The holiday season is a whole ✨aesthetic✨ and your evergreen, year-round product photography just isn’t going to cut it.
Sure, it’s a great idea to refresh your content for any occasion but the holiday shopping season really gets people in a spending mood. That means your content has the potential to convert more if you strike a chord with your potential customers—they’re not just shopping for themselves; they’re shopping for others too.
But the holidays are also about a feeling. If your holiday marketing strategy makes people feel good about purchasing and gifting that product to someone they care about, they’re going to spend more on it. Your job is to holiday promotions that appeal to that desire.
13 best holiday marketing ideas to try in 2024
Shoot holiday product photos
Create visually appealing holiday-themed product images. Use festive backdrops and lighting to make your products stand out.
Choose props and themes to bring out the holiday shopping season—maybe a cozy cabin setting, a luxurious glam vibe, or natural pine needles and snow. Make these decisions with your target demographic in mind to get the most out of your photoshoot.
Repurpose product photos
If you don’t have time or budget for a holiday-themed product photoshoot, work with what you’ve already got! Repurpose existing product content into other assets to maximize your investment and give a nod to the holiday season.
Flat lay product photos, for example, make great animated GIFs. Or change out the background to add a fireplace or snowscape.
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Curate holiday gift guides
Design visually rich gift guides that feature your products. Create categories of gifts for different personas—mom, dad, kids, husband, wife, teacher, etc.—with high-quality images and descriptions.
Think of a holiday gift guide as a curated shopping experience that makes it easier for customers to find the perfect gift. Use high-quality images to showcase your products in use.
For example, a gift guide for moms could feature a beautifully laid-out spa day kit with candles, bath salts, and cozy slippers, all photographed in a luxurious bathroom setting. A guide for kids could include vibrant images of toys and games, styled in a playful and inviting manner. By categorizing and visually displaying your products this way, you help customers quickly identify and choose the right gifts.
Festive social media campaigns
Run holiday-themed social media campaigns with eye-catching graphics and videos. Create a series of posts that build anticipation for your holiday sales and promotions. Use festive visuals such as animated snowflakes, twinkling lights, and holiday-themed graphics to capture attention.
On Instagram, incorporate Stories and Reels to share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your holiday preparations, or create short videos showing how your products can be used or gifted. Then repurpose that content for TikTok. Pinterest is great for creating holiday boards that feature your products in festive settings, inspiring users to save and share your content.
Run a UGC contest
Encourage customers to share user-generated content (UGC) in the form of photos and videos of your products being used or gifted during the holidays. Repost these images on your social media channels to build community and trust. Run visually appealing sweepstakes and contests where customers can win holiday-themed prizes in exchange for submitting their UGC. Use vibrant graphics and videos to promote participation.
Feature holiday video content
Create short, engaging videos showcasing your products in a holiday setting. This can include product demos, unboxing videos, or holiday-themed tutorials.
Creating product videos can effectively convey the holiday spirit. Create a series of short videos that highlight your products in a festive context.
For example, a product demo could show a kitchen gadget being used to prepare a holiday meal, while an unboxing video could capture the excitement of receiving your beautifully packaged products as a gift. Holiday-themed tutorials, such as decorating tips using your home decor items or styling advice for your fashion products, can also provide valuable content to your audience while subtly promoting your products.
Create interactive holiday lookbooks or catalogs
Develop an interactive online holiday catalog or lookbook with clickable sections, beautiful visuals, and embedded videos. Make it easy for customers to explore and purchase products, and include stunning visuals with clickable links to purchase the featured products.
Feature your products in various holiday settings. Incorporate embedded videos that show your products in use, providing a richer context for potential buyers. A fashion lookbook could feature a series of outfits styled for holiday parties, with videos showing models wearing the outfits in different settings, for instance. This interactive format not only makes browsing fun but also simplifies the shopping process by making it easy to move from inspiration to purchase.
Bundle products and gifts
Create holiday-themed product bundles and showcase them with attractive visuals on your website and social media. Bundle similar items or create gift sets.
Not able to offer bundles on your store? Consider creating a slideshow of photos on Instagram or a hero image in the collage style. This is a great way to use close-up product photography and lifestyle photography together to set the mood.
