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How to Create a Holiday Marketing Plan That Actually Increases Sales
- Catherine Rollerson
- Jul 2
- 10 min read
A Holiday Marketing Plan That Sells: Strategy Tips for Small Businesses
It's mid-year, and while the days are still short and the mornings are crisp, the most profitable time of the year is just six months away.
For New Zealand small businesses, now is the sweet spot for planning your end-of-year campaigns.
That includes the Christmas and summer rush, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Boxing Day sales, New Year promotions, and everything in between.
If you’re serious about standing out during the busiest season of the year, it’s time to stop winging it and start strategically preparing your small business marketing plan NZ style, with a strong foundation in brand positioning, local relevance, and customer insight.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to build a holiday marketing plan that isn’t just festive for the sake of it, but actually drives revenue, builds brand loyalty, and sets you up for long-term success.
Why Planning Now Matters
Most small businesses don’t think about Christmas marketing until late October, and by then, the best opportunities have slipped through their fingers.
Starting early allows you to:
Strategically position your offers
Create cohesive campaigns across email, social, and website
Avoid last-minute panic discounts that slash your margin
And most importantly, plan with your customers’ buying habits and content consumption in mind
When you align your efforts with a clear brand positioning strategy New Zealand consumers can connect with, your promotions become more than just noise; they become irresistible.
Step 1: Revisit Your Brand Positioning Strategy
Before you dive into festive emails and Instagram reels of glittery gift guides, step back and ask:
“What do I want my business to be known for over the holiday season?”
Your brand positioning strategy is your North Star, it guides every decision from your product offers to your tone of voice and visuals.
Use this time to review or clarify your:
Positioning statement: What problem do you solve and for whom?
Key differentiator: What makes your offer different or better than others this season?
Customer insight: How has your audience's behaviour changed since last summer?
Need a refresh? My blog on How To Define Your Brand Message So Your Ideal Clients Instantly Get You is a great place to start.
Step 2: Map Out Your Goals
Now that you’re clear on your brand position, define your goals.
Your small business marketing plan should have at least one primary objective over the holiday season:
Increase revenue by X%
Clear seasonal stock
Launch a new product or service
Grow your email list for Q1 campaigns
Strengthen brand awareness locally
From here, you can reverse-engineer your campaigns to support these goals, making every piece of content and promo intentional.
Step 3: Plan Your Key Campaigns and Offers
Here’s what to lock in early:
Campaign Themes: Set the Emotional Tone for the Season
Before you start promoting discounts or bundling products, take a step back and think about what you want your brand to feel like this season.
Your campaign theme is the emotional throughline that ties everything together, from your product photography and ad copy to your social captions and email subject lines.
It’s not just about what you’re selling, but how your audience experiences your brand during a time that’s already full of noise and pressure.
Start by asking yourself:
What does my audience need emotionally at this time of year?
What role does my business play in making their holiday season better?
How can I create a sense of ease, connection, or joy through my messaging?
Some powerful campaign theme examples to consider:
“Stress-Free Gifting” Great for service providers or e-commerce brands offering ready-to-go packages, digital vouchers, or last-minute gift options. Think convenience, simplicity, and clarity.
“Thoughtful Luxury” Perfect for boutique brands, wellness products, or personal development services. This theme elevates your offer without relying on price-based promos, which is ideal if you’re building a premium position.
“Support Local, Gift Meaningfully” A strong theme for Bay of Plenty-based businesses looking to tap into the community spirit. Customers love knowing their purchase supports local families, especially at Christmas.
“12 Days of Value” A playful countdown-style campaign where you highlight a new offer, tip, or feature each day. Works well across email and social media, and encourages daily engagement.
“Summer Essentials” Because Christmas in New Zealand means beach days and BBQs. Align your messaging with what the season actually looks like here, rather than defaulting to Northern Hemisphere imagery and language.
Once you land on a campaign theme that aligns with your brand positioning strategy New Zealand customers relate to, you’ll find your content and offers feel more intentional, more aligned, and more effective.
It also helps you stand out from competitors who might just be throwing last-minute deals together without a cohesive message.
Campaign Dates:
Your campaign calendar could include:
Black Friday / Cyber Monday (28 Nov – 1 Dec 2025 - this changes year to year)
12 Days of Christmas / Advent promos
Last-minute Gift Guides (Dec 15–24)
Boxing Day / New Year sales
Summer promos (Jan–Feb)
Offers:
Your holiday offer does more than drive quick sales; it communicates the value of your brand.
