO, and this is especially the case at Christmas as shoppers know how many other customers are looking for the same deals.

As an example, an online furniture store could create a countdown to a “12 Days of Christmas” sale or a timer showing how much time is left to quality for free delivery.

Make sure you tailor the campaign depending on your business, but the important thing is creating a fear of missing out so that customers want to act fast!

Christmas Marketing Ideas: How to Boost Your Sales This Festive Season

Christmas marketing ideas allow you to take advantage of this busy shopping period where customers are spending more money than ever before, by connecting with your audience and playing into the holiday atmosphere.

By tapping into their festive spirit, you can position your products and services as the ones to buy, which is especially important in such a competitive landscape.

Whether you choose to offer holiday-exclusive deals, craft a personalised email, or run a fun social media countdown, the key is to be creative and attract your audience when they’re most eager to shop.

Remember, customers are actively looking for gifts and discounts, so this is your chance to show what you have to offer. Just small changes to make your content can make a big difference as you’re tapping into the joy and excitement of the season while offering value to your customers.

At Discovery Design, we’ve partnered with lots of businesses, helping them connect with their customers and attract them to their offering. Whether it’s running targeted Google Ads, creating engaging video content, or writing SEO-focussed blogs to draw on different areas of interest, our marketing mix can help you make an impact. Get in touch to find out how we can help.