While the holiday season is boom or bust for retailers, B2B email marketing requires some extra thought ensuring that the season remains strong and leads do not cool while customers focus their efforts elsewhere. Steve Denner wraps up a few tips in his article “4 tips you cannot ignore this holiday season” to help keep your email marketing campaign focused and in front of your business partners.
Beware of spam
As businesses and retailers turn up the heat to boost sales, email inboxes stuffed full of goodies, may often go unread. As receivers become overwhelmed, rather than read every email they may spend their time unsubscribing and reporting emails as spam. Apply strategy to your holiday email campaigns ensuring the topics are clearly stated, emails on point and provide something of value to the reader.
Dress it up or not?
For some businesses and retailers, adding holiday colors, flashing lights and falling snow is the key to getting their emails to stand out in the reader’s inbox. For B2B emails, however, low-key is frequently more impactful than flash and glitter. It is okay to add a little cheer, but keep it subtle.
Keep prospects warm
If your business is one with a longer sales cycle or subject to constraints of budget cycles, you will want to keep your prospect interested and intrigued throughout a holiday slowdown for their business. Many businesses who are not directly marketing to consumers may settle in for a long winter break. Be attentive to their schedules, paying attention to their needs and answering those needs with targeted reminders and communications that keep your company in the forefront.
What is your schedule?
In today’s global economy, your customers may not celebrate the same ways and the same days. If you plan to close your doors for a day or more, communicate your schedule plans early and often. Likewise, if you will be open without a change to hours, let your customers know. Sometimes no surprise is the best surprise.
