30 Creative Ideas for Your Holiday Email Marketing

Holiday Email Marketing

Updated September 20, 2018

The other day I noticed another Christmas tree ad. Personally I think that is a little too early since we barely passed Labor Day and I am trying to come to grips with all the Halloween candy in stores, but to each his own. But it is an indication that the 2018 holiday season is approaching fast. By now you should be planning your holiday marketing strategy, which needs to include holiday email marketing. It all fits in with the Content Marketing Benefits for Small Brands.

80% of small and medium-sized retailers in the US indicate that email marketing is their greatest driver of both customer acquisition and retention. The next closest channel, social media, comes in at just 44%. eMarketer

Holiday email marketing is a very effective way to stay in touch with existing customers and engaging with consumers looking for your product or service. But during the busy holiday season it is easy for people to miss email messages. However, holidays also provide some great opportunities for creating holiday email marketing messages that will get noticed. Here are some creative email ideas for your holiday email marketing. Maybe not all of them will apply to your specific business, but there should be more than enough to get you through the holiday season.

30 Creative Email Ideas for Your Holiday Email Marketing

You are not the only one sending out promotional and marketing emails during the upcoming holidays. In order for your holiday email marketing to be effective it needs to stand out. So instead of simply announcing your big sale, extended holiday hours, or butchering The 12 Days of Christmas for your marketing message why not try something different? Of course you can, and should, send out messages announcing sales, special offers, free shipping, and shipping deadlines! But there are a lot of other topics that engage consumers and promote your brand at the same time.

Some Extra Holiday Email Marketing Tips

Be Helpful

Let your customers know about affordable or local gift ideas, or perhaps offer a joint promotion with another business in your area. Think about combining several of your items into gift packages and promoting those. Include holiday gift guides or special holiday coupons. Tell consumers about any special Black Friday or Cyber Monday offers. And if you are shipping items for your customers be sure you let them know of shipping deadlines well in advance! Here is a complete list of 2017 Christmas shipping deadlines from USPS, UPS, FedEx and major stores.

Be Nice

It is the holidays, after all. What better time to thank your customers for their support all year. You can invite them to a special holiday event or encourage them to contribute to a fundraising campaign by matching their donation or donating a percentage of your holiday sales to the same cause.

Be Social

The holidays are a great way to connect with new customers on social media. Be sure to update and optimize your social media profiles first, however! Then tie your social media strategy into your holiday email marketing by running a photo contest (the worst holiday sweater and dressed up pets are perennial favorites!) Other ideas for social media contests include the best holiday food or cocktail recipe, the best indoor and outdoor Christmas decorations, and the goofiest holiday video. Be sure to use a social media management tool to streamline your efforts during the busy time of year.

Be Different

If you are a small business chances are you are unique in one way or another. So why not make that part of your holiday email marketing? Share a story, celebrate your success, and look ahead to the New Year. Offer discounts to people who come dressed for the holidays. Dress up yourself, maybe in a vintage or ethnic holiday costume. Here are some additional creative marketing ideas you can try!

Starting Your Holiday Email Marketing

Now that you have some ideas for your holiday email marketing campaign it is time to get started. The first step will be to decide on your email frequency and then plan your topics ahead of time. That way you can create the content of your email message and still be flexible enough to take advantage of sudden opportunities. One of our upcoming posts will explain how to create the perfect email message.

Once you have your email strategy figured out and started on your actual message content it is time to think about timing and delivery of your message. Yes, you can send individual or bulk email messages yourself, but we really don’t recommend that. For the best holiday email marketing results we recommend MailChimp or Constant Contact. Both offer plenty of free or cost-effective resources to small businesses.

Still Not Sure About Holiday Email Marketing?

And if you are still not sure about starting a holiday email marketing campaign don’t worry! Simply reach out and contact us. Our expert team will listen to you, answer your questions, and determine the best way for your business to get the email holiday marketing benefits you need. That is one of our specialties, after all!

Do you have anything to add to our holiday email marketing tips? Please leave your comments below so our audience can benefit as well, and grab our feed so you don’t miss our next post! And give your audience an early Christmas present by sharing our holiday email marketing tips with them!

By Gregor Schmidt Co-Founder / Digital Strategist @gregorspeaks