As the year comes to a close, the phrase “use it or lose it” is sure to resonate with marketing and finance departments. This scenario should not be seen as an obligation, but instead as a strategic opportunity.
As the year comes to a close, the phrase “use it or lose it” is sure to resonate with marketing and finance departments. This scenario should not be seen as an obligation, but instead as a strategic opportunity. A well-utilised marketing budget in the last quarter can be the key to driving immediate results, hitting targets for the year gone and establishing a solid foundation for the next year ahead.
Why is an action at the end of the year important?
For many brands, the end of the year is a key period when consumers are more likely to spend. It’s the season of parties, holidays, special promotions and, for some, moments of reflection and renewal when people are ready to make purchasing decisions they’ve been putting off. Brands have the attention of an audience more willing to interact.
This is a unique window of opportunity to propose innovative strategies that maximise the impact of the rest of your CRM and marketing budget. A well-executed campaign during this period can generate a domino effect: attract new customers, increase the loyalty of current customers and, most importantly, generate tangible results that can be measured and justified in front of stakeholders.
Key strategies for leveraging the remaining marketing budget
Personalised Incentives:
Offering personalised rewards tailored to customer preferences can significantly influence their perception of your brand. People are more likely to engage when incentives are relevant to their interests. Rather than generic offers, create personalised experiences that make customers feel understood and valued.
To take it a step further, consider implementing surprise and delight tactics that go beyond the transactional. By offering unexpected rewards—like a free service or special experience based on past purchases—you can create emotional connections that last beyond the campaign. These interactions not only increase customer engagement but also foster long-term loyalty.
Pro Tip: Use customer data and AI tools to identify key patterns in purchasing behaviour. This will allow you to create segments of customers and offer them highly personalised reward communications, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
ROI Optimisation:
At this stage, it’s crucial to ensure that any marketing budget spent delivers maximum ROI. Every penny must work harder, particularly because the end-of-year marketing budget often comes under increased scrutiny. The key here is to set measurable objectives tied directly to your bottom line. This could be increasing average order values, driving more website traffic, or enhancing customer engagement.
Tools like campaign performance dashboards allow brands to track success in real time. This way, you can pivot if something isn’t working, ensuring that your investments are continually optimised.
Pro Tip: Combine low-cost, high-impact tactics like quick code-integration, and plug-in campaigns. The simplicity and quick-to-market implementation of these types of reward campaigns means you can squeeze out those results with limited time and resources. These approaches offer excellent ROI and build the pathway to more long-term campaigns.
Omnichannel Activations:
To maximise the effectiveness of end-of-year campaigns, ensure that your brand’s messaging reaches consumers wherever they are—whether online, on social media, or in physical stores. A seamless and consistent omnichannel experience will amplify the success of your campaign and extend its reach. Today’s consumer expects frictionless interaction across all channels, whether they are purchasing online and picking up in-store or interacting via a chatbot on social media.
Your approach should ensure that every touchpoint—be it email, app notifications, or social media—delivers a consistent message. Synchronising promotions across channels, leveraging CRM data, and ensuring smooth transitions between online and offline environments will help you get the most out of your year-end marketing efforts.
Pro Tip: Create consistent, targeted communications to deliver across all available channels to increase awareness of your promotion.
Leverage Seasonal Trends:
The end of the year comes with built-in consumer momentum—people are already thinking about Christmas shopping, end-of-year promotions, or New Year’s resolutions. Aligning your marketing with these seasonal trends ensures that you are tapping into emotions that are already top of mind for consumers.
Consider creating campaigns that play into these yearly themes: holiday gift guides, “new year, new you” promotions, or limited-time offers tied to holiday shopping deadlines. The key is to meet your consumers where they are emotionally, connecting with their desires for celebration, renewal, and self-improvement.
Pro Tip: Create limited-time offers and exclusives that create a sense of urgency. A well-placed countdown timer or last-chance email can drive conversions during this highly competitive period.
Tactics for Successful Customer Engagement and Retention
While driving end-of-year sales with your remaining marketing budget is essential at this time, it’s also important not to overlook the value of long-term customer engagement. Investing in customer retention strategies during this period can turn first-time buyers into loyal customers and provide a steady stream of revenue in the year to come.
Reward Repeat Customers
End-of-year purchases present a golden opportunity to enrol new customers in your loyalty programme. Customers are already in a buying mindset, so introducing them to a rewards system can be a seamless addition to their purchase experience. Moreover, for existing loyalty members, offering double or triple points during this period can motivate higher spending.
Pro Tip: Offer exclusive holiday promotions or early access to sales for loyalty members. This can also be a great time to introduce “soft benefits” that go beyond discounts, such as free shipping, VIP customer service, or unique brand experiences.
See some of our most successful loyalty programmes here.
Encourage Word-Of-Mouth
There’s no better time than the holiday season to incentivise customer-to-customer referrals. When people are looking for gift ideas or experiences, they are likely to turn to friends and family for recommendations. Creating a promotion with talkability and memorability is a great way to encourage this behaviour.
Pro Tip: Launch a “Give the Gift of…” referral campaign, where existing customers can give rewards to or share with their friends. This can drive both acquisition and engagement simultaneously.
Fulfil: Fuel-A-Friend
Our Fulfil Fuel-A-Friend promotion embodied our motto of ‘story-doing’ and created a referral campaign that greatly increased brand visibility. Customers were able to send a Fulfil bar with a personalised message to a friend. During lockdown this was a way to connect friends and let them know they were being thought of. Participants were also entered into a prose draw to win one of five £200 Red Letter Day vouchers.
There were over 16,500 successful entries, with almost 5,000 including the word ‘love’, and the campaign had a major social media reach.
Beyond 2024…
A smart year-end budget action isn’t just an isolated tactical action; it’s an investment in the future. While immediate results are important, brands that manage to capitalise on this opportunity also sow the seeds for deeper, longer-lasting relationships with their consumers.
Brands must work hand in hand to create strategies that not only close the year with a flourish, but also prepare the ground for the next one. After all, tomorrow’s success depends on the decisions we make today.
Seize the moment
Don’t underestimate the power of well-planned action in the last quarter – it can be the boost you need to reach and exceed your goals. Now is the time to act, to create campaigns that impact and generate results. What are you doing to take advantage of your year-end budget?
TLC Worldwide are a leading global agency in reward marketing and loyalty programmes.
Talk to us to figure out how to optimise your left-over budget and drive impactful results.
Lets.talk@tlcworldwide.com
