Generate Revenue with Holiday Promotions

Holiday promotions

holidaypromotion

The winter holidays are by far the biggest spending season, and Cyber Monday – the Monday after Thanksgiving Day – is the top spending day of the year. Media companies have the opportunity to generate TONS of revenue, engagement, and new email opt-ins in November and December, and here Matt Coen of Second Street Promotions Lab presents strategies for making the most of this opportunity.

 

FIVE WAYS TO GENERATE REVENUE:

PLAN EARLY

When creating a holiday promotional campaign, one should be taking three months to plan, two months to sell, and one month to promote beforelaunch. Here’s a sample calendar of promotions for the holiday season that serves as a good example:

Generate Revenue this holiday season!

RUN ECOMMERCE PROMOTIONS

Nine of the top 10 spending days of the year are in December (and the other one is Black Friday), so the opportunity to generate revenue with holiday ecommerce promotions is immense. Even if you don’t have a regular deals program, stand-alone promotions like cards and holiday stores – think 12 Days of Deals – can be incredibly successful. When targeting merchants for holiday ecommerce promotions, it’s important to focus on quality and make sure everything on offer is giftable.

HOLD HOLIDAY CONTESTS

From holiday lights and Scared of Santa photo contests to 31 Days of Christmas sweepstakes, there are plenty of holiday contest themes that will generate revenue and collect email opt-ins for publishers and their advertisers.

RUN NICHE BALLOTS

A Best of Holiday Shopping ballot is perfect for the holiday season, and advertisers love to be a part of this kind of promotion. In 2013, The Roanoke Times was incredibly successful with a Holiday Shopping ballot, bringing in more than $70,000 in revenue and providing lots of crowd-sourced content for their special Holiday Shopping Guide print section.

ALIGN EXISTING INITIATIVES

If already running special sections or programming around the holidays, one should integrate this content with a promotion. Plus, when looking for ways to align promotions with existing initiatives, it’s important to sure to consider digital campaigns and live events as well as  traditional media offerings.

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Matt Coen

Matt Coen is the Co-founder and President of Second Street, the leading provider of online promotions platforms and partner success services for the media industry. Coen also teaches entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2006, Coen Co-Wrote and Produced the award winning documentary Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? Coen began his career in media technology at Pulitzer Technologies as Director of New Business and Product Development. Coen is a native of Rhode Island who loves spending time with his family, sports, politics, travel, and serving on a number of community boards.
Click here to view all of Matt's presentations.
To learn more visit:
www.secondstreet.com
www.secondstreetlab.com
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