Cost-Effective Marketing Strategies for Year-End

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Everyone loves the end of the year - from holiday parties, to time spent with loved ones, and cinnamon eggnog lattes from your favorite local coffee shop.

As a marketer, you deserve your time too, but you always want to ensure that your company’s products or services have a consistent presence before you go. The time for planning is now. As a former head of a marketing department used to say, “We all know the holidays come each year, so there’s no excuse if you’re not ready.”

Let’s look at some key ideas to help you and your team get prepared for, and get through, this upcoming holiday season.

This Topic is Out There

The first piece of advice is to search around. This topic has been written about ad nauseam in books, white papers, blog articles, and more. Someone out there has written about your particular industry or your particular challenge. There’s probably more than you’ll ever be able to read. So, take the time, hone your search, and find what you need.

To help, we found some great advice from Sprout Social, Asymmetric, and even LinkedIn. 

Plan, Plan, Plan

After searching through dozens of articles ourselves, one thing they all have in common is planning, knowing when to do customer outreach, scheduling social posts in advance, and even knowing when not to push. It’ll all depend on your needs, but it all begins now. 

This is important for two other reasons as well. Most of us take time away during the holidays, and planning messaging, especially on social media or the web, is so easy these days. 

And don’t forget, this is also the ‘noisiest’ time of the year for consumers. It can get quite overwhelming. Do you want to be a part of that noise? If so, plan accordingly and strike when you think it’s the best time to grab your audience’s attention.

Who Knows Best? Your Audience

Speaking of your audience, have you asked them lately what they want? How do they want to be communicated with? The time for this may be past, but it’s always a good idea to check in with them. 

You may find startling revelations such as a segment of your audience that ignores TikTok ads, or the majority of them thought your ad was too wordy. These are things to know in advance so you can adjust and move forward, driving your product or service to success in a more cost-effective manner. 

The key point here is to ask. Then when you’re done, ask again. Build that conversation with your audience, and you will build their trust.

Print Is Here to Stay

Don’t diss printing - it’s making a comeback! That may seem counterintuitive as we often hear that digital is king! And it’s so much cheaper. But tangible items still matter to many consumers. Flyers, hand-outs, and other collateral get spread on the kitchen counter when people get home. They get reviewed over coffee, discussed with partners, and kept for later. It may be a good long-term way to stand out from the digital holiday clutter.

Clean Up

Another great way to save costs this year is to clean up. Go full-on ‘Marie Kondo’ on your digital footprint, the amount of messages you have out there, and even your internal marketing CRMs. You don’t need to save each message from seven years ago. Like taxes, you should keep what you need and toss the rest. This will save storage space, time searching, and maybe even some money!

Look Forward

Many of us do this at the end of each year, especially in our personal lives. What has worked? What can you improve? Where are your growth points? You can do that with your marketing initiatives as well. Now’s a good time to reevaluate. Is there a better service to use in 2025? Is there a new vendor that can combine a few things? Now is usually when marketing professionals have the time to do some research and sort that out.  

But remember, cheaper doesn’t always mean better. Be aware of the ‘cool new idea’ that promises everything but has yet to deliver. It may end up costing you more in the long run.

In conclusion, leveraging cost-effective marketing strategies can make all the difference as we approach the year-end rush. By focusing on things such as planning, knowing your audience, and cleaning up your digital footprint, you can maximize your impact without overextending your budget. 

As always, AMA PDX is here to support you with insights, resources, and networking opportunities to help you stay ahead in this fast-evolving industry. Be sure to stay tuned for our upcoming events. See you there!