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Holiday Marketing Series Day 4: Events

We’re getting our holiday giving started a bit early this year. Our first gift to you? This 12-day blog series designed to help you get through your seasonal marketing without a hitch. If you’re just joining us, you can start at the beginning here.

Traditionally we associate holiday events with awkward mingling, stale eggnog, and white elephant gift exchanges, but it is possible to pull off a seasonal event that completely avoids these pitfalls. Even if you know how to throw a great party, holiday event marketing requires a special kind of flair. There are a few ways you can achieve this flair with both online and in-person events.

If you’re throwing the traditional soiree, leverage some key marketing tactics to make the event work for you. Make sure you know what the purpose of the event is and what you want to have accomplished as the confetti settles.

Your goal may just be to get more face time with your clients or to generate excitement around your brand. Make sure your (e or snail mail) invite supports your event goals and gets people excited about attending. Leverage day-of elements to keep momentum going. Branded party favors, signage, and event hashtags are a great way to get more marketing mileage out of your celebration.

Take your event online to expand your reach and maximize your budget. Holiday-themed offers are a great example of a digital event. You can extend the campaign by offering different limited-time offers from one week to the next. These offers might include special discounts, a holiday gift with purchase, or a seasonal sweepstakes. You could also make an event of your expertise as it relates to the upcoming season. American Express has done a wonderful job of this with their Small Business Saturday microsite.

Cause marketing is also very popular around the holidays. Partnering with a charity in the weeks leading up to the holidays can create a sense of occasion, endears your brand to customers, and piques media interest. You could donate a portion of your proceeds to the Salvation Army or run a matching gift challenge with your local Make-A-Wish foundation. However you choose to integrate charity into your holiday marketing, following cause marketing best practices will ensure it’s beneficial to both your brand and the charity of your choice.

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Eliza Green
Eliza Green
Passionate about all aspects of content, Eliza has spent much of her career building an understanding of the nuanced needs of various audiences across nearly every vertical imaginable. She leverages this understanding to bring compelling, engaging content to pages of both the digital and print persuasion.