5 Ways to Put People First in Your 2020 Holiday Marketing

By now there can be no doubt that the 2020 holiday season will be unlike any other. With the pandemic not backing down in many states and actually surging in others, alongside a recession that has paralyzed many families, any holiday marketing strategy that was crafted in early autumn will likely need a few tweaks.

It’s not all doom and gloom, of course. The Tinuiti 2020 Holiday Shopping Trends Report glowingly states that “[m]ore than 8 in 10 consumers (81.3%) said they plan to spend about the same or more on holiday gifts—the highest level in the past three years.”

Even if the economic pain of 2020 is less intense for a significant segment of the market, there can be no doubt that the emotional duress of the year has affected consumers much more evenly. This is the reality that marketers discount at their own peril.

As you put the final touches on your holiday shot lists and email marketing campaigns, here are 5 tips to make sure that your content gets your customers in the spirit without sounding tone-deaf to the difficulties many have suffered this year.

1 – Give and You Shall Receive

Even during difficult times, the human impulse to help those less fortunate endures.

If you’ve never done so before, consider giving a portion of your holiday sales to a charity that has special significance for the winery owner. Make sure you explain to your customers, clearly and concisely, why the chosen charity matters to you. The donations need only come from sales of particular wines over a set period of time.

Charitable giving can be a way to continue to build trust with your customers. According to the 2010 Cone Cause Evolution Study, 85% of consumers have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a cause they care about.

While giving to charity can indeed build trust, if you seem inauthentic in your support of the charity, it can damage any trust you’ve already built with your customers.

2 – Reimagine “Celebration”

Wine marketers believe strongly in their wines and want their customers to share in that enthusiasm, especially around the holidays. This enthusiasm can often be the enemy of empathy. Try to think about the situations in which your customers might find themselves before you spend time and money staging a photo shoot of expensive holiday gift sets, for example.

Use caution before pushing out visuals depicting your wines set against lavish feasts with multiple generations gathered around a table. The pandemic has prevented many families from traveling and seeing loved ones, and the financial fallout from the pandemic might mean that celebrations will have to be toned down.

Your customers are still looking for holiday cheer, and your wines can certainly play a role in lifting the mood. Here are some ways to do it:

• Emphasize images of comfort and warmth in your emails and social media feeds.

• Come up with nontraditional, delicious, easy-to-prepare holiday recipes that compliment your featured wines (ex. “Our winemaker’s unique take on cranberry sauce”).

• Avoid overt sales copy that sounds anything like “for a limited time,” “makes a great gift”, etc. Present your offer and let the customer decide.

3 – Promote Unity

2020 has been a year in which the divisions in America have been laid particularly bare.

If you truly believe that wine is a uniting beverage, make sure that your holiday visual assets clearly indicate this conviction.

Do any of the celebratory scenes you capture and distribute via email or social portray people of different races, genders and sexual orientations coming together to enjoy your wines?

Emphasizing diversity is not akin to making a political statement. It is a moral imperative. While gathering around wine will not solve the inequalities that persist in America, it can be a sign of hope.

Many brands fear that committing to diversity will appear opportunistic, and alienate the very people it is trying to lift up. Your efforts will only appear opportunistic if they end with the holidays, or if you fail to do anything constructive to effect true change, such as donating money to a related cause (see #1) or making diversity a priority in hiring.

4 – Reward Those Who’ve Stuck By You

Showing gratitude is always a good thing, but when you have a set of customers who’ve continued to buy from you throughout the pandemic, expressing your thanks is nothing short of critical. Showing gratitude doesn’t have to mean offering them discounts or free shipping. It means adding value where you are able.

Direct mail comes to mind immediately. It can be costly, to be sure, but in a year like 2020, your customers will remember any extra touch that adds warmth to the season. With so much virtual communication taking place, receiving something tangible will make a huge impression.

Consider creating a holiday postcard or other mailing that contains an image of the winery and message from the winemaker or winery owner. If you have the bandwidth for an actual signature or personal note, consider including that as well.

Avoid any messaging that even remotely sounds like you are using the mailer as a sales tool.

5 – Make Yourself Available

Your customers don’t just want access to your wines, they want access to YOU. Expressing your gratitude in person—albeit virtually—will have a major impact.

There’s no need to rehash how wineries have used virtual tastings to remain connected to their customers during the pandemic. While busy, the holidays are the perfect time to make yourself available via a virtual happy hour, to which you can invite your best customers (see #4) or anyone who would like to attend.

The happy hour doesn’t have to be long. It can consist of the owner/winemaker and buyers all bringing a bottle they especially enjoy to the Zoom tasting. The owner/winemaker can relate her stories and recollections about the bottles the buyers have brought. You could make a tasting pack available prior to the tasting, and perhaps use that as the opportunity to talk about donating a portion of sales to charity (see #1).

No one expects the 2020 holiday season to feel like 2019, but the steps above will help your customers feel that joy can still be had, and that better times are ahead in 2021.