B2B Marketing Strategies to Overcome the Post-Holiday Slump
B2B Marketing Strategies to Overcome the Post-Holiday Slump
Greg Walthour, Co-CEO • Intero Digital • January 18, 2024
The post-holiday season presents a unique set of challenges for B2B companies. As clients and prospects hit the ground running with their newfound priorities and budgets, it becomes imperative for B2B companies to take a close look at their digital marketing strategies to reengage their audiences and solidify their market presence after the holidays.
Consider the following seven areas to focus on as you navigate the transitional post-holiday phase.
1. Target Audience Reevaluation
After the holidays is an opportune time to reevaluate and redefine target demographics. Ensuring alignment with evolving market needs is crucial for maintaining relevancy and achieving your business objectives.
Review the leads who have signed on as customers and identify any trends. Do these customers align with who you’ve been targeting with your marketing efforts? On the flip side, you can take a look at prospects who decided not to work with you. What made them walk away? Was it a target audience issue, an education issue, a budget issue, or something else entirely?
Taking the time to reevaluate whether you’re targeting the right people with your marketing efforts during this season can help you breathe new life into your B2B marketing strategy and make sure it’s as effective as possible.
Ensuring alignment with evolving market needs is crucial for maintaining relevancy and achieving your business objectives.
2. Content Strategy Refresh
During the post-holiday season, crafting new, results-driven content that addresses current industry trends, challenges, or forecasts can help sustain your digital presence during this season when business is often slower. A revitalized content strategy can reengage audiences and solidify your company’s position as an industry thought leader.
Take a look at the content you’ve created in the past year. Which pieces performed the best? Which topics were the most interesting to your audience? Which pieces generated the most conversions? With these insights, you can pinpoint areas of improvement for your strategy so you can start the new year strong.
3. Networking, Events, and Personalized Outreach
It’s not uncommon for people to take some time off around the holiday season, so after the holidays, be intentional about reconnecting with clients, leads, and other stakeholders. These interactions can foster relationships and provide insights into market dynamics. Attend relevant industry events, webinars, and seminars, or even consider hosting your own.
You might also consider personalized outreach. Tailored communications, such as personalized emails or calls, can reignite conversations with leads and strengthen connections with existing clients. A personalized approach demonstrates a genuine interest in meeting the prospect’s unique needs or ensuring your clients are getting maximum results from your products or services.
4. Data Analysis
A thorough review of holiday season data can unveil insights on customer behavior, engagement patterns, and areas of opportunity. This analysis can be instrumental in refining marketing and sales strategies so that you can have an even more successful and prosperous year than the one before.
Look at metrics like lead conversions, on-site analytics, referral traffic, backlinks, organic search traffic, bounce rate, close rate, sales cycle length, contact form conversion rate, and social shares and engagement. These datapoints can give you an idea of where you stand as the holiday season comes to a close so you can make any necessary pivots or tweaks to your marketing strategy as the new year begins.
5. Sales and Discounts
The days after the holidays tend to mean slower business. To maintain momentum and visibility in front of your ideal customers, consider offering limited-time promotions or bundled services.
Sales and discounts like these can attract clients and incentivize commitments. They might also be the final nudge to get highly qualified prospects who have been hesitant to close to finally take the step of becoming a customer. Once they’ve taken the leap, you then have the opportunity to foster a long-term client relationship, making the initial discount worthwhile for your business.
6. Testimonials and Case Studies
Think back on the work your team has done for clients during the previous year. Do any successful partnerships or projects stand out? Did your team accomplish unprecedented results for a client? These examples and stories can be your secret sauce for nudging prospects over the finish line, even during the slower post-holiday season.
Showcasing successful partnerships or projects from the previous year can build credibility and trust. Testimonials and case studies are powerful tools for illustrating your company’s capabilities and achievements.
Testimonials and case studies are powerful tools for illustrating your company’s capabilities and achievements.
7. Digital Ad Campaigns
Sometimes attracting attention organically isn’t enough — especially when people are distracted after the holidays. It might be time to implement some targeted paid advertising campaigns to reach your ideal customers exactly where they are online.
Strategizing and launching targeted ad campaigns can recapture market attention, and well-executed campaigns can drive traffic, generate leads, and enhance your brand’s visibility.
By embracing these strategies, B2B companies can regain and maintain their market presence and momentum post-holidays, ensuring a robust new year.