THE CHRISTMAS PLANNING PHASE BEGINS

As Christmas draws near, the planning phase begins and you might find yourself excited to begin the most festive time of year or frantically trying to think of some new concepts to help you run your Christmas campaign and at a loss as to where to start. Sound familiar? Well, look no further. In this article, I'm going to share with you five different themes with fresh ideas to spice up your Christmas marketing this year that you can repurpose and implement to create impactful campaigns for your audience.

In keeping with current trends, below are a few thought starters that are appropriate for anyone having to continuously run campaigns and remain relevant over this period. If you need any help, D+M can localise and align these campaigns with your overall strategies and address any significant challenges.

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1. Wellness and care

The caring economy: Whether it's self-care, family care, or child care, society is realising that a culture of care is essential to our economic well-being and the wellness of our communities. The care and wellness economy emphasises taking care of one another and safe environments. It is for this reason and the fact that we can finally enjoy being able to properly appreciate Christmas together that this is a definite trend worth considering. Campaigns highlighting the Christmas spirit centred on family for 2022, with messaging around mindfulness, togetherness and the much-needed stress relief to create meaningful moments will create special memories we have all waited so long for.

2. Local community spirit, reflecting the neighbourhood

Building community relationships to encourage local, convenient and safe environments is also a nice post-COVID touch. Through repurposing locations with ideas like pop-ups, hoardings and other forms of activation that can support community-driven ideas. Communities will want to feel seen through strategies and products tailored to their specific needs and surrounding. Focusing on engaging customers and putting them first by uniting them together over a subject that is in line with or directly tied to a brand. Brands should be aware of these trends as they relate to their audiences and be prepared for these changes that have been long overdue for all ages groups across generations, genders and cultures as well as other demographics such as ethnicity or socioeconomic status.

3. Changing consumer expectations

Re-consider the role of your brand and all the different ways consumers are choosing to shop. By leveraging an OmniChannel strategy, you can ensure a consistent ‘merry’ customer experience with every touchpoint. Innovate and surprise customers around changing expectations with respect to delivery and time spent. This marketing approach provides the building blocks to ensure the brand remains relevant and up-to-date – effectively planting the seeds for future changes in the Web3 space. New retail and market demands will cause a surge in digital investment in the upcoming years, but don’t forget the human voice is a crucial component of a successful strategy. There is value in the human experience as a crucial component, whether it be through local consumer feedback or meetings with locals who are familiar with foot traffic, traffic patterns, and peak shopping hours in their postcodes.The social conversationInvestigate the opportunity to promote Christmas initiatives with creator collaborations to partner within a variety of platforms and leverage new audiences and features. This content-driven approach across multiple platforms will drive customers to view and engage in Christmas campaigns.Given the constant changes in social media and sense of self, research and user behaviour indicate that marketers should design moments that inspire young people to accept their flaws. Create authentic, real content, with your online/digital actions, ensuring it is always centred around honesty.

Affordable and the value-add

Many people will prioritise affordability and value-add since the cost of living is rising and is anticipated to persist through 2023. Think about campaigns from the heart to suggest ways to multipurpose, whilst still creating memorable experiences with families over the Christmas period. Conscious planning can leave a warm feeling with your audience stimulating the senses and giving the season a unique touch.

Hopefully, these thought starters have inspired you to further activate your marketing and digital touchpoints during this season, as well as highlight the importance of creating engaging campaigns.

Feel free to reach out for any further information and perhaps to continue the conversation.

Happy Christmas planning!

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Thoughts to Ponder

1. With marketing being a forever changing landscape, are you engaging the right partners?

Outsource marketing may be the answer to your growing business.

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2. You need experts on your side

Marketing is a strategic process involving the planning, organising and the delivery of the right mix to achieve specific objectives