Count down to the day
Use visually engaging countdown timers on your website and social media to build excitement for upcoming holiday promotions and sales. A countdown timer can create a sense of urgency and anticipation.
Add a visually appealing countdown timer to your website’s homepage, indicating the time left until a major holiday sale begins. Use festive graphics and animations to make the timer eye-catching. Share countdown updates on your social media channels, incorporating holiday-themed visuals and reminders about the approaching sale.
Offer gift wrapping
If you can, run a promo to provide complimentary gift wrapping with every holiday purchase. If you can’t swing it for free, offer it as a paid add-on. Many people pay extra for convenience.
You could also provide visual guides and video tutorials on creative gift wrapping ideas using your products. Offer downloadable templates or printable designs.
Post quizzes
Create fun and visually engaging holiday quizzes related to your products. Share results that suggest products based on their answers, accompanied by appealing images.
Ask questions about the user’s preferences, such as their favorite holiday activities or their gift-giving style. Based on their answers, suggest products that would be a perfect fit. For example, if a user prefers cozy nights at home, recommend products like blankets, candles, and hot cocoa sets. Use appealing visuals throughout the quiz and share the results with high-quality images of the suggested products, making it easy for users to click through and make a purchase.
Host a pop-up shop
If possible, create a holiday pop-up shop with a festive theme. Use high-quality visuals to replicate the in-store shopping experience online. A pop-up shop can create a unique and immersive shopping experience—and offer a more personable way to connect with shoppers.
Collaborate with influencers and creators
Partner with influencers to create visually rich content featuring your products in holiday settings. Leverage their reach to increase brand visibility. Influencer collaborations can amplify your holiday marketing efforts by tapping into their established audiences.
Choose influencers whose style and audience align with your brand. Work with them to create content that features your products in festive holiday settings. Share the content on both the influencer’s and your own social media channels to reach a wider audience. Influencers can also host giveaways or contests, encouraging their followers to engage with your brand.
Publish holiday season blog content
Publish holiday-themed blog posts with beautiful imagery. Topics could include holiday gift ideas, decorating tips, and festive recipes, all featuring your products. Seasonal blog content can drive traffic to your website and provide value to your audience.
A post about holiday gift ideas could include a list of your top-selling items, with each product accompanied by beautiful imagery and a compelling description. Decorating tips could feature your home decor products styled in festive settings, while a recipe post could highlight kitchen tools and ingredients you sell. High-quality visuals are essential to make your blog posts engaging and shareable, drawing more readers to your site.
Holiday marketing best practices
Be inclusive
While it’s totally okay to mention “Christmas sales” in your marketing: avoid using ONLY Christmas language in all posts. There are tons of other holidays celebrated during this holiday shopping season. using neutral language like “holiday cheer” or “season of giving” is just as effective. If people feel alienated by your brand, they won’t support it.
Be authentic
You don’t have to completely break the mold and veer away from holiday marketing. There's a reason it comes back every year! but be aware of the overused marketing and photography techniques in your category. Scroll through competitor feeds from previous holiday seasons to get an idea of what’s been done. Weed out what seems trite and embrace what you think still works! Add in elements unique to your brand, whether that’s humor, splashes of quirky color, or minimalist details.
Be accurate
The holidays get a little crazy! Make sure you actually have whatever you’re promoting. You don’t want to put ad dollars behind promoting a product that’s gone out of stock. Ensure you’re collaborating across departments and getting everyone on the same page.
Be personal
Personalize your holiday marketing campaigns to boost effectiveness. You likely already have access to some sort of customer data, so leverage it. Recommend relevant products, but keep in mind that many people are shopping for gifts for others, so make sure to include this messaging in your holiday promotions.
Get all the holiday marketing content you need from soona
Holiday marketing hinges on creating a festive, engaging, and visually rich experience for customers. Each holiday marketing strategy idea leverages the power of visual content to evoke the emotions and excitement associated with the season. Start early, personalize marketing efforts, and ensure a seamless and delightful shopping experience to spread holiday cheer and capture sales and loyal customers.
If you don’t have the resources ready to crank out all your holiday content needs, get in touch with soona. We can work with your existing assets, shoot new photos and videos, and turn them into a whole product content library optimized for wherever you sell.
