October 2021: Does your end-of-year marketing plan include reciprocity and good feels?

Welcome to those of you who are new to The Good Stuff! 11 months ago, I sent out my very first edition of this newsletter with tips for holiday marketing. This time around, I’m giving you a more timely nudge—because you should really have your end-of-year marketing plans finalized by the end of this month.

if you learn better by listening, I covered this topic on the We Are For Good podcast earlier this week!

20% of annual retail sales happen in November and December. 30% of all charitable donations are made in December. 10% of all charitable donations in the U.S. are made in the last 3 days of the year. And last year, Giving Tuesday brought in just shy of $2.5 billion in donations for U.S. nonprofits. 

OK, so how to capitalize?!

This year, I recommend harnessing the collective power of email marketing, social media, and digital advertising to run a campaign that helps people escape the doom and gloom and reconnect with what they love about the holidays:

🙂 Joy
😲 Surprise 
😂 Humor 
🤝 Connection
🏡 Family
🍗 Gluttony 
🤗 Generosity
🔮 Magic

The more you can make people smile, laugh, cry—ideally all three simultaneously—the more likely they are to purchase your offering or donate to your cause.

In addition to good feels, great holiday campaigns practice the principle of reciprocity.

Whether you work for a for-profit or nonprofit, here’s a brainstorming prompt for you: “How can we make the holidays a little brighter for our target customers/donors?” 

Some ideas to get the juices flowing:

• Many people search for holiday playlists. Can you make a great one and share it out?

• We all search the web for gift ideas for that person who has everything, that person we don’t know very well, or that person who lives far away and won’t get a gift by mail on time (especially this year). Can you provide a list of gift ideas for your target market, or can you be the perfect gift for them to give those tough-to-shop-for people?

• Parents are always seeking ways to teach their children the true meaning of the holidays: acts of generosity, not presents. Can you provide a volunteer, educational, or donation experience for parents to do with their children?

• Everyone is always seeking feel-good entertainment. Can you create an emotive video, audio storytelling series, DIY craft project, festive recipe book, or something else that will entertain people while teaching them about your work?

Wait—why should we provide something instead of just asking?

The first of Cialdini’s 6 infamous persuasion principles is reciprocity. When you provide something to others for free—even something small—they feel indebted to you. And when they feel indebted to you, they are more likely to turn around and do something for you in return.

I believe this principle is a perfect fit for the holiday season. It’s a nice way to stand out from all of the other emails and advertisements screaming, “Buy me!” and “Donate now!” How refreshing to see, instead, “We made you something!” or “Watch this video for 10 minutes of pure joy.” or “Gift ideas for the <xyz> lover in your life!” or “Here’s an easy way to teach your kids the true meaning of the holidays.” 

A nonprofit example I really love, regardless of how you feel about the organization, is this video of a kid teaching families how to pack a holiday donation shoebox. 

It’s funny, surprising, warm, fuzzy, and you bet this campaign inspired people to donate a lot of money in addition to packing their shoeboxes. Notice: This video is not about the people who will receive the shoeboxes. It’s entirely about the donor and the fun experience their family will have picking out gifts and packing their box. Because we’re all selfish beings, eh?

What's the ideal timeline for an end-of-year campaign?

People start getting into the holiday spirit on November 1st. Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve/Day are dead zones when you shouldn’t expect people to respond to you. You should be communicating consistently starting in early November. Offer something to your audience in early or mid-November, then start asking them for something in return a couple of weeks later. And thank them like crazy come January!

Need more help brainstorming?

Use my free Digital Campaign Planning Workbook to brainstorm campaign concepts, define your audience, choose your channels, and nail down the logistics.

Wishing you all a sweet Halloween! 

-Caroline