Have you considered tying your B2B marketing efforts to holidays?
Marketing during any type of holiday season can be challenging. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) businesses do very well with holiday specials and markdowns, but Business-to-Business (B2B) businesses are often left out in the cold. Mostly because other businesses cut expenses during this time because they’re not seeing much income themselves (B2B) or they’re seeing too much business and can’t think about placing orders with other businesses (B2C).
B2B Holiday Marketing
Whether it’s Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, there are ways to market to your B2B customers during any holiday downtime.
Get Personal
Use this downtime to let your customers know you’re thinking of them. Consider “Thank You for Your Service” cards to Veterans for patriotic holidays. Send out personal holiday cards, thank you cards, and thinking of you cards throughout the year during your slow seasons. Your customers will feel appreciated and they’ll be sure to remember you when they’re ready to start ordering again.
Change Your Timing
You know that a holiday time is coming, so adjust your time accordingly. Can you support your customers through their busy season by keeping longer office hours or offering faster shipping? Maybe your customers need additional phone support and you can keep your phone lines open later. Showing your support and helping them when they need it most will be remembered when things start to slow down again.
Rework Content
This is a great time to work on creating new content to share with your customers. But it doesn’t all have to be brand new. Rework some of your existing content into new blog posts, emails, or an e-book that you can share with your customers to remind them of all the great ways you can serve them. Use an old email newsletter to inspire new social media content. Staying in front of your customers, even when they don’t have the time or money to make purchases, will keep you fresh in their minds.
Sending out emails around a holiday will not only keep you in front of your customers, it will allow them to interact with you on the go. Your customers can view their emails, and respond to them, right from their mobile device.
They can easily engage with you when it’s convenient for them. Send out an email with a special promotion or offer that’s valid during the holiday weekend or week only as a “thank you for being a valued customer.” They’ll appreciate the thought and be compelled to take advantage of the deal.
Note: Open rates for emails plummet on any holiday and during the Christmas season, but the best times to see an increase in your open rate is the week after Thanksgiving and the few days after New Year’s.
Get Social
Don’t forget about the power of social media. Create banner ads, promos, and sponsored posts that you can use to share your special offers and sales. The most important purpose of these ads is not to generate clicks, but to inform your followers. Target followers who have either visited your site, follow your social media account, or have reached out but haven’t purchased. These are the customers who will be especially interested in your special deals.
B2B marketing during any holiday season can seem challenging, but it’s not fruitless. There are some great ways to stay in front of your audience and drive sales during the season and after.