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The holiday season is a whole ✨aesthetic✨ and your evergreen, year-round product photography just isn’t going to cut it.
Sure, it’s a great idea to refresh your content for any occasion but the holiday shopping season really gets people in a spending mood. That means your content has the potential to convert more if you strike a chord with your potential customers—they’re not just shopping for themselves; they’re shopping for others too.
But the holidays are also about a feeling. If your holiday marketing strategy makes people feel good about purchasing and gifting that product to someone they care about, they’re going to spend more on it. Your job is to holiday promotions that appeal to that desire.
13 best holiday marketing ideas to try in 2024
Shoot holiday product photos
Create visually appealing holiday-themed product images. Use festive backdrops and lighting to make your products stand out.
Choose props and themes to bring out the holiday shopping season—maybe a cozy cabin setting, a luxurious glam vibe, or natural pine needles and snow. Make these decisions with your target demographic in mind to get the most out of your photoshoot.
Repurpose product photos
If you don’t have time or budget for a holiday-themed product photoshoot, work with what you’ve already got! Repurpose existing product content into other assets to maximize your investment and give a nod to the holiday season.
Flat lay product photos, for example, make great animated GIFs. Or change out the background to add a fireplace or snowscape.
{{product-catalogue="/external-components"}}
Curate holiday gift guides
Design visually rich gift guides that feature your products. Create categories of gifts for different personas—mom, dad, kids, husband, wife, teacher, etc.—with high-quality images and descriptions.
Think of a holiday gift guide as a curated shopping experience that makes it easier for customers to find the perfect gift. Use high-quality images to showcase your products in use.
For example, a gift guide for moms could feature a beautifully laid-out spa day kit with candles, bath salts, and cozy slippers, all photographed in a luxurious bathroom setting. A guide for kids could include vibrant images of toys and games, styled in a playful and inviting manner. By categorizing and visually displaying your products this way, you help customers quickly identify and choose the right gifts.
Festive social media campaigns
Run holiday-themed social media campaigns with eye-catching graphics and videos. Create a series of posts that build anticipation for your holiday sales and promotions. Use festive visuals such as animated snowflakes, twinkling lights, and holiday-themed graphics to capture attention.
On Instagram, incorporate Stories and Reels to share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your holiday preparations, or create short videos showing how your products can be used or gifted. Then repurpose that content for TikTok. Pinterest is great for creating holiday boards that feature your products in festive settings, inspiring users to save and share your content.
Run a UGC contest
Encourage customers to share user-generated content (UGC) in the form of photos and videos of your products being used or gifted during the holidays. Repost these images on your social media channels to build community and trust. Run visually appealing sweepstakes and contests where customers can win holiday-themed prizes in exchange for submitting their UGC. Use vibrant graphics and videos to promote participation.
Feature holiday video content
Create short, engaging videos showcasing your products in a holiday setting. This can include product demos, unboxing videos, or holiday-themed tutorials.
Creating product videos can effectively convey the holiday spirit. Create a series of short videos that highlight your products in a festive context.
For example, a product demo could show a kitchen gadget being used to prepare a holiday meal, while an unboxing video could capture the excitement of receiving your beautifully packaged products as a gift. Holiday-themed tutorials, such as decorating tips using your home decor items or styling advice for your fashion products, can also provide valuable content to your audience while subtly promoting your products.
Create interactive holiday lookbooks or catalogs
Develop an interactive online holiday catalog or lookbook with clickable sections, beautiful visuals, and embedded videos. Make it easy for customers to explore and purchase products, and include stunning visuals with clickable links to purchase the featured products.
Feature your products in various holiday settings. Incorporate embedded videos that show your products in use, providing a richer context for potential buyers. A fashion lookbook could feature a series of outfits styled for holiday parties, with videos showing models wearing the outfits in different settings, for instance. This interactive format not only makes browsing fun but also simplifies the shopping process by making it easy to move from inspiration to purchase.
Bundle products and gifts
Create holiday-themed product bundles and showcase them with attractive visuals on your website and social media. Bundle similar items or create gift sets.
Not able to offer bundles on your store? Consider creating a slideshow of photos on Instagram or a hero image in the collage style. This is a great way to use close-up product photography and lifestyle photography together to set the mood.
