You might assume that trying to attract new customers during the holidays is a fruitless strategy best saved for when consumers come back up for air after New Year’s.
But the truth is, there are always ways to become a magnetic powerhouse for your ideal customers, no matter what time of year it is.
Whether it’s offering valuable content that can change their lives for the better, or whether it’s sharing a discount code to one of their favorite digital downloads, there are endless practices you can use to foster brand loyalty during the holidays.
The key?
Intentionality. Intentionality. Intentionality.
You have to go into the holidays with your eye on the prize and a strategic plan.
By understanding who your target market truly is, what unmet needs they have, and how you can solve their problems better than anyone else, you can work to create a killer attraction strategy. Couple this with specific business goals, and you have a recipe for conversion success.
If you’re ready to brave the influx of crowds and competitors this holiday season, we’ve got you covered.
In today’s article, we’re walking you through how to attract new customers and build brand loyalty during the holidays in nine simple steps.
Ready to discover what they are?
Let’s begin.
1. Conduct research and analyze your competitors
Competitor analysis can help you develop the right strategy to attract customers during the holiday season. Oftentimes, finding out how your competitors are getting people interested can help get your own wheels turning.
Competitor analysis also helps you brainstorm unique ways you can approach customers so you can stand out from the crowd.
It’s also vital to take a hard look at consumer behavior research and track your prospects’ buying habits and preferences so you can tailor your campaigns to their specific needs.
For example, you might notice that one of your audience segments is constantly on the hunt for a good productivity tool. You might also uncover that another one of your audience segments can’t get enough of marketing eBooks.
With this data in hand, you can work to create lead magnets geared at helping your audience get what they want: access to the best productivity tools and marketing eBooks.
You can then leverage these lead magnets to build up your email list and automatically add prospects into your segmented email marketing sequences to nurture them to conversion. More on this in a bit.
2. Write copy with intention
Words can draw your target audience in or repel them far, far away.
And while that may sound slightly dramatic, the truth is, the words you use have a powerful effect on your audience.
That’s why it’s absolutely crucial to write copy with intention.
To ensure your copy is written with audience conversion in mind, consider locking arms with a copywriting agency or experienced copywriters to produce the copy for you.
Using technology to create your holiday copy can also be a game-changer.
From landing pages to email marketing and beyond, AI writing tools can help you craft a tailored message for each individual audience segment. And if you are just starting your business in the holiday season, tools like a business name generator can be the aid you need to attract customers from the moment they read your company’s name.
Here are some other copywriting best practices to keep in mind:
- Write short, punchy sentences that work to bring the eye down
- Make sure your call to action (CTA) is easy to spot and take advantage of
- Tie your CTA to a specific sales or business development goal
- Address prospects by name whenever possible (for instance, in email marketing and on social media)
- Write for the everyday person — use contractions, simple language, and aim to write copy for the average nationwide reading level, which is 6th to 8th grade
- Use language in line with your audience’s messaging preferences
3. Take advantage of visual marketing strategies
Captivate prospects by using stunning visuals and value-driven images in your marketing campaigns and on your website, blog, and social media pages.
To keep your images congruent and on brand, lock arms with a digital asset and graphic design agency, or use a photo editor to process your visuals manually.
We also recommend capitalizing on visual marketing strategies that can help boost the virality of your campaigns.
For instance, when you create Reels, TikTok videos, bite-sized videos, and explainer videos, you essentially create “mini-commercials” you can later use on social media, landing pages, ads, and beyond.
If your mini-commercials are meaningful, humorous, and share tremendous value, your audience may decide to share them with their friends, which can inevitably lead to a domino effect of free marketing for your business. Success!
4. Place a core focus on customer experience
Holiday preparation varies by industry, so be sure to make the necessary customer experience adjustments for your particular business well in advance.
For instance, if you own a SaaS or digital course brand, you might spend time perfecting your online portal, site or course features, and optimizing your checkout flows.
If you run a transportation company, a government fleet management company, or operate a courier service, then you might focus on optimizing operations and logistics for the winter weather to make sure services are provided on time and safely.
Whatever the case, be sure to highlight the customer experience measures you’ve taken in your marketing campaigns. Doing so helps prospects understand what you’re doing to proactively address their customer experience pain points.
Whether you promise next-day shipping or you offer multiple pay-later options, putting the spotlight on your pristine customer experience processes can help ease prospects’ minds about investing in your product or service.
5. Offer money-back guarantees and free trials
Offering money back guarantees is a great way to attract new customers, since they get the opportunity to try out your product or service, risk-free.
For instance, Freepik offers a variety of free vector graphics and paid plans with a 30-day money back guarantee, so its audience can try its products without the pressure of feeling locked in.
Or, better yet, why not offer prospects the chance to try you out for free?
Everyone loves gifts during the holidays, so if your company hasn’t used a product-led growth strategy before, the holiday season offers a great opportunity to do so.
With a product-led growth strategy in tow, you simply offer prospects a freemium package or access to a free trial to try your products or services for a set time.
After the time has passed, you can either offer a discount if they agree to sign up or you can automatically start their membership if they agreed to that at the start of the trial.
If they don’t continue after the trial, consider sending them a survey to uncover any needs you may have missed and ask them why they’ve decided not to continue.
Worst case scenario, you can continue nurturing them via email and social media so you can hopefully win them back or discover other valuable offers you can present to them.
