We’ve officially entered the final quarter of the year, which is also the most profitable season, thanks to the holidays and commercial events that consumers eagerly anticipate all year long. While this is great news, it can also feel overwhelming for business owners like you.
That’s why we’ve created a Holiday Marketing Checklist! This will help ensure you don’t miss any key details and allow you to make the most revenue of this exciting season.
So, if you’re ready to watch your brand shine during these last few months, let’s get started! ✏️😊🌟
Ready for This
Ho-Ho-Holiday Season?
- Why Is Holiday Marketing Important for Your Business?
- When Does Q4 Start and End?
- Key Dates You Won't Want to Miss
- 9 Strategies for Your Holiday Marketing Campaign
- 1. Start Planning Your Marketing Campaign Early
- 2. Determine and Create Your Holiday Offers
- 3. Work Closely With Your Suppliers
- 4. Optimize Your Website for a Great Experience
- 5. Find the Best Way to Promote What You Sell
- 6. Create a Contingency Plan
- 7. Provide Top-Notch Customer Service
- 8. Don't Forget About Post-Sale
- 9. Track, Measure, and Analyze
- Last Words
- FAQ Holiday Marketing
Why Is Holiday Marketing Important for Your Business?
7 Reasons to Prepare a Holiday Marketing Campaign 🎄✨
- Boost Your Brand Awareness – Make your brand stand out during the busiest shopping season.
- Reach New Audiences – Attract and engage fresh customers who are ready to shop.
- Delight Your Existing Customers – Show your loyal customers they’re valued with special offers.
- Clear Out Old Inventory – Move the 2024 season’s stock to make room for new items.
- Launch Seasonal Products – Introduce holiday-themed or limited-edition products.
- Share Holiday-Themed Content – Create outstanding, festive content to capture the attention of your visitors and customers.
- Spread the Holiday Spirit – humanize your brand with a touch of cheer and warmth to align with the season and make everyone feel at home
When Does Q4 Start and End?
💡 Fun Fact: The fourth quarter marks the beginning of the incredible holiday and fall season. It begins on October 1 and ends on December 31. This means you have 92 days to implement powerful strategies to help you achieve your business goals.
✨😁 Check out our e-commerce calendar to avoid missing important dates during the year.
Key Dates You Won't Want to Miss
October
October: More Than Just the Spookiest Month 🎃
While October is famously the spookiest month of the year because of Halloween, there’s so much more to it! This month is packed with opportunities to connect with your audience—if they align with your business and brand values.
For instance, did you know that October is also:
But that’s not all! October is home to other special days, like Teacher’s Day (5th) 🍎 and International Coffee Day (1st). So, use these themes to create meaningful campaigns and celebrate what matters most to your audience.
🎃📅 If you want more holidays like these to celebrate, check out our October calendar.
November
November: The Juiciest Month for Major Sales Events 🤑
November is undoubtedly the ultimate month for big commercial opportunities! Consumers eagerly await amazing discounts and sales to snag their favorite products. The excitement kicks off after Thanksgiving and continues through the New Year.
Here are key November dates you can leverage:
- 28th – Thanksgiving 🦃
- 29th – Black Friday 🛒
- 30th – Small Business Saturday 💼
But that’s not all! Depending on your niche and audience, you can also highlight:
-
2nd – Day of the Dead 💀
- 19th – International Men’s Day 👔
Or, use this time to start planning your year-end wrap-up and set the stage for a successful 2025!
😊🥧If you’re looking for fun or geeky celebrations, head to our November t-shirt ideas calendar.
December
December: The Most Wonderful (and Profitable) Time of the Year 🎄✨
While November brings fantastic sales events, December truly steals the spotlight. For millions around the world, this is their favorite month, filled with holiday cheer, decorations, and gift-giving. This is why December is often the most profitable month of the year in many countries.
