Video Marketing for the Holidays: Ideas and Production Tips

A strong video marketing strategy is essential year-round, but the holiday season is an especially important time for many advertisers. It’s even more important for small businesses. In a 2023 survey by American Express, a majority of small businesses — 66% of all businesses surveyed — said the holiday season is important to the financial success of their business. 

Recent studies show holiday marketing is important for consumers, too. MNTN Research reported that 43% of CTV users find TV ads to be a valuable source of holiday shopping information.

This year, creating holiday marketing campaigns that benefit both your customers and your brand is more critical than ever. And it’s not too late to produce eye-catching holiday sales video assets that drive awareness and purchases during this critical shopping season. QuickFrame can get you ready-to-publish video assets to support your video campaigns through Q4 and beyond. 

Here, we’re going to explore video campaign ideas and video marketing tips for the holidays.

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Planning Your Holiday Marketing Campaign

The holiday season is starting earlier and earlier for consumers. According to Think with Google, “by the end of October, 50% of Americans are shopping for holiday over any two-day period, and, on average, 29% of their holiday shopping is complete.” 

This means advertisers need to prepare and launch their holiday campaigns early in order to stay competitive throughout the season. Here are some best practices to follow for the holiday season ahead: 

• Nail down your target audiences. Your holiday audience is likely a bit more complicated than your average segments since many consumers are buying gifts for other folks this season. With advanced targeting techniques you can reach the right audience at the right time. 
• Create purpose-built video content. Use platform-specific video ads tailored to your audience segments to elevate your holiday season performance. 
• Understand your audience’s holiday shopping timeline. By understanding your audience’s shopping habits throughout the season, you’ll be able to tailor your strategy to them. (Make sure you keep track of what you learn about your audience this year, too, so you can use it to optimize next year’s strategy.) 
• Create content for the entire customer journey. Map out your customer’s journey and create content across the entire funnel, from awareness to retention. 
• Plan your video production ahead of time. 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.

Learn more: Social Media Video Ad Specs & Placements Guide

Holiday Marketing Video Production Tips 

There’s a lot to keep in mind, so we’ve compiled some best practices to help make your holiday marketing video production process as smooth as possible.

Production Tips

Capture as much content as possible. 

When you plan your holiday video marketing campaign, be sure you have ample assets to sustain you through the whole holiday season. Getting as much original content out of a single shoot as possible can also help reduce video production cost and keep your project within budget. 

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

Plan for your platform-specific video specs. 

Since you’ll want to use your content across different platforms, make sure you film all the content you need in various aspect ratios. For example, for social media video (like Instagram Reels and TikTok), you’ll want vertical (9:16) content, but CTV and standard YouTube videos typically require horizontal (16:9) content. Keep the platforms you plan to use in mind so you can capture all the footage you need in your various aspect ratios. 

Use holiday-specific elements. 

It might sound obvious, but using holiday-related elements in your video content can help your brand make a more effective connection with viewers. And they don’t have to be complicated or costly elements to be effective. You can quickly create a holiday theme with familiar elements, including wrapped gifts (which makes a great stop-motion concept, too), tablescapes, lights, snow, and holiday trees.

Free download: The Ultimate Creative Guide to Ecommerce Video

Production Tips from a QuickFrame Maker 

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

Lighting 

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

Color 

• A deliberate red and green color palette helps sell the holiday season. 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. And if you need fake snowfall, Instant Snow works great.

Want to hear more from Leslie? Check out her QuickFrame testimonial here. 

Holiday Marketing Video Post-Production Tips

Even if you’re starting off with evergreen visuals, you can utilize video post-production to make holiday-specific ads. Whether you’re using post-production to reinvent existing assets or to edit new holiday video footage, keep these tips in mind. 

Find the perfect maker for your holiday video ads in our Production Marketplace.

Establish a Holiday Theme 

You can immediately establish a holiday theme through post-production, including through music and motion graphics. For example, you might want to include holiday music and motion graphics, like in this QuickFrame-created ad for Boll & Branch below.

Use Timely Messaging  

Customize your CTA for different audiences and holidays. As a gift-giving holiday approaches, consider threading in more urgency in your messaging. Watch the video ad below to see how SkyZone used evergreen creative and holiday-specific messaging to create a seasonal video ad. 

Create Ad Variations 

Just like you would for your evergreen creative, make sure you create different ad variations for the holiday season. Rumpl used QuickFrame to create video content that’s tailored to different audience segments. By swapping out certain video content, they could reach more consumers with relevant messaging during this holiday season. 

Learn more about Rumpl’s experience with MNTN and QuickFrame. 

Video Marketing Tips for the Holidays: Final Thoughts 

In an online marketplace that’s more crowded than ever, targeted, effective video content marketing is essential. With the right strategies and best practices, you can make the most of the season, reach the right consumers, and grow your business. 

Make the Most of the Holiday Season with QuickFrame 

The good news? You don’t have to do any of this alone. At QuickFrame, we can connect you with video makers and production teams who can create the holiday campaigns you need to succeed. Ready to get started? Contact us today. 

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing for Brands