Holiday Marketing: Striking the Right Balance

Black Friday. Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t avoid it. Fortunately, for those who are opposed to Black Friday, other commerce-related events have popped up during the holiday season in support of more than outlet malls and big box stores. Events from Cyber Monday to Giving Tuesday offer customers a range of shopping and giving options. As a marketer, opportunities abound to attract, sell and wow consumers with a digital strategy fueled by these unique shopping days. This year, you can strike the right balance where giving meets receiving in your holiday marketing.

Hold Up, What Is Giving Tuesday?

If you’re asking yourself why you don’t know about Giving Tuesday, don’t feel bad. Giving Tuesday doesn’t have the history or promotion of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so many consumers aren’t aware of the day or its purpose. In the same way Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season, Giving Tuesday is the festive start to the season of giving back. Celebrated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, this effort encourages you, your family, your community or your company to donate time, money or goods. Giving Tuesday (#GivingTuesday) is fueled by social media to amplify small acts of kindness and philanthropy from around the world.

Now that we’re all on the same page (and because we’re a digital marketing agency), let’s explore easy-to-implement ideas for integrating Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday into your holiday marketing tactics.

Mashup Marketing

If you’re like most people in our hyper-connected world, you’re tired and busy. The good news is that your promotions of goodwill don’t have to be complicated or separate from your demand generation marketing. Consider something as simple as special discounts or offers for customers who donate or volunteer on Giving Tuesday. You could also ask consumers to tack on an extra $1 donation towards a charity of your choice. You can even create a custom hashtag so your customers can let their social media friends know about their good deeds.

Promotions that support goodwill demonstrate that you care about others over your bottom line.

Set Goals

As a business, you are familiar with goals—service goals, retention goals, revenue goals, etc. During this time of year, think about setting a goal that shows how your business is committed to local and global communities. Pledge to fundraise and/or donate a certain amount of money to a related charity—i.e. shop our site on Cyber Monday with a portion of all sales going to a charity on Giving Tuesday. Encourage some friendly cross-department competition at your office by having departments adopt or volunteer at their charity of choice. Both customers and employees can help you reach these goals.

Integrated Marketing

Once you have your strategy, be sure you integrate your tactics. Your brand, your product and your efforts will resonate better if your customer has a consistent experience, something made easier by technology. If someone scans a QR code or clicks on a Facebook ad, be sure it links to a similarly branded landing page or microsite. And it’s not just about design. Beyond logos, colors and taglines, your brand story should also carry across each tool and tactic.

Now more than ever, integrated marketing is incredibly important as buyers are exposed to literally thousands of messages a day. Integrated, consistent and memorable brands are the most successful.

Messages that Matter

Eat organic. Shop local. Farm-to-table. These are messages that resonate with people and consumers who are increasingly more conscious about their buying habits. With the right marketing strategy, you can tap into this mindfulness and show your business is committed to social responsibility. A balanced strategy also boosts internal support. Employees are proven to have better morale when they work for a company that “does good” for their community.

At Pyxl, we specialize in integrated digital marketing and we would love to help you create a strategy that’s effective during the holidays (and year-round!). Let’s talk!

Updated: Mar 01, 2023