Key dates to keep in mind this December:
- 14th – Free Shipping Day 🚚
- 21st – Winter Season Begins ❄️
- 25th – Hanukkah 🕎 (ends January 2nd)
- 25th – Christmas Day 🎅
- 26th – Boxing Day (UK, Canada, Australia) 🎁
- 26th – Kwanzaa Begins ✨ (ends January 1st)
- 31st – New Year’s Eve 🎆
🎄⛸️Transform your print-on-demand shop, goodie, and vibes with this wonderful collection of Winter Color Palettes.
✨🎅🏻 Not sure what to sell during this end-of-the-year season? Then take a look at these Printify Products to Have Very Merry Sales This Holiday
1. Start Planning Your Marketing Campaign Early
2. Determine and Create Your Holiday Offers
3. Work Closely With Your Suppliers
4. Optimize Your Website for a Great Experience
5. Find the Best Way to Promote What You Sell
6. Create a Contingency Plan
7. Provide Top-Notch Customer Service
8. Don't Forget About Post-Sale
9. Track, Measure, and Analyze
1. Start Planning Your Marketing Campaign Early
The foundation for a successful holiday marketing campaign is to plan. So, if you’re unsure how to begin, here are some concepts you need to consider.
⭐ Goals
Think of what your intention is in running this seasonal campaign. Perhaps you want to connect more with your audience, reach new customers, raise brand awareness or even increase your sales. Whatever goal you have in mind, make sure it is realistic and achievable.
💡 Note: While getting new customers is important, don’t forget about your existing ones. Find a way to pamper them as well. Sometimes many marketing campaigns are 100% acquisition-oriented without paying attention to their existing customers.
🎃🥧 Check out these Halloween and Thanksgiving Marketing ideas!
🪄 Campaign Theme
Once you have chosen what type of festivities you will cover, think about each and establish a central theme. For example, for this campaign brainstorming, it’d be helpful to ask yourself: “What do I want to communicate?”, “Do I want to offer a particular product?”, “How does this campaign help me reach my business goals?”
On the other hand, to make this creative process easier, we recommend you create a moodboard. By doing this, you’ll be free to write down your ideas, add reference images regarding the look and feel, color palettes, fonts to which you can resort, or anything else you want to add to your campaign.
😊✏️ Keep reading: How to Make a Moodboard: The Best Beginner’s Guide
💡 Pro Tip: If you’re still in time, we suggest you check what your competitors are doing. This is usually purely for inspiration. You can take some ideas and think about how you’d improve them. Also, you’ll notice how they’re carrying out their marketing actions, how far in advance they do it, in which digital channels they implement it, the promotions they offer, etc.
🎄 Holidays You’re Targeting
As we mentioned previously, this last quarter is full of different commercial events and beloved dates. So make sure you list the ones you want to focus on. For example, depending on what you sell, Halloween may not be the best option because it’s around the corner. Therefore, you could put all your efforts into the upcoming celebrations.
🤑 Budget
As with everything, it’s key to determine your estimated budget. You probably have the most creative and unique ideas, but if you don’t have the money, it simply won’t happen. Although this doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to get what you want with the resources you already have.
For example, let’s say you want professional models to showcase your latest t-shirt collection but don’t have enough resources to pay a model and a photographer. For that case, Placeit by Envato is here with tons of mockups that will get pro results while keeping a friendly budget.
📆 Dates
In the marketing world, it’s essential to coordinate all these dates well and therefore:
- Know how many products you need to have in your stock,
- Set your investment (in the monetary aspect),
- Have everything in time for when shoppers start shopping.
For example, some events like Black Friday happen in one day, but others like Christmas require more time for buyers to get all the gifts and decorations they need, as they usually don’t buy them on the 24th. In both cases, you must plan ahead to prepare everything on time for those dates.
✨ Channels
It’s crucial to define if you intend to sell online, offline, or even both to make the necessary preparations for each channel.
For example, in terms of digital, you must consider what resources you’ll use to promote your products, whether it’s your website, social media, blog, email, YouTube, or even if you’re going to pay for online advertising.
We’ll delve into how to promote your best offers later on.
✍🏻 Products/Services
For this point, decide if you want to promote seasonal, new, or existing products to get rid of your stock.