Count down to the day
Use visually engaging countdown timers on your website and social media to build excitement for upcoming holiday promotions and sales. A countdown timer can create a sense of urgency and anticipation.
Add a visually appealing countdown timer to your website’s homepage, indicating the time left until a major holiday sale begins. Use festive graphics and animations to make the timer eye-catching. Share countdown updates on your social media channels, incorporating holiday-themed visuals and reminders about the approaching sale.
Offer gift wrapping
If you can, run a promo to provide complimentary gift wrapping with every holiday purchase. If you can’t swing it for free, offer it as a paid add-on. Many people pay extra for convenience.
You could also provide visual guides and video tutorials on creative gift wrapping ideas using your products. Offer downloadable templates or printable designs.
Post quizzes
Create fun and visually engaging holiday quizzes related to your products. Share results that suggest products based on their answers, accompanied by appealing images.
Ask questions about the user’s preferences, such as their favorite holiday activities or their gift-giving style. Based on their answers, suggest products that would be a perfect fit. For example, if a user prefers cozy nights at home, recommend products like blankets, candles, and hot cocoa sets. Use appealing visuals throughout the quiz and share the results with high-quality images of the suggested products, making it easy for users to click through and make a purchase.
Host a pop-up shop
If possible, create a holiday pop-up shop with a festive theme. Use high-quality visuals to replicate the in-store shopping experience online. A pop-up shop can create a unique and immersive shopping experience—and offer a more personable way to connect with shoppers.
Collaborate with influencers and creators
Partner with influencers to create visually rich content featuring your products in holiday settings. Leverage their reach to increase brand visibility. Influencer collaborations can amplify your holiday marketing efforts by tapping into their established audiences.
Choose influencers whose style and audience align with your brand. Work with them to create content that features your products in festive holiday settings. Share the content on both the influencer’s and your own social media channels to reach a wider audience. Influencers can also host giveaways or contests, encouraging their followers to engage with your brand.
Publish holiday season blog content
Publish holiday-themed blog posts with beautiful imagery. Topics could include holiday gift ideas, decorating tips, and festive recipes, all featuring your products. Seasonal blog content can drive traffic to your website and provide value to your audience.
A post about holiday gift ideas could include a list of your top-selling items, with each product accompanied by beautiful imagery and a compelling description. Decorating tips could feature your home decor products styled in festive settings, while a recipe post could highlight kitchen tools and ingredients you sell. High-quality visuals are essential to make your blog posts engaging and shareable, drawing more readers to your site.
Holiday marketing best practices
Be inclusive
While it’s totally okay to mention “Christmas sales” in your marketing: avoid using ONLY Christmas language in all posts. There are tons of other holidays celebrated during this holiday shopping season. using neutral language like “holiday cheer” or “season of giving” is just as effective. If people feel alienated by your brand, they won’t support it.
Be authentic
You don’t have to completely break the mold and veer away from holiday marketing. There's a reason it comes back every year! but be aware of the overused marketing and photography techniques in your category. Scroll through competitor feeds from previous holiday seasons to get an idea of what’s been done. Weed out what seems trite and embrace what you think still works! Add in elements unique to your brand, whether that’s humor, splashes of quirky color, or minimalist details.
Be accurate
The holidays get a little crazy! Make sure you actually have whatever you’re promoting. You don’t want to put ad dollars behind promoting a product that’s gone out of stock. Ensure you’re collaborating across departments and getting everyone on the same page.
Be personal
Personalize your holiday marketing campaigns to boost effectiveness. You likely already have access to some sort of customer data, so leverage it. Recommend relevant products, but keep in mind that many people are shopping for gifts for others, so make sure to include this messaging in your holiday promotions.
Get all the holiday marketing content you need from soona
Holiday marketing hinges on creating a festive, engaging, and visually rich experience for customers. Each holiday marketing strategy idea leverages the power of visual content to evoke the emotions and excitement associated with the season. Start early, personalize marketing efforts, and ensure a seamless and delightful shopping experience to spread holiday cheer and capture sales and loyal customers.
If you don’t have the resources ready to crank out all your holiday content needs, get in touch with soona. We can work with your existing assets, shoot new photos and videos, and turn them into a whole product content library optimized for wherever you sell.
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