This month the Codeweavers marketing team have put together some top tips to help you prepare your marketing efforts ready for the festive season.

Start early and set a budget

Trying to roll out a Christmas marketing campaign at last minute can prove difficult and may not pay off and in some case may have a negative impact on your business as it may make you look unprepared. Instead plan early and make sure you take time to ensure your campaign makes you stand out from the crowd. It will also help get your team in the festive spirit!

If you know exactly how much you have to spend you will find it a lot easier to create a innovative marketing campaign. Don't feel pressured by the media, the advertisements, or other people to spend more than you intend.

Personal touch

If you want to show your customers that you truly appreciate them, then taking a little time to craft a personalised message can go a long way if you are sending out Christmas cards.

This will help to keep you in mind when your customers are looking to purchase a car again or and upsell any of your after sales services. 

Christmas is the perfect opportunity to reward your customers and build loyalty that will put your business on strong footing for the New Year.

Christmas commercials that go viral 

Every year the likes of John Lewis produces a Christmas commercial that's a huge hit. In 2013 their heart-warming commercial, a two-minute animated tale about a bear that has never seen Christmas had over 13 million hits.

This year already their 2014 Christmas commercial that tells a story about a boy and his stuffed animal penguin friend named Monty has had over one million hits. The commercials are so popular as they are both heart-warming and tell a story that viewers enjoy. 

Dependent on your budget this type of marketing has a huge success in the festive season.

Blogs & Social Media 

Don't suddenly start bombarding your customers with sales messages or the latest special offers for Christmas but instead select your best special offers to add to your social media pages and blog.

You could create a marketing campaign that's exclusive to your blog and social media. For example you could post a new gift voucher to redeem each day for the 12 days before Christmas.

Give your site a festive design theme

To bring Christmas to life and make your website have a festive flare. Change the homepage and header of your website to include festive decorations and colours. This can be as subtle or as bold as you like.

However make sure your website's message, stock and calls to actions are still the most prominent part of our website.

Define your Christmas marketing goal 

If your business has a lot of customers, but slow revenue growth, you might put more value on increasing the amount of higher priced vehicles.

If on the other hand you're concerned that even with good conversion rates you just won’t have many appointments made and a good Christmas sales season, then getting more leads online might be more important to you that you can follow up again in the new year.

Or your goal maybe to turn more of the leads generated on your website into customers is your focus this Christmas.

Contact Codeweavers to find out more.