2. Determine and Create Your Holiday Offers
Once you have the main guidelines outlined, it’s time to start planning your offers. Here are some popular ideas that always work:
- 2x1
- Combos
- Coupons
- Discount codes
- Early Access
- Flash Sale
- Free Shipping
- Giveaways
- Limited Editions
- Next Day Shipping
- Samples
- VIP Access
💡 Note: You don’t necessarily have to offer any promotions or discounts, but keep in mind that during the holiday season, you won’t be the only one offering products or services. So, to encourage purchases, these promotional methods always come in handy.
3. Work Closely With Your Suppliers
Now that October is starting, it’s a perfect time to plan, mainly if you depend on and work with suppliers. Remember that many suppliers, of almost any kind, saturate their schedules due to the holiday season. Therefore, we recommend planning the products (including ingredients or materials they contain) that you’ll need to supply your stock and even preparing the packaging, which can have a very festive design or one related to your chosen holiday.
Moreover, Placeit by Envato has beautiful designs and patterns that you can incorporate into your packaging. Also, if you want to send a special thank you card to your customers (you can do it with Placeit). 😉
💠😁 Check this Patterns Guide for tips and inspo!
🚚 On the other hand, if your suppliers only focus on the shipping area, we recommend you check the available options and possible delivery times to provide transparent information to your customers.
4. Optimize Your Website for a Great Experience
Undoubtedly, your website is generally the place where online purchases are made. Therefore, you must ensure it’s in optimal condition and prepared for the arrival of hundreds or thousands of online visitors. These visitors can later become new customers, if you’re careful and do things right.
Here are some criteria you should review in your holiday marketing checklist focused on your website:
- Will your website support a significant increase in visitor traffic?
- Is it fast enough?
- Are descriptions, prices, ingredients, and size guides updated?
- Are your texts easy to understand, attractive, and without typos?
- Are the pictures of your products high quality?
- Is it mobile-friendly?
- Do you have banners indicating promotions?
- Is it dressed according to the chosen season?
- Does it include customer testimonials or reviews?
- Does it offer multiple payment methods?
- Is the payment process transparent?
- Does it give your potential customers the security to make purchases?
- Does it include tools that facilitate conversion? For example, a countdown or show the products available in stock?
- Are relevant keywords included on your web?
Finally, don’t overlook cybersecurity–secure your online networks with tools such as VPNs, which offer multiple server locations to help protect sensitive data and improve site stability.
5. Find the Best Way to Promote What You Sell
The advantage of doing it online is that you have two alternatives: creating organic content or trying online advertising. Additionally, another advantage is that some channels are designed to educate, inform and entertain. It’s not all about sales, right? Although it’s not bad if you communicate your existing promos or encourage customers to go to your website to snag a deal.
🌟 Organic Content Ideas And Tips
As we mentioned, the holiday season isn’t just about sales—it’s about creating connections and offering value to your audience. A mix of helpful tips and inspiring ideas can make your offerings stand out.
For example:
- If you sell scented candles, share tips on how to make them last longer.
- If personalized Christmas ornaments are your specialty, showcase a carousel of ideas to help customers customize their own.
- Got a variety of products? Try creating a “this or that” style video featuring your collection to spark ideas and inspire purchases.
Think about the products you offer, and give them a fun, creative twist. Your audience will appreciate the extra touch of entertainment and inspiration!
✉️ Email
It’s crucial to segment your list to deliver different messages to them. For example, you could send an email to your customers informing them about upcoming offers and a discount code to use. For non-customers, help them with information to facilitate their buying process. You can tell them a little about your company or the behind-the-scenes of your products. Or even if you have noticed that they have left their cart abandoned, try sending them an email to make their purchase and encourage them to get a promotion.
Finally, for both segments, we suggest:
- Adding an attractive subject line that invites them to open your email.
- Incorporating a short call to action that leads them to take the action they want.
- Also, try adding messages or tools that give a sense of urgency. For example, a countdown timer that says the offers end in x amount of time.
- Another helpful action is incorporating tips, blog resources, or even a small FAQ section.
- Finally, don’t forget to email them automatically confirming their purchase details and the estimated shipping time.
