V8.47: 3 Holiday Marketing Management Tips

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. That’s right- marketing during the holiday season. When you are a B2B company, marketing during the holidays can feel like an impossible feat. You are competing against consumer brands that save 80% of their yearly budget for a two month period.

The fact of the matter is that the personas you’re targeting- those IT decision makers- are people first. They are friends, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, etc. They are not thinking about your IT solution or that SaaS product. They are thinking about what new TV to buy on Black Friday or what bike they want to get for their kids.

So how do we maintain an always on strategy without throwing money down the metaphorical toilet?

1. Keep the lights on! Just because things are competitive right now, doesn’t mean you have to give up. Keep the lights on with strategic placements and a lower daily budget. Branded search should literally ALWAYS be on, so that’s an easy one to keep live. You can also use platforms like LinkedIn to stay active without the consumer competition. It’s important to keep your digital efforts on to maintain learning and algorithm momentum, but we have to do it in a smart way. 
2. Don’t try to buy your way out. The worst thing you can do is try to out bid the big consumer brands during this time. It won’t work and you’ll lose money trying. Be extra strategic during this time. What are your top performing audiences and tactics? Use only those and pause all testing. This is not the time to try and A/B test new copy, creative, or ad types. This is the time to keep your brand in front of the right people for as little budget as possible. 
3. Go for branding, rather than demand generation. Like mentioned above, you want to keep the lights on, but don’t try to do too much during this holiday season. Your target market isn’t trying to buy a new product in November or December. Most likely, they are still in the research phase and looking to purchase in the new year. Focus your budget on branding to keep the right people in front of your content.

Let’s go out and enjoy these last few months of the year and close it out right!