A Christmas themed cartoon from the great Tom Fishburne…
Original post at “Christmas creep” and well worth a read.
Christmas promotions from retailers seem to be starting ever-earlier. So how early is too early?
“It will be interesting to see how the Christmas Creep bandwagon continues in coming years, as retailers navigate the holiday shopping pressure and balance how best to listen to their consumers. Some consumers genuinely want deals earlier in the year. Others see it as an invasion. I imagine the best approach will be different for every retailer. What might work for Kmart won’t necessarily work for Neiman Marcus.”
In many cases, a lot of these promotions smack of desperation to me and marketers who have no coherent plan.
Of course I am a big advocate of planning ahead but that’s a different issue to actually launching a promotion.
And, of course, people differ. Some like to get all their Christmas shopping done early (even starting straight after Christmas on shopping for the following year!). It’s reported that over 40% of people do start their shopping before the end of October.
Others will pretty much leave everything to the last minute.
So there’s no one answer, but I’d suggest…
…that the “Robert Collier Principle” of entering the “conversation” in the mind of your prospect will be a good guide.
And, of course, if you have a list and a good relationship with your customers and prospects, then the conversation can be tailored to the stage they are at in their Christmas shopping.
Thinking about it? Making plans? Ready to get out and buy? You can send an appropriate marketing message.
Early in the process. it could be some gentle reminders and some helpful suggestions. As time progresses you can increase the urgency and make more aggressive offers.
At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you take advantage of events and holidays as part of a well-thought-out overall marketing plan.