What we’re going to do: Let’s stay ahead of the holiday promo panic to develop a plan that will drive your business forward in Q1! In this worksheet, you’re going to rewind and take a look at what industry leaders and competitors were doing for promotion during last year’s holiday season. If this isn’t your first time promoting around the holidays then feel free to include your own brand in your research to analyze what worked and what could be improved for next time.

Here we’re going to survey the landscape to understand two things as well as we possibly can before we get started:

• What do we KNOW our target audience will respond positively to in and around the holidays? WHY do we think that?
• What are the patterns and CUES we can take from industry leaders about the types of strategies and promotions that work (because they’re being used by more than one leader)
• What is the WHITE SPACE in our market that can be ours for this year’s planning? (for example, timing)

Once we understand these two things, we’ll use our content strategy as a place to flesh out a) what our “spin” is on the thing we have evidence that they appreciate and b) how we can show up and own the white space in a way that is true to our brand, product, UVP.

Don’t rush this work. It’s going to teach you a ton about your space, your target, content and social media marketing.

 

Conduct an analysis on your own channels then pick 2-3 of your key competitors (or industry leaders) and fill out one of the following information for each of them: 

 

Your Brand: 

Social Accounts – Add hyperlink to their page	Time frame of holiday promo	Details of promotion	Positioning
Instagram
Facebook

• We are looking for:
  • Details of promotion (for example, what % off or gift with purchase?
    • Note: if you don’t find anything they may have archived
  • How did they position their product?
  • Was there a tagline?
  • What was the timing of promotion?
  • Any other details of note?

 

Competitor A: 

Social Accounts – Add hyperlink to their page	Time frame of holiday promo	Details of promotion	Positioning
Instagram
Facebook

• We are looking for:
  • Details of promotion (for example, what % off or gift with purchase?
    • Note: if you don’t find anything they may have archived
  • How did they position their product?
  • Was there a tagline?
  • What was the timing of promotion?
  • Any other details of note?

 

Competitor B: 

Social Accounts – Add hyperlink to their page	Time frame of holiday promo	Details of promotion	Positioning
Instagram
Facebook

• We are looking for:
  • Details of promotion (for example, what % off or gift with purchase?
    • Note: if you don’t find anything they may have archived
  • How did they position their product?
  • Was there a tagline?
  • What was the timing of promotion?
  • Any other details of note?

 

Competitor C: 

Social Accounts – Add hyperlink to their page	Time frame of holiday promo	Details of promotion	Positioning
Instagram
Facebook

• We are looking for:
  • Details of promotion (for example, what % off or gift with purchase?
    • Note: if you don’t find anything they may have archived
  • How did they position their product?
  • Was there a tagline?
  • What was the timing of promotion?
  • Any other details of note?

 

Holiday Campaign Planner

This content planner template is designed to help you stay on track for success for your next holiday campaign.

	February (prepare)	March (prepare)	April (peak)	May (peak)	June (post)
Personalize – Set up foundations to personalize marketing and generate demand.
Inspire – Use creative to surprise and delight customers.
Convert – Use advertising and conversion tools to facilitate seamless shopping experiences.
Test & Optimize – Continuously test, measure and optimize to help achieve goals

 

Campaign timeline: 

[Feb 1 – June31]

• February: Pre-hype phase; raising awareness; flash sale option.
• March: Pre-hype phase; raising awareness; flash sale option.
• April: hype week, details TBD
• May: Last call

 

NEXT: Time to fill out the holiday message brief!

THEN: Plug into your content calendar!