The holidays are still a little ways away, but with those hints of pumpkin spice and creamy eggnog already in the air, you know it won’t be long before you’re opening presents and ringing in the new year.
This time usually marks one of two things for companies big and small: a time of more relaxed, heartwarming initiatives that coincide with the feelings of togetherness customers have around the holidays, or a time of high-stress, ROI-first initiatives marked by an increase in sales, advertising spend, and customer acquisition. In either case, you want to make sure you’ve got the right content at your fingertips that will help you accomplish your marketing goals.
Knowing how fast the holidays tend to sneak up on everyone, it’s important to think about what your holiday marketing plans are when it comes to video from an early start. Since video itself can take so long to get just right, especially when you don’t already have a trusted video production partner, making sure you have something you can be proud of as well as integrating it seamlessly with your other campaigns can take a lot of time. So, even though we know it feels too early – it really isn’t!
That’s why we’re breaking down everything you need to know about creating the perfect holiday video. From video ideas to ways to ensure its success, we’re giving you the low down so you can get started as soon as possible!
Knowing What Type of Holiday Video to Create
The type of video you create will depend on your team’s overall marketing goals for the season. Do you want to delight your audiences with some fun content that shows off your brand personality? Or do you want to use video to increase your fourth quarter sales and conversion rates?
It’s important to make this distinction because not all videos are created equally. A behind-the-scene video from your office holiday party, for instance, may not do much for your sales numbers. On the other hand, a promotional video announcing a limited-time holiday coupon code may not delight your internal employees. Gear your strategy around who your target audience is and what action you want them to take.
If your holiday marketing will focus on delighting your audiences and giving them an inside peek at the company, here are some video ideas that could work for you.
Do you hang up festive decorations each year? Do employees bring in special knick knacks and decorate their desks? Humanize your brand by showing how your office is getting ready for the holidays, from putting up office streamers to wearing outrageous holiday sweaters. Tie it together with a fun holiday song or grand finale.
Create a quick day in the life video of your office Santa Claus. Does he drive in every morning? Grab coffee? Is working at your office his “day job”? As Christmas approaches, show his excitement build. Does he hand out presents? What happens on December 26? Use a fun, humorous video to bring Santa to life.
This is one of the best ways to instill a positive brand association. Think about it. When’s the last time you received a personalized video message from a company you bought something from? Receiving a quick “Hello” and “Happy Holidays” via video will warm the heart of anyone who sees it. Focus on past clients or prospective clients and keep it short – use their name and be sincere. Pick a list of recipients who are mostly likely to spread positive word of mouth.
Low Effort, High Reward Ideas
What’s better than doing something good for others? Host something like a charity drive, which is low effort and high reward, or work on raising money for an organization of your choosing. Film your efforts, which will not only help raise company morale, but will bring a smile to the face of anyone who sees it – and the organizations you help!
Go around asking your entire team this question and create a beautiful montage of their holiday answers. This is a low-budget way to create amazing content that will really resonate with your audience, creating positive brand association and an emotional connection.
If your marketing goals focus more on user conversion and revenue, you might want to stick to more product-related messaging. Here are four examples to help you do just that!
Got a special coupon, discount, or giveaway offer for the holidays? Create an announcement video that outlines the benefits of your offer and lets viewers know how to claim their deal.
With people creating tons of holiday-themed content this time of year – think family gathering photos, dressed up pets, amazing food and recipes, and more – the holidays give you the perfect opportunity to engage your audience. Use video to launch a holiday-themed contest where your fans can submit their own photos or videos, which not only helps spread goodwill among your audience, but gives you tons of user-generated content you can use throughout the season.
Could your brand or service be specifically tied to the holiday season? For instance, outerwear, kitchen appliance, and air travel companies can easily create campaigns around the holidays. Entice users to create a their own holiday traditions using your product or service. Create beautiful video examples, launch a unique hashtag, and see how many users you can get to participate.
Have any of your customers had an exceptional experience using your product? Whether their testimonial is related to the winter season or not, you can create a great, season-inspired theme and tie it to your company’s work. It might be about giving back, it might be about easing the life or work process of someone stressed during the holidays – the narrative of your testimonial could be almost anything, but the power of the testimonial itself could be just the thing to convince users to buy.
Get Started Early
You already know how hectic and packed seasonal calendars can be. You likely have numerous campaigns going leading up to the holidays, and figuring out how and when you should start planning your video can be overwhelming. That’s why getting started early is crucial!
Depending on when you want to launch your holiday video, you should give yourself somewhere between six and nine weeks for the strategy and implementation stages.
If you want to promote your holiday video starting early or mid-December, you need to start planning it around early or mid-October.
Of course, you may want to shoot something more personal on an iPhone that doesn’t require a lot of high-quality effects or equipment. If that’s the case, you should ideally start filming in mid or late November, still giving you plenty of time to download your video, make any simple edits, and promote it where ever you want to.
Give yourself somewhere between six and nine weeks for holiday video strategy and implementation.
Again, how you promote your video will differ based on your marketing goals, and will definitely change how many resources you put behind each campaign. For instance, if sales is your goal, you’ll likely need to spend more behind paid advertising.
Distribution Tips
Regardless of your goals, a few distribution best practices remain essential in promoting any holiday video.
Social Media – Posting your video organically across social media platforms is the best way to increase your video views and video engagement rates. Post your video everywhere you can, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and more. Depending on the content and goal of your video, platforms like Reddit and Tumblr may even be a good place to post your video for that extra kick in organic viewership. Use hashtags and tag any relevant profiles or companies – the more you engage with others, the more they’ll engage with you!
Email – Whether you want site conversions, sales, or your goal is just to spread good cheer, promoting your video via email is also an effective way to reach your target audience. It’s especially great as a nurturing tool, since anyone who’s given you their email address is already (at least somewhat) interested in your company. Nurture that relationship with warm holiday wishes or a special holiday discount.
Paid Advertising – Dedicating a small budget to the promotion of your video via paid ads could also help you get your message across. Paid ads are best spent on videos promoting a specific deal or product, but you could also dedicate a few dollars to promoting a heartwarming holiday message, which could help increase your brand awareness.
Need Help with Holiday Video Content?
The holidays are such a fun time for brands and consumers alike. It’s also the perfect time for you to test new creative angles and show off your brand’s personality. Take advantage of this time to further your marketing goals, whatever they may be, and stay miles ahead of your competitors. Using video can help you do just that, and we’re here to help you decide which type of video content is best for meeting your goals. Just schedule a free call with one of our experts and we’ll go from there!
* This article was originally published here