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Welcome back!

We hope everyone’s recovered from their food comas— because it’s time to end the year strong with a brand new strategy theme! You may have enjoyed a Black Friday-induced spike in sales, but now the challenge is keeping that momentum going throughout the holiday season, which will be the focus of this month. More specifically, we’ll look at the best way to position your product to get it on everyone’s wishlist.

Let’s dive in! 🏃‍♂️🚀

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Tools + Productivity

Strategy

Seasonal value props

No two holiday wishlists look exactly the same, but if there’s something we would all agree to ask Santa for, it would be time. There’s no better time than the end of the year to highlight your product’s efficiency and convenience factor, which becomes an even greater value add when a new year is looming.

Without changing anything fundamental about their core product, Scotch positioned their stationary goods for the season simply by combining them in a way to make a seasonal task (gift wrapping) more easy and convenient:

All it took was a tweak to the packaging and some nicely decorated tape.

This positioning adjustment may seem obvious considering the kinds of products Scotch sells, but there are lots of other products that can be boosted with seasonal tweaks— say you’re selling kitchen appliances, and you blender is the secret to making the perfect eggnog. Even if its’ not, advertising products being used to make seasonal baked goods would also do the trick.

For software companies, highlighting ways the product streamlines tasks during hectic seasons, helps customers bake data-driven inventory decisions, implement holiday-themed user interfaces, or whatever seasonal challenge your product can address.

Ideally, your product has some sort of functional application that can be tweaked towards people’s seasonal needs, like Nordstrom’s holiday shopping bags that can be converted into wrapping paper:

Warm and cozy

At the end of the day, the holiday season is supposed to be about togetherness, generosity, nostalgia— all the warm and fuzzy feelings. If the shoe fits, shift the ad campaign focus to emphasize more emotional triggers, showcasing how the product plays a role in memorable holiday moments.

LEGO leaned into both the holiday spirit and the spirit of LEGO itself in its’ "“Build a Playful Holiday” campaign:

These approaches position your product to address seasonal needs as a bonus, but there’s also the more direct approach of positioning your product as a gift in itself— bonus points if you can add customization/personalization options, or create a limited edition spin-off to make it feel special.

Shutterfly combined the functional and gift-giving aspect while telling a story with relatable emotional triggers, positioning its’ photo-based products as the perfect gift with personalization at its core:

It helps to be able to differentiate your product from endless other meaningless, mass-produced gifts by highlighting the customization aspect, but even if you do make a uniform product, you can still join in on the fun.

When you think winter beverages, Sprite probably doesn’t come to mind— yet the soda company still managed to come up with a holiday ad campaign:

Maybe that didn’t convince you to swap out your hot chocolate for fizzy limeade, but it puts the brand in your mind.

Content is key

We’ve gone over the use of educational, value-adding content throughout the customer journey as a strategy within the marketing funnel year-round, but have you ever thought of tweaking the helpful resources you deliver based on the season?

Whether it’s a tutorial on cooking up a 5-course holiday feast or a guide to hosting the ultimate New Year’s Eve party, there are endless ways to provide timely value while making your product the star of the show.

In fact, leaning into the educational side of things is perfect if you’re selling software — website building companies, for example, might campaign by sending holiday-themed website inspo to your inbox:

In a less educational and more direct self-promoting manner, Macy’s “Give Love. Give Style” campaign cleverly gives customers a “gift finding” tool that leads customers directly to its’ own products.

Filtering by gender, age, product category, and budget isn’t much different from literally any other clothing brand website— but it’s all about the framing:

Plus, daily live streams with styling tips and free access to a personal stylist in stores added an extra value factor to the campaign.

As you know, the customer journey doesn’t end post-conversion. Spotify knows this and ensures users get fun surprises to boost retention while also creating a very indirect referral program (what Apple Music listener doesn't get FOMO when everyone posts their Spotify wrapped)?

Harder to argue that you’re a superfan when you don’t have the recorded minutes to prove it!

Looking Ahead

As we wrap up this week, let us leave you with a simple three-step approach to product positioning during the holidays: (1) identify the seasonal pain points that your brand can address, even indirectly (2) frame your product as the obvious solution in ad campaigns and (3) create an emotional connection that goes beyond functionality.

If you’re interested in automating your marketing processes to grow faster, click here to learn more about how Loopgenius can help you.

Stay tuned for next week, when we’ll raise your spirits with more ways to make the most of the season!

Seasonal Strategy

Week 1: Product Positioning
Week 2: Seasonal Engagement
Week 3: Cause Marketing
Week 4: Tis the SEOson
Week 5: Marketing Resolutions

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