5 New Year Marketing Ideas to Start the New Year Right

Successful marketers know that fresh and innovative New Year marketing ideas are an excellent way to boost sales.

Two reasons make marketing around the New Year ideal:

• People generally like to spend the money they received as gifts during the holiday season at this time
• People are pumped up to buy goods that will help them with their New Year’s resolutions

Use unique New Year marketing ideas to take advantage of this spending spree.

Promote your products through email marketing, social media posts, and other digital marketing channels.

We’ll help you get started by providing 5 effective New Year marketing ideas.

These New Year marketing ideas will help you generate leads, build customer loyalty, and boost sales.

Pro Tip: The perfect time to start marketing is right before New Year’s Eve when people are still making impulse purchases.

Excellent New Year Marketing Ideas For Your Business

Try these New Year marketing ideas to boost your sales.

1. Focus Promotions Around People’s New Year’s Resolutions

When most marketers think of New Year marketing ideas, the first thing that comes to mind is promoting the business or certain products.

Here is something different: focus your promotions around helping customers achieve their New Year’s goals.

The first day of January is when most people make New Year’s resolutions. According to Statista, the top 5 resolutions people made in 2021 were:

• Exercise more
• Lose weight
• Save more money
• Eat better
• Pursue a career ambition

Image Source: Statista

A survey by Inc showed that the most popular New Year 2019 resolutions were:

• Healthier diet
• More physical activity
• Weight loss
• Better financial management
• Learning a new skill

Image Source: Statista

Common New Year's resolutions in both years involve leading a healthy lifestyle.

It’s likely to be the most common resolution in 2023 as well.

Here’s what you can do:

Host a social media event with a health & fitness expert that’ll guide your customers to start the new year on the right foot.

The event should empower the audience to love their present body while also guiding them to make the right sustainable lifestyle changes to their life.

It’ll evoke positive emotions in your customers. Once you connect the customer’s emotions to a product, the payoff is better sales.

Find a specific product in your inventory that you can use to promote health and body positivity.

For instance, if you sell kitchen items, promote a smoothie maker. If you sell clothes, promote workout gear and fabulous clothes for all sizes.

Provide an incentive like a discount that motivates people to buy.

Pro Tip: The perfect time to host the event is on New Year’s Eve.

You get to conclude with a toast to your loyal customers and some entertainment. It’ll also leave your followers well-equipped for the coming year.

2. Launch a New Eco-friendly Product or Promotion

We all know one of the best New Year marketing ideas is to launch new products and encourage customers to try something new.

Now, add eco-friendliness to the mix.

Currently, there’s an increased environmental awareness among consumers, commonly referred to as global eco-awakening.

More people around the world are getting concerned about nature and demanding more protection of the environment.

Over the last five years, there’s been a whopping 71% increase in searches for sustainable goods.

Take advantage of this shift by launching a new eco-friendly product in the New Year, and promote it with a message on environmental protection.

Here are a few other New Year resolutions your brand can make and win over new eco-conscious customers:

• Make it possible for customers to send back used products for recycling.
• Replace all traces of traditional marketing methods with online marketing. Say no to billboards, direct mail, and all forms of print ads.
• Be transparent about the sustainable practices you follow at the workplace. You can use the professional tools to make videos of your new eco-friendly office practices and share them on social media.

UPS, for instance, recently decided to switch from their signature brown trucks that are not environment-friendly to a zero-emissions fleet.

They ordered 10,000 electric delivery vehicles from Arrival to be rolled out over 2020-2024 with the possibility of an extra 10,000 to be ordered in the future.

Although this was not a New Year’s Day announcement, it would have been a great way to start a new year and attract eco-conscious customers.

This is one of the New Year marketing ideas that requires honesty and transparency with your audience.

If you decide to go eco-friendly, do it completely. Half your business should not promote eco-friendliness while the other half harms the environment.

Alternatively, use your social channels to communicate that your business is in the process of ‘going green’ but not fully there yet.

3. Send a New Year’s Gift

Not that we’re against it, but we’re not about to suggest sending a gift basket to your customers as one of the best New Year marketing ideas.

Instead, gift them with a generous discount code via email. You can also host a giveaway or a contest.

It’s one of the New Year marketing ideas that show existing and potential customers that you care.

Check what your competitors are offering, then provide something better while still ensuring that you make a profit.

Add a New Year‘s Day message, not promoting your products, but thanking the customers for their trust in your brand.

Personalize your message to make your customers feel special and closer to your brand.

For instance, if the subscriber has bought anything from you in the past year, mention it. Or mention the number of years they’ve been your subscribers.

The email need not be plain.

Get creative.

You can:

• Add a GIF—a good GIF never gets old
• Include a comical group shot of your team—it’ll add a human touch to the message
• A personal signature from the CEO

Pro Tip: This is one of the New Year marketing ideas that’ll work best on New Year’s eve. It’ll have a better chance of being read then, than on New Year’s Day when people’s inboxes are swamped with messages.