6. Use irresistible lead magnets to build up your email list and foster meaningful connections
Earlier we mentioned the power of lead magnets and how they can help you build your email list.
In this step, it’s time to put that knowledge to good use by carving out time to create irresistible lead magnets you can use to grow your prospect database and even your email newsletter audience.
Having a newsletter doesn’t just help keep your brand top-of-mind (which is a success in its own right), but it also helps you build authentic relationships with your audience.
This is especially helpful if you sell virtual services or digital products, where customers don’t get the chance to meet you or your staff in-store.
To connect deeply with your audience via your newsletter, be sure to highlight:
- Meaningful behind-the-scenes moments: How you operate and what your team does every day.
- Social proof: Happy customer stories, reviews, testimonials, before and afters, and positive ratings.
- Community contribution: Activities your team has done recently to improve your community, whether that’s volunteering at a local soup kitchen or starting a charity drive.
- Brand mission: Your values, what you stand for, who you serve and why.
- Relevant offers and CTAs: Discounts and access to products and services they’ve shown interest in but haven’t purchased yet.
7. Highlight offers you know prospects will love and give them a discount off their first purchase
Use prospect data to uncover the kinds of offers your audience flocks to most. Then, sweeten the deal by giving them a generous discount off their first purchase.
For instance, if you sell car parts online and one of your audience segments has consistently shown interest in truck parts, consider nudging them toward conversion with a BOGO (Buy One, Get One Free) deal or discount code.
Or, if you’re in the gaming industry and your audience loves all things Fortnite, consider offering deals on their favorite accessories, like the popular Batman glider skin, for example.
8. Enlist the help of affiliate marketers and influencers
Having an affiliate marketing strategy is a great way to attract new customers, but it’s even better when you partner with the right affiliates.
Look for affiliates with experience marketing to your specific target audience. Bonus points if you can find affiliates that double as social media influencers, too.
Even better, sign up with an affiliate network which reunites relevant publishers in your industry, so you can spread your affiliate efforts more efficiently. Keep in mind that any successful affiliate program requires continuous work from your end, with engaging affiliates, preparing assets and content for them to distribute, thinking up strategic campaigns for them around special times of the year (holiday/promotional seasons) and addressing any concerns or requests from your affiliates.
If you’re selling digital goods, the Avangate Affiliate Network is your go-to platform, pooling over 50k affiliates which are ready to disseminate word of your great digital products.
9. Perfect the product delivery and onboarding process
Whether you sell physical goods, digital goods, or services, it’s absolutely crucial to make sure the delivery and/or onboarding process is pristine.
Perfecting delivery and onboarding isn’t just a major customer experience strategy, it also helps to prevent leads from bailing on you right before you get a chance to do business with them.
Similar to abandoned checkouts, if you’re not careful to deliver products on time or make onboarding as smooth as possible, you’ll risk losing customers.
If you sell products, be sure to lock arms with a reputable courier service that offers speedy delivery so your packages always arrive on time.
If you sell digital goods and online services, use reputable onboarding software tools to make the process quick, easy, and (most importantly) uncomplicated.
10. Paid advertising
Paid advertising is an investment, and if you’re going to spend the money, you want to make sure it’s going to be worth something. Advertising during the holidays is a great way to get your products in front of the right people. If your target demographic shops online, there are a number of ways you can reach them around this time of year.
However, you need to be strategic about what you advertise and when. Research what your target audience wants from holiday ads. What kind of messaging appeals to them? How much are they willing to spend? Are they shopping for themselves, or for gifts? What are their likes and dislikes when it comes to advertising techniques, and how can you appeal to them in a way that speaks to those preferences? Pay attention to trends within your industry and note how other companies are marketing themselves around this time.
Note that paid advertising may be effective for a limited time and in specific circumstances but should not be used as a primary strategy for building a client base. There are many other ways that you can attract new customers and build brand loyalty during the holidays that don’t require spending such a big budget.
Wrap up
There are always strategies you can use to attract new customers and build brand loyalty, no matter what time of year it is.
From drawing prospects in with lead magnets to perfecting the customer experience, there’s plenty you can do to grow your customer base during the holidays.
With intentionality, and your eye on the prize, you can create a plan that aligns not only with your brand goals, but also with your audience’s needs.
If you’re ready to attract new customers this holiday season, follow the steps we shared in today’s article.
For good measure, here’s a quick recap of the steps we shared today:
- Conduct research and analyze your competitors
- Write copy with intention
- Take advantage of visual marketing strategies
- Place a core focus on customer experience
- Offer money-back guarantees and free trials
- Use irresistible lead magnets to build up your email list and foster meaningful connections
- Highlight offers you know prospects will love and give them a discount off their first purchase
- Enlist the help of affiliate marketers and influencers
- Perfect the product delivery and onboarding process
And that’s it for today!
Are you ready to build brand loyalty during the busiest time of year? We hope today’s article has given you the confidence to put yourself out there and make some magic happen.
To your success!
PS: Want to learn more about boosting sales during the holidays? Check out our article called “Are You Ready to Ramp up Your Holiday eCommerce Sales?”
About Author
Shane Barker is a digital marketing consultant who specializes in influencer marketing, content marketing, and SEO. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Content Solutions, a digital marketing agency. He has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, influencers with digital products, and a number of A-List celebrities.
