For those who celebrate, Thanksgiving is this week — which means Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa are right around the corner — which means 2022 is over. It feels that way this time of year, doesn’t it? The last few months of the year are busy, busy, busy. Aside from holiday obligations and celebrations, this time of year also means checking in on goals and that final push to meet annual business objectives. Whether you’re a nonprofit looking to ramp up fundraising, a retail business trying to hit sales marks or something in between, the months of November and December are anything but slow. 

But with everyone’s inboxes overflowing from cyber week to NYE, how do you craft an end of the year campaign that breaks through the noise? 

Here are some quick tips for building your year-end campaign:

1. Understand your audience’s habits and preferences for this time of year

Likely, you have some data (or at least anecdotal evidence) around your audience’s buying habits. But what about specifically at this time of year? Go back and look for trends and patterns in your sales or donations at the end of the year to see what you can learn. What types of ads do they respond best to at the end of the year? What messages? What types of products/services/donations do they seem to gravitate toward? All of that can help you shape your end-of-year strategy. 

2. Emphasize value

In 2022 especially, illustrating the value of your product, service, or cause is critical. Gartner reports, “Inflation and fear of supply chain disruptions are encouraging consumers to shop early…Accordingly, they’ll either purchase fewer items or trade down to generic, store brand, simpler or discount versions.” So, why should they spend/donate their money with you? Emphasize the value, the worth of your product/service/affiliation, or start talking discounts. 

3. Choose authenticity

This tip is evergreen but at the end of the year can’t be emphasized enough. The volume of ads and solicitations is going up, but so is the rate of conversions – by up to as much as 60%. Consumers are engaging with ads this time of year, so the opportunity is there if you make your messaging stand out. But that doesn’t mean you should lean into lazy sales messaging. Instead, opt to create engaging and relevant content like “just say thanks” non-solicitation campaigns from nonprofits or ads that together brand relevance with a fun user experience like spotify’s decade of listening habits campaign.

P.S. Between eating turkey and holiday shopping, take time this month to engage with Native American History and learn how you can support and uplift Indigenous peoples.