The holiday season offers one of the best marketing opportunities but taking full advantage of this chance can be tricky. Sales go up during the holiday season in Canada, especially after Black Friday. However, many businesses make common marketing mistakes that prevent them from maximizing their holiday sales.

Here are four important holiday marketing mistakes your post-mortem might uncover.

1. Your Marketing Content Lacked Value

You bombarded your customers with promotional messages about your offers but the marketing content sent the customers little to no value. Just because people permit themselves to spend a little more during the festive season doesn’t mean that their not looking to get the most out of every shopping dollar

Next year, send marketing material that adds value to your customers in creative ways. For example, your newsletter can include a brief post titled « How to Make Sure the Gift You Get Your Loved One Matches Their Personality » and include a link to your offers in a call to action at the end.

2. You Didn’t Cash In Early Shopping

You waited too long to start your holiday season marketing. Savvy shoppers know to avoid the last-minute holiday shopping craze. Seasoned marketers are aware that the excited anticipation of the festive season begins early and they start their Christmas season marketing as early as October, or even the end of August. Don’t join the party late next year.

3. You Failed to Do Competitor Analysis

You were too focused on your business’s marketing strategies that you forgot to monitor the competition. Maybe if you kept an eye on what successful businesses in your industry were doing, you would have noticed that they started their holiday marketing campaigns early and avoided the mistake above.

Avoid this mistake next year by monitoring your competition. Doing so helps you identify marketing opportunities you might have missed, cross-promoting opportunities with other businesses and targeting options for your ads. Top competitor analysis tools include Pi Datametrics, Brandwatch Audiences and Spyfu.

4. Your Central Marketing Campaign Was Too Generic

Competition for customers’ attention skyrocketed during the holiday season but you didn’t come up with unique marketing ideas to boost sales. You failed to take advantage of powerful marketing channels such as interactive Instagram posts or lookbooks that feature shoppable images. Next year, engage your customers on a personal level by experimenting with innovative campaigns.