✅ Pro Tip: here are some CTA examples that you could apply to your holiday marketing campaign: “Get a discount,” “Shop the deals,” “Get 50% off,” and “Claim your coupon.”
💡 Social Media
For social media, what’s usually a hit are Instagram and Facebook. Of course, depending on your target and goals, you can resort to other platforms such as TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and even Linkedin.
So whichever channel you choose, make sure to:
- Share useful tips, benefits, behind-the-scenes, and how-tos,
- Replicate your efforts to get the word out about your existing promos,
- Create amazing graphics to attract attention,
- Optimize your bio and update your links,
- Conduct contests or giveaways,
- Add hashtags related to your brand, your business, the season, and the ones your target audience looks for,
- Modify your profile picture, cover, or banners,
- Schedule your posts to avoid forgetting them or mishaps.
✏️ Blog
If you have a blog, you can write valuable posts about buying, the benefits of using the products or services you sell, and even create guides to make the information more visual.
😉✨ You might like: 9 Tips to Create a Social Media Calendar.
🤑 Paid Advertising
For advertising purposes, there are some platforms you can leverage to get your messages to the right people.
🚀 Google Ads
The favorite search engine for millions of users around the world is Google. With Google, it’s possible to try different ads to reach your potential customers.
We suggest using UTMs (Urchin Traffic Monitor), which are characters/text that appear at the end of URLs and allow you to monitor the origin of the traffic that arrives at your website. You’ll know where it comes from every time a user clicks on that link.
😊💡 Don’t miss out: Tracking Referrals Across Sites You Own (UTMs Automatically)
🌱 Social Media Ads
You can run traditional ads on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. There the dynamic is very simple, and the process is very intuitive.
🤓 Pro Tip: A good strategy is to increase the investment of your Facebook and Instagram ads at least 15 days before the event if your goal is to drive traffic to your website.
Also, we suggest you run retargeting campaigns to attract back your website visitors who left without making a purchase.
Finally, don’t forget about the recent feature that has revolutionized the world of online shopping: buying directly from social media. For example, Instagram -and recently TikTok for business– has implemented an online store that allows users to make purchases without leaving the application. They even make it easy for users to ask for more product details via message. So, don’t be afraid to incorporate this powerful technique into your strategy.
✏️😁 Here’s a guide you might like: Create Ads That Are Guaranteed to Generate More Leads.
General Recommendations
- Add keywords your users use or search for in any ad format, regardless of the channel as well as striking words related to the season such as “holiday” and “gifts.” You can also incorporate your brand’s name or add keywords related to the season, such as “Halloween.”
- It’s also worth mentioning that messages should be short, clear, and consistent to avoid confusion.
😉✨ Learn all you need about Instagram Shopping with The Ultimate Guide to Creating Instagram Shoppable Posts.
6. Create a Contingency Plan
Any holiday marketing checklist must have a backup plan. We know we wouldn’t want to think anything could go wrong, but remember, these seasonal events are super popular for sellers, suppliers, and customers alike. So, we recommend you create a plan B if something doesn’t go as expected.
For example, your stock of products. We know that thousands of dollars are purchased on these dates, so if you did your job well, your marketing efforts turn out better than expected, and all your available stock sells out, how quickly can you get more?
Another point you should consider is shipping. We suggest you investigate and, if possible, test the service of other suppliers in advance to incorporate it into your contingency list in case your trusted suppliers cannot deliver your orders.
😎 The advantage of including a contingency plan in your holiday marketing checklist is that you’ll be able to foresee, plan ahead and think with a cool head in case some adverse scenario comes up, instead of stressing yourself out on the day of chaos.
7. Provide Top-Notch Customer Service
Whether you have someone to help you or a larger team when it comes to a holiday marketing campaign, you must ensure the following:
- Inform your team about the promotions or content that will be advertised. This way, if someone asks them, your customer service team will be informed and know how to act. It also demonstrates professionalism and consistency.
- Likewise, your team must treat customers with great respect, kindness, and even a friendly touch while answering all queries on call via a quality phone system or in any written form.
What to Do if You’re the All-Rounder?
