Yes, it’s February and we’re talking about Christmas; not still, but again, because anyone who has analyzed their last Christmas business would be well advised to immediately deduce which measures should be taken when this year in order to optimally support their sales by addressing the media in good time.
Christmas and e-commerce
According to Schneider in www.internetworld.de, the results of the “Xmas Shopping 2015” customer journey analysis by technology company IntelliAd have shown that many marketers actually started their advertising and PR campaigns too late and only deployed their largest budgets from December 19. Almost a week too late, because the peak of online purchases already took place between December 13 and 16. Experience shows that the big Christmas business starts on Black Friday in November. This is also confirmed by Martin Groß-Albenhausen, Managing Director of bevh (German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association):
“Experience shows that the lion’s share of Christmas business in interactive retail comes in the last four weeks of the year.”
Buying Christmas gifts increasingly very late is a trend that began several years ago, as a look at the previous year’s periods shows, according to the report “bevh takes stock of the 2015 Christmas business”
However, the attitude towards a product or brand is formed throughout the year and so marketing activities should be started in good time and implemented continuously.
Raising of Awareness
Another aspect is publicizing new products or services before the Christmas business starts. Here, every company is well advised to prepare a PR plan for 2016 for their marketing strategy, which includes approaching media representatives in good time and raising awareness of a topic or product in good time. This is not just about advertisements, but also about editorial contributions. If these go out to the public in line with an advertising campaign, they tend to be noticed more easily and customers gain confidence more quickly.
PR annual planning 2016: Media planning for the trade press
Of course, this also includes media planning. Especially for Christmas special editions in the trade press, the advertising deadlines are often in the summer. In order to achieve a placement here, contact must be made with the editorial offices in good time and the opinion-forming trade press must be introduced to the new topics. For companies, PR planning for 2016 in coordination with a PR agency therefore pays off, as with their support the topics can be fed to the trade press in such a way that they fit in with their media plans as well as with suitable advertising campaigns from the marketing department.
Cross-media approach to boost the sales channels
We therefore recommend close cooperation between the marketing and communications departments in order to continuously plan both the marketing and communications plans. In this way, your company proves that all departments are pulling in the same direction and pursuing a marketing strategy on all channels – be it posters at bus stops, editorial articles in the trade magazine or content management on social networks.
So start planning ahead for this Christmas business now.
If you have any questions or suggestions for your colleagues regarding your PR planning for 2016, we look forward to receiving your comments.
From Jacqueline Althaller
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