The type of promotion you run can shape how customers perceive your business, influence long-term loyalty, and affect your profit margins.
Are you aiming to clear stock, attract new customers, reward your loyal base, or grow your list before the new year?
The approach you take should align with your brand and your goals.
Before jumping into discounts, consider these strategic questions:
What is the goal of this promotion: sales volume, visibility, lead generation, loyalty?
Does this offer reinforce or dilute my brand perception?
Can I deliver this offer sustainably, without sacrificing quality or margins?
Here are some offer types to consider, with pros and pitfalls:
Discounts
Popular and effective, but be selective.
Great for: Creating urgency (e.g. “24-hour flash sale”), moving slow-moving stock, or driving traffic during a short window like Black Friday.
Watch out for: Eroding your brand equity if used too frequently, especially if you’re positioned as a premium or boutique provider.
Tip: Use limited-time or tiered discounts to maintain perceived value.
Bundles or Gift Sets
Increase average order value while making decision-making easier for your customer.
Great for: Product-based businesses (e.g. skincare, homewares, artisan goods) that want to upsell without dropping prices.
Example: “Create-Your-Own Gift Box”, “Summer Essentials Bundle”, or “Client Appreciation Kit”
Add-On Bonuses
Perfect for service-based businesses or those with digital products.
Great for: Increasing perceived value without cutting price.
Ideas: “Book a strategy session and get a free holiday content calendar” or “Buy now and receive our Christmas sales script template”
Free Shipping or Local Delivery
Simple, but powerful, especially as cart abandonment rates spike around shipping costs.
Great for: E-commerce brands, particularly those targeting last-minute shoppers.
Tip: Tie it to a threshold (e.g. free shipping over $80) to boost average spend.
Exclusive Early Access
Create a sense of privilege and urgency by inviting your email list or VIP customers to shop your deals first.
Great for: Building loyalty and increasing engagement with your warmest audience
Bonus: It’s aligned with a strong branding strategy for small business owners looking to grow repeat business, not just one-off sales.
Cause-Based Offers
Inspire action by aligning with a charity or community initiative, for example, “$5 from every sale goes to a local cause,” or “Buy One, Gift One.”
Perfect for businesses looking to lead with values and deepen emotional connection.
When choosing your offer, remember: the goal is not to devalue your business, but to deliver clear value in a way that feels aligned with your positioning statement and brand positioning strategy that New Zealand customers will remember long after the season ends.
Step 4: Build Your Content & Campaign Calendar
This is where your digital marketing strategy comes to life.
Use a simple calendar to map out:
Email campaigns (e.g. gift guides, countdown emails, cart reminders)
Social media posts and stories
Website banners and landing pages
Blog content (like this one!)
Print or local advertising, if applicable
Tip: Don’t underestimate the power of repurposing. A blog post can become an email, which becomes an Instagram carousel, which becomes a Reel, all tied to the same campaign.
If you’re unsure how to pull it all together into a strategic plan, I’ve broken it down step-by-step in this post: How to Create a Content Strategy That Actually Drives Sales.
It’s packed with practical ideas you can apply to your holiday campaigns and beyond.
Step 5: Lean Into Local Relevance
If you’re based in Tauranga, Rotorua, or Whakatāne, your campaigns can tap into specific holiday marketing ideas Tauranga locals are searching for:
“Where to shop local this Christmas”
“Best gifts under $50 Bay of Plenty”
“Christmas events near me”
“Small business gift guide NZ”
By positioning your business as local, convenient, and community-minded, you’re not just selling, you’re actually building trust.
This works beautifully for both service providers and product-based businesses.
Even if your business is online, geo-specific content helps you rank and connect with locals.
Step 6: Get Your Website and Sales Funnels Ready
Driving traffic is one thing, but converting it is another.
Before you start spending money on ads or boosting posts, make sure your website is:
Clear and on-brand
Mobile-friendly
Easy to navigate and shop or book from
Equipped with strong calls to action
Updated with seasonal landing pages (e.g. “Christmas Offers” or “Gift Guide”)
If you're not sure where to start, check your existing analytics. Where are visitors dropping off? Are your most popular pages easy to find?
You can also improve performance by reviewing your website copy.
Strong messaging can make the difference between a quick scroll and a confident purchase.
If your current site doesn’t reflect the value you offer or guide people toward action, now’s the time to fix that.
