Unique videos and campaigns need to be inspiring and personal to your brand and the values or pain points of your customers.
Getting this right takes time, which you have when you start planning early.
It might feel wrong starting to plan a Christmas video in October, but it means that you will have time to thoroughly consider every aspect of the campaign. From style and storyline to the personas you are targeting to how you will share the campaign, no detail will be left to chance.
Once you have thought through all the details, you will still have time to develop, film, and produce high-quality, unique video content.
On the flip side, if you start planning Christmas content in the middle of November, you will have to rush to get it done. This will lead to generic content that everyone has seen a thousand times before.
Time gives you an opportunity to experiment with stories and modes of communication that you don’t get with a last-minute, thrown-together campaign.
We all know that Christmas adverts will saturate the digital and TV experience from early November.
If you start planning later, you will simply be adding another advert into a sea of Christmas adverts. And unless it is something spectacular, how are you going to gain attention?
If you start planning your campaign now, it is likely that it will be ready to go live earlier than others. This means your campaign will grab attention because it is different to other messages out at the time.
You can use your campaign to generate a buzz around the festive season before anyone else does.
You never want to create an advert that hits a bum note with the audience. This is another great reason to start planning your Christmas campaign early.
When you have time, you can complete testing with sample audiences, getting feedback on every aspect of your campaign. You then have space to develop it and create something that will speak to your audience.
The extra time allows you to use A/B testing earlier, so you can spend longer pushing the campaign that performs better, which will likely see a better return.
A successful Christmas campaign hits multiple points and has a larger strategy behind it.
Starting the planning early ensures you and your team can create a cohesive and consistent campaign across all the platforms you intend to use.
A complete strategy will likely mean you need several versions of the same thing. For example, a video might need to be resized for various social platforms, your website and your YouTube channel. If you give yourself and your team enough time to plan for this, each part of the strategy will be carried out with the high-quality finish you want to portray.
However, if it is all rushed, you risk it looking a little messy or out of sync because staff haven’t had the chance to perfect it.
Problems are likely to arise. While you might think you have everything you need for a smooth process, working in the digital space means nothing is promised – your team’s software could crash, or the audience you do tests with could throw a spanner in the works.
Planning early gives your team time to work around these problems. And in resolving these issues, they won’t be delaying the launch.