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 How important are holidays to your email marketing campaigns and overall business strategy? Holidays are a high priority for most online and offline businesses around the world. In the United States, for example, our traditional "holiday season" starts with Thanksgiving Day and continues through to the New Year. Email marketers know it pays to start early, working hard to groom and polish their email lists, A/B split test messages, subject titles, content and images for this once a year event.
But with the multitude of international holidays being celebrated in the U.S., customizing your email marketing message to consider ethnic and cultural differences in the American population can also be lucrative. This is known as the "globalization" of email marketing. For instance, in the event that you have a bad holiday season with lower-than-expected sales, targeting more holiday events celebrated by various cultures throughout the year may be an alternative for some retail businesses to consider for sustaining revenue generation.
Here are some holiday facts to think about:
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There are many international holidays celebrated in the U.S.
Brazilian Carnival, Cinco de Mayo, Chinese New Year, Day of the Dead, Chanukah, Persian New Year and Diwali are just a few of the holidays celebrated by millions of U.S. residents. And with globalization these holidays are re-enforced especially as people from other nations increase their purchasing power inside and outside the U.S. These holiday celebrations are not a private affair - they often inspire office gatherings, community and church activities, and they are taught in schools to help our children learn about world diversity. And they are re-enforced by parents and grandparents so the next generations will carry on these traditions as a means of preserving culture and understanding their roots.
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Some holidays are celebrated more than once.
Father’s Day – an important holiday for men’s apparel, sports and electronic retailers - is celebrated not only on the third Sunday in June, but on many dates throughout the year around the world. The same is true for Mother's Day, most commonly celebrated on the second Sunday in May, but also recognized on other important historical and religious dates. Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada on the second Monday of October and the fourth Thursday of November in the U.S. And while January 1st marks the first day of the New Year in most countries, other new year's events - including Chinese, Persian, Indian and Ukrainian - are celebrated in the U.S. at different times during the year.
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Holidays have been moving across the border for years.
In the past, Americanized holidays spread to other countries via the movie industry combined with activities around military bases, missionaries and to some extent large international corporations. For example, many Americans living abroad celebrate both Thanksgiving and Halloween with local friends and coworkers who enjoy sharing these values and traditions. Globalization is making this process happen in countries like China, Brazil, South Africa and India due in part to the influence of citizens returning from the U.S., American families who live and work there, and more international businesses operating in their countries.
Building email marketing campaigns for international holidays is something that all marketers need to consider in this age of globalization. As the old saying goes, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." While Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and New Year's are still the biggest sales events of the year for American retailers, there is value in embracing the many holiday celebrations and festivities of our diverse culture.
So as you review the success of your 2010 holiday season campaigns and prepare your list of “lessons learned” for next year, consider segmenting your email lists to target your audience during the most popular international holidays as well. Not only can it help to reduce the risk of dependency on the traditional holiday season, it can also prove to be a real revenue booster.
Stay tuned for more email localization tips in my upcoming blog posts, and Happy Holidays to everyone!
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About the Author
Luciano Arruda is the localization program manager at Lyris. He is responsible for the localization of company products and is a contributor to Lyris' globalization initiatives.
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