What can small businesses learn from the big boys and their approach to marketing Christmas?

We are well and truly in Christmas marketing frenzy with the brands all throwing ever larger amounts of money at slick TV ads and filling their stores and online shops with bigger and better promotions. As a small business you may not see how relevant any of this is to you, but I am a firm believer in looking at the strategy and not just the numbers. There are definitely things that can be learned from the way the large companies conduct their Christmas marketing that all businesses can learn from.

Stories are memorable

Don’t just push out sales messages. How can you tell a story about your business, brand or products? You may not want to as cryptic as some of the big TV adverts this year (WW1 and Grocery shopping for example) but it does show how people respond to stories and emotions. So does your business or product have a ‘back storing messages to make them more memorable?

People like to be entertained

This isn’t something just for Christmas, especially on social media – so how can you be entertaining in the way you show your product? Perhaps a short animation or video can get across the benefits of what you do better than standard text?

You can’t beat a good mascot

A mascot or brand character can create a great empathy with the audience and also help you stand out from your competitors. This is something that is easily in reach of all businesses but if you do it, then you should commit to it and don’t do it half hearted. John Lewis have spent £7 million on their Monty the Penguin campaign (and at £95 for a plush toy Monty are probably going to recoup some of this in sales!). You don’t need to spend big bucks but you do need to think about how it can be used across your business and your marketing to get the best effect.

A great example is Dataplan Payroll who we have created a Payroll Superhero character for as part of their branding. The company has totally embraced the character and Dataplan Stan now has a girlfriend and dog and has been made into toys, tape, air fresheners and even cake.

Another example is Red Herring Games, a murder mystery game and events company who have turned their logo into a brand mascot, Sherlock and again have a whole host of other fishy characters including his sidekick Dr Whiting. Sherlock even has his own social media pages and attends many events, including winning a #SBS award from Dragon Theo Paphitis .

Start early

People moan about the ever earlier Christmas marketing but there are plenty of people who do start to think about it early and a recent study of web searches shows in the last few years it has got even earlier and is now at 19th August.

Whatever is your key selling period, you are probably leaving it far too late to start marketing. Take a leaf from the big brands and start a whole lot earlier. People may be buying at a date but they will probably be starting to think about the purchase a whole lot earlier and this is when you need to be marketing.

Have integrated campaigns

Professional marketers know that integrated campaigns that run across different channels get the optimum results. So rather than thinking in terms of specific promotional activities i.e. doing an advert or a leaflet, start to think in terms of campaigns.
So for example if you want to promote a Sale event then you might run some ads, create a radio commercial, distribute leaflets door to door and mention on your social media accounts and website.

So when you next see the latest Christmas blockbuster ad, have a think if there is anything you could learn from it and apply to the marketing of your business.