Last-Minute Holiday Marketing Ideas to Boost Holiday Sales

Black Friday and Cyber-Monday of 2021 are behind us, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t time to further boost holiday sales. Keep your marketing efforts rolling with these last-minute holiday marketing ideas and examples that can further boost your holiday sales!

In this article, we are sharing super easy, fun, and quick holiday marketing ideas and strategies you can put in place right up until Santa boards his sleigh!

So, let’s get to it without wasting another second.

7 Last-Minute Holiday Marketing Ideas and Strategies with Examples

There are literally hundreds of holiday marketing ideas you can apply to your small business products and services. For example:

• Host giveaways on social media.
• Offer limited-time discounts, coupons and share them using various marketing methods to attract buyers.
• Create seasonal holiday-themed product catalogs and promote them in blogs, emails, landing pages.
• Run ads on Google and social media.
• Send abandoned shopping cart emails to retarget leads.

While all of these are effective ideas, what you really need is a solid holiday marketing strategy to promote those ideas.

Let’s take a look at some real-life holiday marketing examples and learn how to create holiday marketing campaigns to boost sales.

Here’s a list of 7 holiday marketing strategies with examples that will only take a few hours to build and run.

1. Distribute Holiday-Special Coupons and Promos via Email

Email marketing can drive insane ROI if you know how to use it right.

If you want more sales this December why not start with the people who already trust you… the folks on your email marketing list! Create a holiday email campaign with promos, offers, or discount coupons, and send it to your subscribers! 

Here’s what you need to put this idea into action:

• An email marketing tool. Using email marketing software like AWeber, Mailchimp,  or ActiveCampaign, you can create and send emails and keep track of your campaign performance. You can choose to do the design by yourself or browse from the existing set of editable templates.
• Email subscriber list with active subscribed contacts for sending the emails to.
• Good copywriting skills.
• Excellent sense of design and color combination.

What does a good holiday marketing email look like?

To get that last-minute attention you are craving, you are going to want to ensure that your email is well designed. Here’s an example from Straightforward we love and believe you’ll love, too! The email is so well planned it’s impossible to not scroll till the end and read it.

Email subject line: Exclusive discounts and deals on holiday gifts this 12.12 in Lazada! 🎁

2. Use Exit Intent Popups

Exit-intent popups are very popular and powerful marketing tools. They can grab attention, create urgency, and increase your conversion rates. According to Conversion Sciences, 10-15% of lost visitors can be “saved” by exit-intent popups.

The best part is you don’t need to invest too much time creating one and all you need is a great tool, like OptinMonster, to build it!

Here are 4 tips for creating a killer exit-intent popup:

• Keep your message short and focused. Write in small sentences and get straight to the point.
• Talk about the benefits, and share your discount coupon or promo code.
• Use contrasting colors and make sure your offer stands out.
• Make sure your CTAs are fun and hard to ignore.

What does a great exit-intent popup look like?

Like this one right here 👇

3. Add Promotional Banners on Landing Pages

If you have an eye for great design, the ability to write engaging and effective ad copy, and access to business tools like Canva, you can produce a great banner for your website landing page or homepage. 

Promotional banners act like an organic ad for your business that drives sales.

Wondering what a great holiday banner looks like? Take a look at this one from Baudville. Notice the festive design, bigger fonts that capture your attention, and clear messaging. When placed at the top of your website, it becomes impossible to miss… and ignore!

Now Baudville actually did a bit more than just the banner. They worked on their entire landing page to promote holiday-themed product catalogs and collections, gift cards, and more.

So if you have additional time, consider a full redesign of your product landing page so it’s festive for boosting holiday sales.

4. Run Paid and Organic Social Media Campaigns

Social media is a great way to engage your community and increase awareness of your business’s products and services.

For those of you without any marketing budget left, create well-thought-out organic posts that build trust and relationships with your audience, so you can convert them into paying customers. Your posts should highlight special offers, share coupon codes, and deals during the festive season.

Now, if you have a budget, you can use social media ads to tap into bigger audience groups, reach out to them with your offers, and convert them to paying customers.

You can do all of this and more by creating content that will grab the attention of your audience and get them to take the next step in the purchasing journey. 

And, when someone engages with your page or ad, it’s important to acknowledge and respond to their comments and actions on your social media channels!

5. Send Abandoned Cart Emails

Cart abandonment emails are an evergreen remarketing method that you can use throughout the year. These emails are sent to shoppers who have already visited your site, added products to their card, but didn’t make a purchase.

These leads have a greater potential of converting into sales because they’ve already developed an affinity with your brand.

All you need to do is set up your cart abandonment features in your eCommerce platform and write a witty message with a CTA. To take it a step further, you can include a special discount or coupon code and bring them back to your site to win back in sales.

Check out this example from Blue Mercury.

6. Host Holiday-Special Social Media Giveaways and Contests

If you want to get the most out of social media, running giveaways and contests for your holiday marketing campaign is a great strategy.

Social holiday giveaways can get more eyes on your business. Create a campaign, design the banner, add captions and share them on social media. Don’t forget to write about the qualifying terms and conditions for the contest.

Here’s an example of Starbuck’s #redcupcontest hosted on Instagram:

7. Write Blogs on Gift Ideas and Promote Products

Did you know searches for “Christmas gift ideas” were three times higher in 2020 than the previous year?

As the COVID pandemic put restrictions on movement, many consumers adopted a digital-first strategy to research gift ideas and items for their loved ones.

We’ve already talked about creating holiday-themed collections and promoting them in emails. Another way to get them into buying is writing blogs on gift ideas and promoting the curated catalogs. This allows you to promote products and also help your customers to choose the best products for the holiday.

Take a look at this Etsy Journal image that showcases blog articles on different gift ideas, curated products for different types of buyers:

Holiday marketing ideas don’t have to be complicated to be successful. What you need to run profitable holiday marketing campaigns is the ability to quickly understand what your audience likes and then simply offer them that. 

If you want them to click on CTAs, personalize your tone and make it fun and entertaining for your customers so they not only buy now but remember the experience and come back again in the future.