Businesses tend to put extra effort into their advertising campaigns during the holiday season. While this is in part because people are buying gifts for one another, which means that there’s a general spike in sales, it’s also because Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become national institutions in themselves, a time when people search out great deals for things that they want. Because almost every business big and small offers deals at this time of the year in order to attract customers, stepping up your advertising efforts is the only way you’re going to stand out from the crowd.

4 Examples Of Successful Holiday Marketing Campaigns

The following are a four examples of some of the holiday marketing campaigns that have stood out over the past few years:

1) Coke

Coke put a twist on their famous “Share a Coke” ad campaign by running a holiday campaign that showed people sharing a coke instead of fighting over products at a mall. This ad works well because not only are people already familiar with the basis of the campaign, but they can also relate to fighting the crowds to get what they want before it sells out.

2) HotelTonight

The online hotel booking site’s clever campaign was headlined by the slogan “Visit, Don’t Stay.” This refers to how family members often visit one another and generally get into arguments or on each other’s nerves due to the holiday stress. Instead of staying with their family, they can stay at a hotel and simply “visit” their family.

3) John Lewis & Partners

John Lewis & Partners released their “Boy and his piano” commercial featuring Elton John this year that quickly went viral. It showed Elton John playing a song as the camera speeds through time, showing John as a younger and younger musician performing in front of huge crowds, finally settling on a version of him as a young boy getting a piano for Christmas. This ad is effective because of its use of a celebrity, its message of how a gift can change someone’s life (making it relevant to the holiday season), and in creating a feeling of nostalgia. The ad was particularly effective in that it did not specifically promote a product or sale, relying on its message to be its call-to-action.

5 Holiday Email Templates for Salespeople

4) McDonald’s

McDonald’s has used a variation of a campaign in which Santa stops by for a bite to eat at McDonald’s during his Christmas run for years now. But this year, McDonald’s stepped it up by making their ad campaign more interactive. For example, Spapchat users can play a game that makes them look like a reindeer and that requires them to catch as many falling carrots as they can.

5 General Tips For Your Holiday Marketing Campaign

Use these five tips to craft a marketing campaign that will help you stand out during the busy holiday season:

1) Make your ads holiday-themed

This one’s obvious, but find a way to tie your product or service into the holidays. The previously mentioned ads are great examples of how this can be done.

2) Use nostalgia

People often feel sentimental during the holidays, which means that using nostalgia is an effective way to make an emotional connection.

3) Use a sense of humor

The holidays can be quite stressful, which is why an ad that can make consumers laugh will stand out. See the HotelTonight ad as a fantastic example.

4) Make your offer stand out

Whether it’s a huge discount, a free trial, free shipping, or something else, your offer should stand out to make your ad stand out.

5) Find a way to engage

Get consumers engaged. This can be done by finding ways that consumers can interact with your campaign, whether it’s by holding contests or by providing short games that they can play, in the same way that McDonald’s did this year.

The holidays are a time of year where consumers are looking to spend the most money, which means businesses tend to step up their game when it comes to marketing their products and services. Use past holiday marketing campaigns as inspiration and keep in mind general holiday marketing tips to create a successful holiday marketing campaign of your own.

Businesses that stay up to date with all the latest marketing trends and news are more likely to see success due to the ability to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly as a result. As such, we like to highlight marketing news and trends every month as well as provide a bit of insight on how you can improve your marketing. The following are the latest marketing trends, news, and tips that we think are worth noting this November.

Noteworthy Marketing News

Google Launches AdLingo

Google recently launched its conversational marketing platform “AdLingo.” AdLingo provides the first conversational ad format outside of messaging apps, allowing advertisers to deliver ads that query users as well as respond to them. Read up on the ins and outs of the new AdLingo feature and why it matters to marketers at Marketing Land.

Pinterest Updates Ads Manager And Adds Product Pins Features

Ahead of the holiday season, Pinterest has improved its Ads Manager tool by allowing advertisers to choose business goals, select pins they want to promote, and to select an audience. They have also rebuilt their Product Pins system by adding stock information and dynamic pricing. Find out more about the changes made to their Ads Manager and Product Pins features by reading Marketing Land’s write-up.

Facebook Working On Connected TV Device

Facebook appears to be expanding its reach even further as they are rumored to be working on a connected TV device that will work in a similar fashion to Amazon’s Fire Stick or Roku. The Facebook TV rumor is explored in more detail in Marketing Land’s article, which also goes into the impact it could have on marketers.

Pandora Announces Ad Distribution Agreement With SoundCloud

Pandora has been busy making moves to become a major platform for advertisers. Not only has Pandora finally launched its own analytics tool, they also announced a new partnership with SoundCloud. According to Pandora, the partnership will make them the biggest digital audio advertising marketplace in the U.S. and will expand their addressable audience to 100 million. Marketing Land’s article goes into more detail about Pandora’s recent developments.

8 Tips on Social Media Best Practices For Your Business

Improving Your Marketing Program

Learn About The Differences Between Smart Display And Custom Intent Campaigns

AdWords continues to be a valuable marketing tool, which is why we recently explored two of their newest PPC options, Smart Display Campaigns and Custom Intent Campaigns. Check out our article to find out what the differences between the two features are and how they can benefit you.

The Importance of Social Media Engagement

One of the common mistakes advertisers make is to focus on their following instead of on engagement. Our recently published article highlights the importance of social media engagement and goes over several tips on how to improve your engagement on social media.

Traditional Marketing vs. Digital Marketing

Knowing the differences between traditional marketing and digital marketing will help to better inform your overall marketing campaign. We recently explored the differences between digital and traditional marketing, from the long-term and short-term impact to the costs and more.

Recent Marketing Trends, Reports, and Updates

Pew Reveals Relevant New Marketing Data

The Pew Research Center recently revealed new data that might surprise marketers. For example, broadband Internet penetration remains at only 65 percent amongst U.S. adults and that smartphone-only Internet usage has increased from 12 percent to 20 percent over two years. Head to Marketing Land for a more in-depth look into Pew’s recent marketing research.

Survey Reveals More Customers Plan To Use Amazon For Holiday Shopping

Amazon’s marketplace domination continues as a recent survey conducted by Survata revealed that the majority of holiday shoppers plan on using Amazon over any other online platform. In fact, the survey showed that online shoppers prefer Amazon 3-to-1 over Google. Check out what else the holiday shopping survey revealed at Marketing Land.

Marketers Focusing Primarily On Black Friday

A Nanigans study revealed that only five percent of retailers that responded are focusing any of their ad budget on late-season shoppers, while 25 percent of ad budgets will be spent on Black Friday weekend. Read Marketing Land’s article to find out more details about the holiday ad budget study.