How B2B Marketers Can Take Advantage of the Holiday Season

The holidays are quickly approaching and while B2B marketers don’t have storefronts to worry about, there is plenty that can be done to reach out to your audience during this time of the year. In fact, the holidays are a great time to close business and develop new opportunities.
Many of your clients are wrapping up their year and are finally getting around to looking at vendors who can support their needs in the New Year. They are finishing out the year planning for next year’s projects which could mean hiring your company, so it is the ideal time to get in front of them with relevant messaging. Since many companies are finishing their fiscal year, they only have a few days left to spend any of their budgeted money from 2015. If they don’t spend it now, they may not get the same budget approved for next year, so they are in a rush to spend. And while many decision makers may be out on vacation, their support staff are in contact with them and executives are often willing to respond quickly to get the deal done this year.
The timing is right, so what can B2B marketers do to connect? It’s a great time to be in front of your audience and prove your expertise with great content. Now that business has slowed for the year, your clients and prospects have more time on their hands to engage with content that you send.
The end of the year and the start of a new year offer lots in terms of content options. People like perspective at the end of the year, making this a good time to create content reviewing the trends in your industry over the last year. You can write a blog and then push this content out to your email list and through LinkedIn. You may also consider checklists and to-do lists for next year, which will help your prospects get ahead in 2016.
Consider interactive content. As workers are kicking back in the office, they have more time to interact with something fun or something useful to help give them ideas for the New Year. Consider entertaining them with an infographic, a video, or a quiz that they may consider sharing.  Think about how you can educate them with a downloadable webinar or podcast that they can listen to while they work. Do you normally charge for whitepapers? Get into the giving spirit and give away some of this content during the final week or two of the year.
This is also a great time of year to inspire prospects with stories of giving back. Does your company have an active corporate social responsibility initiative? This is a good time to shine the light on how your employees are helping around the community and remind your prospects of the true meaning of the season. Email and social media are both great vehicles to deliver these stories. You can include photos and even share links to how the recipient can get involved and donate to the charity or volunteer next time around.
The holiday season is also a great time of year to say thank you to your customers. Perhaps you are sending out end of the year cards or simply sending an email; no matter the channel, now is the time of year to thank your loyal customers for their business.
There are still a few days left this year, take advantage of how you can use them to help grow your business in 2016!
Image via Cliff