It’s no secret that the holiday season is one of the best times of the year. People start planning gatherings with their friends and family. Some make vacation reservations. For businesses, it’s a perfect time to come up with holiday campaign ideas. 💡
Successful holiday campaigns — those that achieve their sales, lead generation, and engagement goals — have one thing in common. These campaigns are well-planned and they use a system that works.
Thinking of creating the best holiday campaign? Thankfully, we’re here to offer you some inspiration, from product bundles to viral waiting lists using UpViral, so you can get started!
When Should I Start a Holiday Campaign?
While the holiday season starts on the day after Thanksgiving (November 24), businesses don’t have to wait until that period before they start putting together a campaign. Yes, you can set your marketing and advertising campaigns live in mid-November; however, you need to plan as early as now.
According to Insider Intelligence, some customers have already started shopping for the holidays. 25% started shopping in September, while another 25% are expected to start in October.
This “early holiday shopping” behavior is because people want to avoid their online orders arriving late, on top of avoiding higher prices. A recent Forbes article also noted that due to inflation, customers expect to buy gifts for fewer people and choose from less-expensive gift categories.
Another important reason to plan (and launch) your holiday marketing campaigns now is because of these retail holidays before Christmas Eve:
- Black Friday - November 25
- Small Business Saturday - November 26
- Cyber Monday - November 28
- Giving Tuesday (this benefits a lot of nonprofits) - November 29
- Super Saturday (the last Saturday before Christmas) - December 18
These events are great opportunities to nurture your customers and attract new ones. Now, let’s get to some holiday campaigns 2022 ideas!
Holiday Campaign Ideas for 2022
Stay at the forefront of your audience’s minds with these top ideas. When properly planned and executed, any of these strategies will have a significant impact on your brand’s success.
Product Bundles
Product bundling is a retail technique in which you put together products that complement one another. For instance, selling a wearable fitness tracker together with a water bottle, face towel, and headband. Then, you call them a “gift bundle.”🎁
While these items are sold separately, grouping them together makes the entire gift bundle look like a better deal. Bundling can boost the perceived value of your products. Not to mention, it also helps reduce surplus inventory (if you pair less popular products with the most popular ones)
Viral Waiting Lists
Create excitement for an upcoming Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Christmas sale by setting up a waitlist campaign. Waitlists can be used for different types of promotions, such as:
- Sharing huge special discounts
- Introducing a new product
- Giving away free gifts with Black Friday purchases
A waitlist campaign is an effective way to build anticipation leading to a launch. People who signup for your waitlist enjoy exclusive benefits. They’ll be the first to know when your holiday sale goes live! On the other hand, you grow the size of your email list of high-quality prospects. It’s a win-win.
Interested in building a waitlist? UpViral has all the capabilities you need for a successful waitlist campaign. The screenshot above shows our waitlist template which you can easily edit depending on your holiday campaign style, message, incentive, and goals.
Don’t just invite people to enter their names and email addresses. Encourage them to share this campaign with their friends in exchange for points, which they can use to unlock more goodies during your holiday sale. Get started with waiting lists now.
User-Generated Content (UGC) Campaign
Content that’s created by fans and customers can help spread the holiday cheer, making your promotions even more effective.
A study found that 90% of shoppers are influenced by UGC when making purchase decisions. Another key finding was that 63% of shoppers believe that UGC creates a more authentic shopping experience.
This holiday season, why not ask your loyal fans to take a selfie with one of your products, post it on social media, and use a specific hashtag? 🤳🏻
If you want to make sure that your UGC campaign is well-structured and has a higher chance of going viral, turn it into a contest. 🎉
Here’s how that works: Set up a landing page using UpViral. Choose the campaign template “UGC COLLECTOR.” Below is a screenshot of what that page might look like, but you can always tweak it to your preferences:
After they sign their name and email, lead them to a share page with instructions to post a selfie with your product and use a specific hashtag — for example, #SophieJewelryContest.
Then, add social sharing buttons to spread the UGC campaign to as many people as possible. The more points participants earn by sharing, the more likely they are to win your shopping voucher.
Tap into the power of UGC. With UpViral’s system, you’ll have a content bank in no time that will boost your business’s authenticity and social proof.
Holiday Social Media Giveaway
Giveaways are one of the best Christmas campaign ideas. Aside from increasing holiday sales, you can leverage giveaways to grow your email list. It’s a great strategy for businesses that are looking to have more subscribers in 2023.
This goes to show that you don’t have to wait until the New Year to kickstart your list-building efforts! Here’s an example of our UpViral CHRISTMAS LIST BUILDER template:
Christmas giveaways offer a nice break from all the holiday stress, plus winners can enjoy your prize as a gift for themselves or their loved ones. Good giveaway prizes include gift cards, a basket of treats, and tickets to a holiday event.
Any prize would make a great prize as long as it suits your business. If you run an e-commerce business, the best prize to offer is one of your products.
In fact, you can create a product bundle — as we’ve shared earlier in this article — and offer it as the main prize. Then, at the end of your Christmas giveaway, you can hold a sale where non-winners may purchase it for 50% off.
Successful Holiday Marketing Campaigns with UpViral
Let’s get to some awesome examples showing how our customers have used UpViral to run holiday campaigns!
A Christmas Hamper Giveaway Resulting in 3,150 New Leads
This study is for agencies with clients who have just started an online presence and need help with increasing their brand awareness and getting leads.
On behalf of his client in the food industry, he chose their own product — a Christmas hamper or food basket — as the grand prize. There was also a second smaller prize, which was Italian chocolate and some condiments.
One of the reasons this campaign worked was the perfect combination of timing and prize. It’s no secret that people gather for Christmas dinner, and the Christmas hamper would be a wonderful addition to the table!
$350 Worth of Toys for Toddlers Resulting in 4,552 Leads and More
Leading up to Christmas, Rachel Ollen did a giveaway that targeted moms looking for Christmas presents for their kids.
Since Rachel didn’t have a product yet (as she just launched a new business), she ordered a bunch of toys at Amazon and put them together as a “prize pack.” These were top-rated items, including a play tent, bath toy, trampoline, and balance bike that cost only $350 in total.
In addition to collecting leads, Rachel grew her VIP private Facebook group, thanks to this UpViral holiday campaign!
Kurnell Christmas Market Giveaway Resulting in 20,000 Event Attendees
Yes, it’s possible to do an online holiday giveaway to promote a local event! The prize was a “golden ticket” winners could use to claim prizes worth $500 on the day of the Kurnell Christmas Market.
Brett Whipp, who organized the giveaway, also took advantage of UpViral’s custom actions feature to grow his agency’s social media presence and his client’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
Final Thoughts
Product bundling, viral waiting lists, user-generated content, and giveaways are just some of the best holiday campaign ideas to reach your goals during this profitable time of the year.
The holiday season is a time for giving and connecting with people, and the tips shared in this article capitalize on that. No matter what you choose to implement, UpViral is a complete platform that makes all of these campaigns happen.
UpViral helps you provide great deals with pre-built and customizable landing pages. Even better, your holiday campaigns with UpViral are shareable across social media channels for maximum exposure. Discover more features or get started right away!
