November 8, 2024
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There’s nothing like a holiday giveaway — times 12. The ultimate 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway is a crowd-winning way to amplify the excitement of the holiday season while generating goodwill among your current customers and target audiences.
Giveaways not only increase audience growth, but they also offer a seamless way to collect valuable first-party data, expand consumer profiles, and increase brand loyalty. So, it’s no wonder they’re at the top of many companies’ lists for Q4 advertising strategies. With giveaways, you can even activate bonus entries to encourage deeper interaction with the content.
Revenue-Generating Tip: Extend the impact of this giveaway after the final prize is announced by sending all participants a shoppable Holiday Gift Guide that includes all 12 items in the giveaway — and more bonus items to browse.
Give into the sugar rush of the season by inviting your audience to participate in a holiday cookie contest or bake-off. Everyone will love sharing photos and recipes of their sweetest holiday treats — and getting the chance to indulge in the eye candy of seeing what everyone else is making.
This type of gallery campaign with UGC (user-generated content) expands your reach with voting mechanisms that encourage interaction, create a sense of community, and drive engagement while also collecting valuable first-party data.
You can also personalize additional communications based on user submissions to further build loyalty.
Revenue-Generating Tip: Holiday cookie contests are highly sponsorable opportunities to engage like-minded community partners and national brands alike.
This baking fails holiday campaign is designed for all the treats that didn’t quite pass the Pinterest test! Baking fails can be deliciously funny, and this campaign is a lighthearted invitation for audiences to share their flops.
Like a holiday baking contest, this type of gallery campaign thrives on UGC. Submissions often lead to increased social sharing, as participants invite their friends and family to view or vote on their entries, thus extending the reach organically.
Revenue-Generating Tip: Capitalize on new emails generated through the campaign with personalized email flows and retargeting.
Photo contests are always fun holiday campaign ideas for media companies — and they leave plenty of room for flexibility and interpretation.
From the iconic (and highly entertaining) ugly sweater competition to throwback holiday photos and the ubiquitous pic with Santa fails, a photo contest is a charmingly hilarious way to activate a holiday campaign for Q4.
Your audiences will be motivated to continue engaging with the photo galleries as more laugh-out-loud moments are populated.
Kick off the campaign with photos uploaded from your own teams to get the party started, which has the added benefit of humanizing your brand and the people who work behind the scenes!
Revenue-Generating Tip: A photo contest is a great platform to engage a sponsor who will likewise benefit from page views, email capture, and post-contest messaging.
Spread good cheer via a holiday give-back campaign; it’s also an incredible way to cultivate a positive halo effect for your brand.
From charity food drives to fundraising efforts and more, this type of Q4 holiday sales campaign enhances brand reputation, raises awareness, and encourages generosity.
Revenue-Generating Tip: While a give-back initiative is more about brand awareness, it’s possible to incorporate like-minded sponsors who also want to contribute and tell their own stories through native content integrated into the campaign.
Trivia night — but make it a Q4 holiday sales campaign! Everyone loves testing their knowledge about random facts. Whether it’s Christmas movie trivia, random holiday facts, or naming classic holiday movie quotes, an interactive quiz brings the spirit of the season into your engagement and revenue strategy while building your audience lists.
Revenue-Generating Tip: Introduce prizes from sponsors into this quiz to enhance participation and a positive halo effect.
Who doesn’t love a white elephant party?! Gift wrap the entertaining allure of this classic holiday event with a white elephant holiday campaign that provides a kitschy gift guide of party-ready presents while transforming a photo contest with UGC into an entertaining visual narrative.
Revenue-Generating Tip: A white elephant campaign has the benefit of gathering valuable first-party data while also driving revenue through gift guide sales and retargeting.
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As the busy holiday season rolls in, who doesn’t need a break from it all via a weekend staycation?! This sweepstakes-style campaign offers an all-expenses-paid experience that could include everything from luxe room packages to spa treatments, shopping sprees, and restaurant gift cards.
This type of Q4 holiday sales campaign could easily shift into an ultimate shopping spree, instead of a staycation, and feature a range of partners’ gift cards up for grabs.
Revenue-Generating Tip: A sweepstakes activation is perfect for tapping into a range of sponsors who would all benefit from the valuable first-party data garnered from entries as well as the increased awareness of their brand and retargeting opportunities.
Enhance your seasonal marketing initiatives with an engaging quiz that invites your audience to discover which holiday movie fits them best.
This interactive quiz capitalizes on the appeal of holiday-themed content, incentivizing participation and driving engagement through a fun, personalized activation.
Revenue-Generating Tip: Benefit from first-party data collection, more profound audience insights, and the seamless opportunity for customized sponsorships in addition to retargeting and personalization of future marketing communications.
When you deck the halls in collaboration with relevant influencers for your brand, you can amplify your impact and reach. All 10 of these ideas for Q4 holiday sales campaigns work perfectly in partnership with an influencer.
Beyond contests, quizzes, gift guides, and more, creating custom content with an influencer can showcase one or more products or services in a way that feels more authentic and “real.”
Revenue-Generating Tip: Nearly half of consumers make a purchase at least once a month because of influencer posts, according to a 2024 Sprout Influencer Marketing Report. So, this type of collaboration can pay dividends — especially around the holidays.
These 10 holiday campaign ideas for media companies are engaging ways you can connect with your audience and drive sales. Interactive quizzes, sweepstakes, gift guides, contests, UGC, local partnerships, and more are all compelling media sales strategies for Q4 that will energize your marketing efforts, grow your database, and attract new customers and sponsors.
It’s time to get festive and watch your company’s visibility and engagement soar this season. Our audience management platform can help you easily create all these Q4 holiday sales campaigns and more with complete control. It’s everything you need to capture significant incremental revenue this season — and beyond. Cheers to that!