We have a special episode today just in time for the holiday season.On this episode of the Common Sense Marketer, we speak to Mrs. Claus from the North Pole about a few of the digital strategies she has been using to send holiday greetings. From traditional snail mail to email marketing, the transition for Mrs. Claus and her team of digital marketing elves, has been an important one for the North Pole to maintain engagement with good girls and boys.

Listen in as Mrs. Claus explains her five strategies for executing email marketing best practices during the holiday season:

1. Make your list and check it twice with a list cleanse.

Tis the season for housekeeping. Most B2B companies lose 25% of their list each year to job changes and retirement, and before you send out your holiday card, it’s a good idea to check your list twice to ensure you have the best contact information for your key clients and prospects and improve your email deliver-ability.

2. Personalize for Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen.

Want to make your recipients feel truly special? Look for ways to personalize your holiday card beyond just the first name. Personalization can be achieved through variables pulled in from your CRM system that can help you create messages that speak to each person on your list as an individual. You can even look at incorporating variable images, like those offered by NiftyImages.

3. Santa Claus Is coming to your inbox, but only if you asked him.

The holiday season is a good time to check your email policies. Ideally, you should be asking for your clients and your prospects to sign up for your email communications throughout the course of the year. This makes it easier if you can demonstrate that the emails you’ll send them are worth their time and help not sell. When sending your holiday email, focus your send list to your opted in contacts, existing clients, and hottest prospects, not to all the people in your database.

4. Connect the email experience to your holiday gifts.

If you’re sending a gift in the good old fashioned mail (not using Santa), it’s a good idea to connect the theme of your holiday email with the holiday gift. This creates a seamless experience for your clients. Better yet, use a landing page from your marketing automation platform to customize a URL just for them to let each person on your list know how special they truly are.

5. What’s the reason for your season’s greetings?

The best performing emails are ones with a clear purpose: What’s your reason for the season’s greetings? Do you have an annual recap to share? Do you have a thank you discount for loyal clients? Have you made a donation to a nonprofit made possible in part by your clients’ support? Think about how many holiday emails you receive and how you can make yours a special experience for each person on your list?

 Thank you Mrs. Claus for speaking with us!

ABOUT MRS. CLAUSMrs. Claus was played by Natalie Jackson and her real job is the Marketing Director at emfluence, a Digital Marketing Agency + Marketing Automation Platform. Natalie oversees lead generation, messaging, customer engagement, and brand awareness for both the emfluence Digital Marketing Agency and the emfluence Marketing Platform. You can connect with Natalie here on LinkedIn.