7 clever ways B2B enterprises can leverage this holiday season

Q4 is always challenging for marketers. It's profitable, inspiring, and brisk but never easy. Alas, there are a couple more things you need to try before going into the "Let's circle back to this after the holidays" mode. 

While our B2C colleagues are decorating their storefronts, lining up the snow-themed products, and hassle their way through the biggest sale of the year, we, fellow B2B connoisseurs, have some work to do as well. Ain't no rest for the marketers this quarter. 

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But first, let's address the elephant in the room and debunk the greatest holiday marketing myth of all:

Holiday marketing is for small B2C organizations only. Or is it?

Here's the thing. Holiday marketing can be different. You can slam a Santa hat on your logo and consider your job well done. It may even bring you a decent boost in your vanity metrics in the end.  

But there's this little prejudice we all fall victim to every once in a while: should we even address holidays if we operate in the B2B sector? The short answer is "yes," and here's why: enterprise decision makers across the screen from you are still people, not that different from you and me. 

More importantly, we all know that marketing is not simply about reaching out to customers, generating leads, and closing sales deals. It's about our internal planning and preparation, too! And here, winter holidays are likely the best time to thrive! 

Here are 7 ways your B2B venture can use the last month of the year to give "holiday marketing" a good name! 

Set specific goals for your holiday campaigns

If 2022 has taught us anything is that it's hard to plan when the world is in turmoil. So do yourself a favor and don't just run your holiday promos for the sake of meeting the goals you set up last year before the worldwide economic and social crisis. 

Instead, audit your current performance and use the time left to do your best. What will it be? Only you can tell: 

• Did you hope to have more MQLs from your Black Friday promo? Use Christmas to capture those missing bits with remarketing! 
• Do you need to catch up on account upgrades? People are likely to have some budget leftovers right about now – remind them about your offer - they're counting on it!
• Are there any tools you didn't get a chance to try this year, like SMS or web push notifications? Use the holidays' craze to experiment with those and set campaign-specific expectations for the feature tests. 

Don't strand away from promo deals 

Yes, of course, giveaways and 80% discounts are for ecommerce. But! 

Even if you work in a subscription-based SaaS that targets premium enterprises, you can still leverage the holidays to better connect with prospective subscribers! 

• Offer a limited-time deal for yearly subscriptions for 2023; 
• Throw in a high-tier feature to your base-pricing plans; 
• Send them a free ebook, after all! 

The bottom line is that people expect to receive freebies during holidays. We count on the Christmas bonus from our employer, free shipping from our favorite clothing store, and an attractive discount from our business partner. 

At the very least, you'll stand out from the competitors who still believe that "Holiday sales are for B2C only"! 

Work on your employer branding

There are lots of holidays throughout the year that deserve your attention! Of course, not all of them would suit a strong B2B marketing campaign (for example, you probably wouldn't get much out of The Ugly Sweater Day in terms of sales – unless you're selling ugly sweater prints). 

Yet, you can still use these events to work on your Employer Branding programs and improve employee satisfaction rates. Some of the less-known winter holidays that could help you with that include:

• National Salesperson's Day (December 8)
• UNICEF Day for Change (December 11)
• Gingerbread Decorating Day (December 12)
• Home Office Safety And Security Week (January 8-13)
• Customer Service Day (January 17)

Spend your leftover marketing budget

December may be a little slow for our fellow B2B marketers, but that only proves that you finally have the time to experiment and put your remaining marketing budget on something you didn't dare to throughout the year, like:

• Play around with that new marketing automation software you always wanted to try 
• Experiment with the latest lead-generating solutions and tools
• Hire a third-party SEO auditor to make sure your strategy's in place 
• Get your data in check for the new year with the contact list management system 
• Try our new paid methods to distribute your content to new prospects
• Get to know your audience even better via paid market research

Squeeze out the full potential of mobile optimization 

First of all, you should continuously optimize for mobile. Statistics suggest that 80% of B2B marketers use mobile devices for work, and 90% of mobile users claim that their experience with a B2B mobile site would affect their purchasing decision. 

But this is particularly important during holidays. People get more distracted, relaxed, and eager to connect with their families and friends over the phone. That's why you're much more likely to catch them in front of a mobile screen instead of hoping for a desktop conversion. 

To ensure your visitors have an excellent mobile experience with your business, try some of these strategies: 

• Make sure your website design is optimized for mobile-first (duh!)
• Use SMS and mobile push notifications more during the holidays 
• Optimize for mobile search – the intent will be different there! 
• Produce some video content – one of the most popular formats for mobile devices 

Create holiday-themed content

We're not asking you to wear an Ugly Christmas sweater and sing Carol of the Bells during your next sales call. But do consider the holidays for your next email blast, blog post, or podcast. 

For example, here are some holiday-themed articles we prepared at GetResponse to help our B2B customers improve their strategies this season: 

• 11 ideas for your next holiday email marketing campaign
• Best "Happy New Year" email examples
• 14 email marketing ideas for Valentine's Day

Or download our Global Marketing Calendar for 2023 to upgrade your enterprise campaigns and prepare for the year to come! 

But you can do so much more! 

Thank your clients for sticking with you

It's easy to forget customer retention and loyalty when chasing new promising leads, especially in B2B. Yet, holidays might be the best time to remind your faithful clients that you care about them (and that your product still rocks!) 

Just like in the old days, companies would send out gift boxes and holiday postcards, you can use the power of automation to do that fast and effectively while maintaining personalization – kind of like Spotify does, but for corporations! 

You don't have to go over the top here (although now might be a good time to reconsider that Ugly Sweater caroling), just make sure you stay sincere: 

• Send a personalized "Have a great holiday season" email that will mention the great results you've achieved together
• Prepare a "Year in Review" series that speaks directly to your customers' successes and highlights your prominent features
• Simply reach out and say "Thank you" for choosing your product 
• Offer a loyalty discount for your most reliable partners 

And set course for 2023, of course!

No "holiday marketing activities list" would be complete without this one. After all, what's a better time to plan your future than December? So choose the path you want to pursue over the next 4 quarters, learn from this turbulent year, and set your goals!

Anna Kvasnevska,

Senior Content Marketing Specialist