Holiday Marketing Strategies to Drive Seasonal Sales

You’re late. If you haven’t already put together a marketing plan for your golf business for this holiday season, you’re already running behind. It’s okay, though. You’re not the only one. This year’s unprecedented election is causing a national delay in holiday spending and advertising for the season. No matter your political persuasion, it’s NOW time to focus on your holiday marketing.

Let’s start with significant holiday dates to consider for the remainder of 2018. We’re not just talking turkey day and Santa (or whatever your golf customers choose to celebrate, be thoughtful of this in your messaging). Don’t forget those all-important shopper holidays, too.

November Holidays

November 22nd – Thanksgiving Day
November 23rd – Black Friday
November 26th – Cyber Monday

December Holidays

December 3rd – Hanukkah
December 24th – Christmas Eve
December 25th – Christmas
December 31st – New Year’s Eve

Maybe it’s the cinnamony smell of pumpkin lattes, or the crunch of crisp leaves covering the green (leaving you with a terrible lie), but Autumn certainly gets your golf customers in the mood to buy, buy, buy. In fact, more than half of holiday shoppers start planning what they’ll buy in October or sooner (see why we said you’re late?), and actively start purchasing in November and December.

If you missed our last blog you should focus on checking off the September/October checklist so you can get going on November Holiday promotion. Your holiday marketing timeline should look like this -

October: Develop a marketing strategy/plan that outlines:

The audiences you’d like to target (Think beyond just “all golfers!”)
Messaging you’d like to convey, including special sales and discounts, as well as customer loyalty incentives. Put together a calendar of content to be used throughout the season. Get clever! Tell a good story. Stand out from the barrage of holiday marketing.
Your channel strategy: Determine communication channels to most effectively target your customers: television, social media, email, print, text. Schedule time slots as far in advance for television spots.
What the holiday shopper experience will look like for your customers. Where are your marketing efforts driving them? We recommend customized landing pages to track special offers that have a consistent look and feel of your golf brand (with a pinch of holiday cheer).
The staff who will be supporting these initiatives! With the ramp up in marketing efforts, have the right team members on board to engage and respond to your customers’ needs and wants.
Start testing: Before you start spreading all that holiday love, don’t forget to test your content and imagery. A/B testing (this compares two versions of copy or/and visuals) to determine what will perform most optimally.
Set measurable goals (KPIs). Whether you’re looking to increase your golf customer base, drive multiple purchases, or increase current customer loyalty, define your holiday goals and how you plan on measuring them.

November-December: Grab some eggnog and prepare to launch your holiday strategies. Start by:

Going live with your landing page.
Drop your television spots and print campaigns if these are a part of your channel strategies.
Implement holiday social media and email campaigns.
In general, during the holidays, golf businesses increase the frequency of their marketing across the board. Take email, for example. On average, retailers increase email sends to their subscribers by roughly 50% during November and December, compared to non-holiday months.
It’s so much more than a simple “Happy Holidays” email or social media posts. Make sure your golf business has a lead nurturing system in place to move customers throughout the consumer buying journey—from consideration to purchase and beyond.
Plan your holiday remarketing strategies. Just because the stockings are no longer hung by the chimney with care doesn’t mean your holiday marketing is over. Remarket to those prospective customers who interacted with your holiday campaigns through site visits, click throughs, purchases, or sign ups.
Track your return on investment. Understand what holiday messaging, channels, or special offers were most effective to give your golf business a better understanding of what can be more successful for the next season.
Get started on next year’s plan! Focus on the lifetime value of your customers, not just a one-time holiday acquisition.