No worries! Here are some recommendations you can apply to get everything under control. *Some of them can also be applied to larger teams 
- Create an FAQ section on your website, a pinned album on Facebook, or a guide on Instagram.
- Have your return and shipping policy in plain sight.
- Install chatbots; it doesn’t necessarily have to be something you pay for. For instance, some websites already include this feature.
So, now you know that if you contemplate these guidelines in your strategy, you’ll accommodate your customers and potential customers. Indeed, with extraordinary attention, they’ll return to buy in your store.
8. Don't Forget About Post-Sale
For this stage, it’s always a good idea to send your clients an email asking how satisfied they are with the product, if it arrived in good condition, and even offer them a discount for their subsequent purchases. This will work amazingly, especially if your company isn’t big yet. The reason? Sending a customized email will make people feel like they’re being taken into account, which is excellent to help you humanize your brand and create a deeper bond with each client.
9. Track, Measure, and Analyze
🔥 #ProTip: Make sure you have a way to measure everything. For example, UTMs or the popular Bit.ly links that count clicks, dates, and traffic sources are awesome.
On the other hand, once the hustle and bustle of these days have passed, we recommend you take a moment to analyze your results. By doing so, you’ll notice which actions worked well and which actions can be improved.
For example, in Google Analytics and the statistics of each social media platform, you can check the peaks that occurred during your marketing campaign. These may come on the days before the special days, the campaigns you paid for, the days of promotions, or even if you announced a new product or functionality.
Additionally, to enrich this exercise of your results, we leave you some questions that you can also ask yourself to complement this penultimate step of our marketing holiday checklist:
🤑 Sold Products
- What were your top 5 best-selling products?
- Were the most visited products also the best sellers?
- Were there any products that sold more than expected?
- How was your inventory? Did you have a shortage or surplus, or did it go as calculated?
✨ Customer Service
- Were there any returns?
- How was the wave of messages and calls?
- Do some clients require special follow-ups?
- What were the most asked questions?
- Did they comment on things you could improve regarding your products, shipping, or customer service?
- How could you streamline the buying process for your customers based on what you observed?
🚀 Marketing Efforts
- Did planning on time and following this marketing holiday checklist help you to achieve everything as expected?
- What kind of actions and what channels were the ones that worked best?
- Was there anything you planned that didn’t go as you thought it would?
- Are there actions you would like to continue replicating outside the holiday season?
Don’t skip out any step! Here’s a quick recap on how to get ready for this ho-ho-holiday season! ☃️❄️
@placeitapp 9 Strategies for Your Holiday Marketing Campaign!🎅✨ #HolidayMarketingCampaign #MarketingCampaign #HolidaySeason #MarketingStrategy #HolidayCampaign ♬ Christmas standard song - 3KTrack
Last Words
We hope this marketing holiday checklist was extra helpful when planning and executing your campaigns. Ultimately, the goal is mainly to boost your sales by taking advantage of the upcoming significant commercial events. However, before we wrap this blog up, here are some general guidelines:
- Planning is key to avoiding surprises and getting the most out of each event which is an ample opportunity to get the most traffic to your website.
- By doing this in a more detailed way, you’ll be able to mold your marketing strategy for these festivities. Also, don’t forget to review what worked the previous year. If you didn’t, then take this year as a starting point to begin to make all your observations about the efforts that are worth implementing, as well as to understand and improve those that did not work as you had hoped.
- Additionally, we highly recommend focusing your efforts on your clients and future clients. As we mentioned, many companies forget about their current ones and focus on acquiring new clients. The good part is that you don’t have to choose one, and the reward is that you can keep your clients happy and encourage them to keep buying from you while also gaining new ones.
- Finally, a golden piece of advice is before the launch day of each holiday marketing campaign, we suggest double-checking all your holiday preparations. Don’t be afraid to test your website and ensure your calendar is all fixed. It’s better to be cautious in checking the last details than to deal with surprises on launch day.
We wish you a successful ho-ho-holiday marketing campaign for this last quarter! 🎅🏻✨
FAQ Holiday Marketing
