The holiday season is arguably the most critical time of the year for marketers as consumers start their shopping frenzy. Success depends not just on when you launch your ads, but also on which channels. The right combination of marketing channels is the key to reaching your audience effectively.
Last year, Connected TV (CTV) emerged as the top-performing channel for holiday advertising, which is why 41% of marketers plan to increase their investment in CTV this season.
However, banking on one channel alone is a risky move. This holiday season, a multichannel approach — with CTV as the foundation — can help you achieve exceptional results. Here’s how to craft the ideal holiday campaign using multiple channels for maximum impact.
As we mentioned, marketers ranked CTV as their most performant channel during the holiday season last year. But what makes CTV so effective?
Beyond that, CTV works best when used alongside other channels. In fact, 72% of marketers say they use CTV in their holiday campaigns because — when used alongside channels like social and display advertising — it can significantly drive incremental lift.
Cross-channel synergy like this lets brands reinforce their messaging, leading to better brand recall, higher engagement, and more sales. By strategically using CTV in a multichannel approach, you can cut through the noise, maximize reach, and deliver the outcomes you need.
While CTV is a sales-driving powerhouse, it’s not the only channel you should focus on this holiday season. Here are a few other key channels you can include as part of your holiday strategy, just to name a few.
With channels like Instagram and TikTok dominating so many of our everyday lives these days, it’s unsurprising that social media ranked a close second to CTV in terms of top-performing holiday channels last year. We suspect this trend will likely continue this year.
Running ads on social platforms keeps your brand top-of-mind with consumers. And by using a tool like tvScientific, you can retarget users who’ve interacted with your CTV ads, amplifying the impact.
Search and display are also great channels to integrate into your holiday marketing strategy. Search advertising captures high-intent shoppers and drives them down the conversion funnel, while display ads work in tandem with CTV and social media to build brand awareness and reinforce messaging.
75.4% of consumers prefer to get promotional messages from brands via email, so don’t overlook the power of email marketing this holiday season.
With personalization and segmentation tools at your disposal, email can be an extremely effective channel to reach your target audience this holiday season. Pair email campaigns with CTV and other digital ads to create a cohesive multichannel strategy that engages customers at every touchpoint.
These are just some of the channels you can leverage for your holiday campaign, but the possibilities are endless! You can also experiment with linear TV, out-of-home advertising, mobile apps, streaming radio and podcasts — the list goes on. Keep reading to learn how you can identify and select the channels for your holiday campaign, and best practices for integrating them into a unified strategy that maximizes your campaign’s ROI.
Creating a successful holiday marketing campaign isn’t just about being present on multiple channels. It’s about ensuring those channels work together seamlessly. Here’s how to build a strategy that ties all of your channels together to launch a high-impact holiday campaign.
In a multichannel campaign, it’s crucial to have a clear attribution model in place to understand how each touchpoint contributes to a conversion. Multi-touch attribution helps you see the role that each channel — whether it’s CTV, social, or email — plays in the customer journey.
Use historical attribution data to make decisions on how you’ll split up your budget to each channel. If you find that certain channels are consistently delivering higher ROI, you can reallocate budget to maximize performance without overspending on underperforming platforms.
Your holiday campaign should all deliver the same message to maximize impact. Why? Studies show that consumers need to see a brand’s marketing messages at least seven times before making a purchase decision.
So, maintain consistent messaging across different platforms so that your audience can have a unified brand experience everywhere they go, whether they view your CTV ad, social post, or email.
Use each channel to advance the story of your campaign. For instance, you could use CTV ads to build awareness and generate excitement around your new holiday collection, then retarget interested users with more personalized messages on social media or email to move them further down the funnel.
The beauty of digital advertising is the ability to make adjustments on the fly based on real-time performance data. Analyze how your audience is engaging with your ads across different channels and tweak your strategy to maximize results.
Tactics to try:
Once your holiday campaign wraps up, it's crucial to analyze its performance and use those insights to guide future efforts. Set clear KPIs for each channel to measure their impact effectively. Focus on incremental lift to understand how each channel boosts the others when used together.
Document your findings, including what worked and what didn’t, to create a playbook for future campaigns. This data-driven approach will help you refine your strategies, make smarter decisions, and build stronger, more successful holiday campaigns in the future.
Connected TV is a game-changer for holiday campaigns—especially when used as part of a multichannel strategy. Its unmatched ability to combine wide reach with precise targeting makes it ideal for cutting through the holiday advertising clutter. When paired with other high-performing channels like social media, search, and display ads, CTV can take your campaign to the next level.
Ready to supercharge your holiday campaigns with CTV? Request a demo if you’re interested in incorporating CTV into your holiday strategy.
For even more insights, check out our complete 2024 Holiday Advertising Trends Report to see what’s on the horizon this season!