Video Marketing for the Holidays: Ideas and Production Tips

by QuickFrame

Jul 09, 2021 · 4 min read

A strong holiday video marketing strategy is essential. According to the National Retail Federation, the winter holiday season is the #1 consumer spending event of the year. And as the world reopens amidst the continued uncertainty of the pandemic, we expect holiday shopping to bounce back in a big way. In fact, according to eMarketer, holiday retail sales in the United States will increase by 2.7% to $1.093 trillion, as eCommerce sales rise 11.3% to $206.88 billion.

Though consumers may be shifting where they are spending their dollars—eCommerce will set a record in 2021, accounting for 18.9% of total holiday season sales, beating last year’s record of 15%—you can count on the holiday season delivering.

FREE DOWNLOAD: The Ultimate Creative Guide to eCommerce Video

It’s not too late to produce eye-catching holiday sales video assets that drive awareness and purchases during this critical shopping season. In fact, QuickFrame can get you ready-to-publish video assets in as little as 24 hours, depending on the scope of the project. In an online marketplace that’s never been more crowded, targeted, effective video content marketing is essential.

Keep reading for video campaign ideas and video marketing tips for the holidays.

Learn More: Social Media Video Ad Specs & Placements Guide

Planning Your Holiday Marketing Campaign

The holiday season is long and consumers begin their holiday shopping before Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation. Get prepared and stay competitive with these holiday marketing tips:

Nail down your target audiences. Remember, you will want to target the buyers of gifts, not just the actual recipient.
Drive conversion by creating audience-specific and platform-specific video ads for all of your targets. QuickFrame Video Intelligence can give you the creative data you need to drive your KPIs.
Plan specific content for the big shopping days: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and then time-sensitive content as the gift-giving holidays inch closer.
Map out your content across the entire buyer’s journey, including content you might post organically. By scoping out an entire campaign, you can be more efficient in your holiday video production, maximizing your shoot to capture the footage you’ll use over the entire quarter.

Holiday Marketing Video Production Tips

Audiences respond to relatable content. When you plan your holiday video marketing campaign, be sure you have ample assets to sustain you through the whole holiday season and to avoid creative fatigue.

Here are our top tips so you can make your holiday marketing video production process as smooth as possible.

RELATED: The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing for Brands

Original Production Tips

Get as much original content out of a single shoot as possible to reduce video production cost.
Film generic holiday footage and then utilize video post-production to make holiday-specific ads.
Keep your key content in the center of the frame so you can easily cut to vertical aspect ratios.
Shoot in high-res so you can pull stills from the video. Alternatively, hire a photographer to capture stills separately at your video shoot if budget is available.
There are a few ways you can immediately establish a holiday theme: wrapped gifts (makes a really cool stop-motion concept, too), holiday tablescapes, Christmas lights, snow, and Christmas trees.
If you’re shooting Christmas lights, opt for LED lights as they register best on-camera. Make sure your set is well-lit to avoid shadows these lights can cast.

One of our makers, Leslie, offers some additional on-set tips.

Lighting

To give a Christmas feel, light windows with cool, blue light and have a warm ambient “fire” light for interior shots.
Use lots of warm practicals! String lights, Christmas tree lights, etc. They can be used as foreground or background elements to create a cozy feel.

Color

A deliberate red/green color palette helps sell Christmas. In the movie Home Alone, almost every scene has some shade of red or green and they go really wide with the tonal range.

Props/Styling

Purchase one good fake tree to reuse in different holiday spots. Bigger is usually better.
Craft stores will be your best friend. Have these extra things on hand to style the frame: fake can of snow, wreaths and trees (the more greenery options, the better), and whimsical items that sell the magic of the holidays.
For frosty windows, use Sno Blast. Make sure to hold the can further away to avoid streaking.
If you need fake snowfall, Instant Snow works great.

Need help making videos? See how our video production platform can help your business.

Holiday Marketing Video Post-Production Tips

Whether you are using post-production to reinvent existing assets or to edit new holiday video footage, keep these tips in mind.

There are a few ways you can immediately establish a holiday theme. Consider using music (featuring bells) or holiday-style text treatments and motion graphics, like in this QuickFrame-created ad for Boll & Branch below.

Include holiday-specific messaging. In a recent analysis using QuickFrame Video Intelligence, we found that social video ads with holiday messaging were tied to a 58% higher engagement rate during the holiday season than those without.