4. Unveil a Joint Promotion Combo Pack

Bundled products are one of the best New Year marketing ideas that even your customers will love.

Consumers love having fewer choices.

If your product has to be complemented with another to get the best results, picking a complementary product for them eases their burden of choice.

It’s also one of the most effective New Year marketing ideas to acquire quality leads without the need for lead generation software.

Partner with one or more brands to create a joint product bundle.

The pack will have a product or products from each business, and you can all promote the bundled package on your respective social media pages.

This means your business gets free exposure to each of the other brands’ social media audiences.

It’ll generate brand awareness and bring in new customers.

Turn this into a New Year’s treat by offering a discount for the combo pack.

Have a single price for the bundled products that’s significantly lower than buying the bundled products separately.

You’ll not only get more sales from existing customers, but you’ll attract sales from value-conscious customers who get attracted by the combo deal.

Pro Tip: This is one of the clever New Year marketing ideas that’ll help you drive sales for less popular products if you mix a low-selling item with a fast-selling one in the bundle.

5. Leverage Cause Marketing

This is another of the unique New Year marketing ideas that’ll put your customers in a positive mood.

It involves helping your buyers contribute to a cause or charity by buying certain products from your brand.

It’s also a chance for you to show your philanthropic side.

You can be sure that your customers will view your business more favorably and become loyal if they see you support their favorite causes.

Let your social media followers and email subscribers know that a certain percentage of the money they pay for a certain product or all your products on New Year’s Day will go towards a charitable cause.

Take ModCloth, for instance. They offered to donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of their literary styles to provide educational resources to children in need through the First Book organization.

Image source: Instagram

Although this was not a New Year’s campaign, it’s a great illustration of what you can do for your customers.

Pro Tip: For New Year marketing ideas that involve charity, go with a cause that your target audience cares about.

FAQs

Q1. What are some of the best New Year’s marketing ideas?

A. Some of the best New Year marketing ideas include:

• Focus promotions around people’s New Year’s resolutions
• Launch a new eco-friendly product or promotion
• Send a New Year’s gift
• Unveil a joint promotion combo pack
• Leverage cause marketing

Start acting on these New Year marketing ideas before New Year’s Day.

Q2. How to do Chinese New Year campaigns right?

A. Effective New Year marketing ideas for China are different.

New Year in China is never on January 1. The day will depend on changes in the moon.

The festival is rich in tradition and customs. Main activities for the day include:

• Putting up decorations
• Having a reunion dinner with the family on New Year's Eve
• Offering sacrifices
• Firecrackers and fireworks
• Giving red envelopes and other gifts
• Watching lion and dragon dances

The best New Year marketing ideas for this day will involve one of these activities:

• Have a Chinese New Year’s theme on your social media channels.
• For a brick-and-mortar shop, put up decorations like Chinese red lanterns.
• Decorate your display window with red paper cuttings and use red and gold door couplets in the main entrance.
• Couple this with gifts, in the form of discount codes wrapped in red envelopes (digital or physical).

Q3. How to attract last-minute holiday shoppers?

A. Here are 5 New Year marketing ideas to attract last-minute shoppers during the holiday season:

• Put together a bundle of products that would make an excellent gift
• Offer customers same-day or next-day delivery. Fast shipping will be more beneficial to last-minute shoppers than free shipping
• Offer gift-wrapping services
• Make your store easy to navigate
• Create an efficient checkout experience

Q4. What's an example of a viral marketing attempt that failed?

A. Dove’s real beauty campaign showing real women of all sizes in a positive light was empowering.

But then the same brand attempted another digital marketing campaign through a Facebook ad.

It involved a GIF showing a young African American woman removing a brown shirt, and underneath is a white woman in a light-colored shirt.

Although Dove intended to demonstrate the beauty of diversity, the ad came out as racist.

As you put your New Year marketing ideas to effect, think about how your target audience will perceive them.

Q5. Why do marketing campaigns fail?

A. New Year marketing promotions can fail for several reasons:

• Too much focus on creativity and uniqueness, and forgetting to focus on the target audience preferences
• Too much focus on sales
• Unrealistic or false product claims
• Designing a budget-oriented campaign instead of goal-oriented

It’s important to avoid these mistakes as you act on your New Year marketing ideas.

Boost Your Sales with These New Year Marketing Ideas

There you have it. Five New Year marketing ideas that’ll take your sales to the next level.

The holiday season is a season of impulse purchases and a time when many people make major changes in their lives.

As a marketer who is playing their cards right with these smart New Year marketing ideas you can expand your reach and build customer loyalty.

Do you have a different campaign strategy in mind or any other marketing ideas to boost holiday sales? Let us know in the comments below.