I break down exactly how in this post: Website Copywriting Tips That Turn Visitors into Paying Customers.
This is also the perfect moment to update your lead magnets and email sequences, because growing your list before November will set you up for holiday email success.
Step 7: Don’t Forget Post-Holiday Strategy
It’s easy to go all in on the lead-up to Christmas and then collapse into a well-earned break, but what happens after the holiday rush matters just as much.
If you want your summer momentum to carry into the new year, you’ll need a plan for what comes next.
Your post-holiday strategy doesn’t have to be complex, but it should be intentional.
Here's what to consider:
Review What Worked (and What Didn’t)
January is the perfect time to reflect on the performance of your holiday campaigns:
Which emails had the highest open and click-through rates?
Which products or services were most popular?
Where did your website traffic come from, and where did visitors drop off?
What content got the most engagement on social media?
This insight is marketing gold.
Use it to double down on what your audience already responds to and refine what didn’t quite land.
Create a Visibility Plan for Q1
Just because the sales are done doesn’t mean your visibility should disappear.
Keep showing up, even if you're not promoting anything.
This could include:
A “thank you” campaign to express gratitude and build loyalty
Behind-the-scenes content showing what’s ahead in your business
A January reset offer, strategic planning workshop, or back-to-business campaign
Sharing customer testimonials or holiday highlights
Planning this now means you won’t go quiet when your audience is still active and ready to engage.
Repurpose and Reuse
Your holiday content shouldn’t be a one-time thing. You can:
Turn top-performing social posts into evergreen content
Update your festive blog posts into summer versions
Use holiday customer testimonials in future campaigns
This kind of content reuse saves time, strengthens your brand voice, and supports a sustainable content rhythm year-round.
Plan Your Next Strategic Push
Think about what you want your business to achieve in Q1 and Q2.
Is it growth? A rebrand? A new product or service launch?
Start laying the groundwork now.
This ensures that your messaging, offers, and strategy remain aligned with your brand positioning strategy New Zealand audiences trust.
If you’ve gained new customers through your festive campaigns, now’s the time to nurture them.
Offer them something meaningful, not just another discount, but something that deepens their connection to your brand.
Hi, I'm Catherine.
Copy By Catherine is where small business owners come to get clear on their message and start marketing with purpose.
I work with clients around the world and share practical advice on content, strategy and brand
positioning to help you grow with confidence.
Want to know more about how I work and who I help?
Want More Sign-Ups From Your Content?
If you’re putting effort into content but your email list isn’t growing as fast as you’d like, your messaging could be the missing piece.
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Download it here and start writing content that brings in the right people, consistently.
Want to Strengthen Your Brand Before the Holiday Rush?
A strong festive campaign starts with a clear brand message.
If you’re unsure how to articulate what makes your business unique, or you’re still trying to reach the right people with the wrong words, then now’s the time to revisit your positioning.
This practical, easy-to-follow guide is designed for small business owners who want to attract more of the right customers, clarify their message, and build a brand people remember, for the right reasons.
Inside, you’ll learn how to define your unique place in the market, communicate your value clearly, build trust across every touchpoint, and adapt your brand as your business evolves.
It also includes guidance on brand consistency, messaging, digital presence, and future-proofing your positioning in a competitive space.
Perfect for founders, freelancers, and solo service providers who want smart, actionable strategies without the fluff or jargon.
It’s the perfect next step if you want your holiday promotions to feel strategic, consistent, and true to your brand, not just seasonal noise.
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5 Messaging Mistakes That Are Costing You Customers
Are You Ready to Get Intentional With Your Marketing Too?
I’ve created a free guide that walks you through the five most common messaging mistakes small business owners make, mistakes that could be turning your dream clients away without you even realising it.
Inside, you’ll learn:
What to say (and what to stop saying) if you want to convert readers into clients
How to position your offer so it actually resonates
Practical fixes you can apply to your copy today
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Final Thoughts
Planning your holiday marketing six months out isn’t overkill; it’s smart business.
By aligning your brand message, creating strategic campaigns, and thinking like your customer, you’ll turn seasonal traffic into long-term growth.
Let’s make this summer the most profitable and purposeful yet.
If you would like support creating your small business marketing plan, positioning your brand for success, or executing your digital marketing strategy, I’d love to help.
Reach out for a tailored consult, or explore my e-books and strategy offerings at www.copybycatherine.com.
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