The New Rules of Holiday Marketing in 2025
2025 has tested small businesses since the start, and the holiday season isn’t looking like a reprieve from that (Read our blog How Politics is Shaping Your Marketing Strategy in 2025 for more on that). With tariffs inflating costs, consumers tightening budgets, and AI transforming the digital landscape, success will depend on transparency, flexibility, and human connection.
Here’s how to adapt your holiday marketing strategy to drive growth— even amidst economic turbulence.
Rule #1: Understand the current world we live in
The 2025 holiday season arrives under the weight of competing forces: cautious consumers and climbing costs. The average American shopper plans to spend 10% less than last year. There are two reasons for this, according to the 2025 Deloitte Holiday Retail Survey: 77% of people expect higher prices across the board, while 57% predict a weaker economy in the upcoming year.
What does this mean as a business owner? You have to communicate the unique value of your product or service to the smart, savvy shopper.
It’s no secret that many of these issues stem from the tariffs implemented throughout the year. They’ve created structural upheavals for businesses relying on imports. Nearly 72% of these small businesses have reported moderate to significant increases in landed costs.
If your brand is facing cost spikes, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re among the 44% that are facing spikes of 20% or more, according to a recent survey of 390+ North American businesses by Freightos/Clearit.
Now, who struggles with this inflation the most? Your customers. Goldman Sachs predicted that by October 2025, consumers could shoulder up to 67% of these added costs— a startling increase from the 22% customers absorbed in the first half of 2025.
With all of this said, here are some key things to keep in mind as the holiday season approaches:
Price sensitivity has peaked.
Consumers have been put through the wringer all year and are financially (and emotionally) exhausted.
You can mitigate some of this by being transparent.
Rule #2: Communicate transparently
In an economy defined by inflation fatigue, silent price increases are a risk to your brand. People are more likely to stay loyal to brands that are open about why prices shift— especially when external factors like tariffs and supply chain volatility are to blame rather than higher profit margins, as noted by Amy Williams, the Senior Manager of Brand and Communication at PROS.
Here are some tips on creating a trust-based communication approach:
Announce pricing changes before they happen.
Clearly tie this increase to inflation pressures, not internal profit motives.
Acknowledge customers' feelings with empathy. Many households are struggling with inflation across every category.
Highlight how you’re reinvesting in better quality, improved service, or free shipping. Are you now sourcing materials locally? Lead with that.
Rule #3: Rethink your approach to brand reach
To survive and thrive in 2025, your brand needs to utilize automations and collaboration.
Whether you like it or not, AI is taking over the online space. Traffic to retail sites from AI-driven discovery is expected to surge by over 500% during the holiday season, according to Adobe’s 2025 Holiday Statistics, Trends & Forecast.
How can your brand get referral traffic from AI? Some simple tips from WordStream include:
Use internal links throughout your website.
Improve your site’s E-E-A-T (which we dive deeper into in Kiss My Aesthetic Podcast Episode 214: What Google Wants in 2025: SEO Tips from Searchlight Digital).
Get visible on other sites through guest blogging and cross-promotion.
And as for integrating AI into your workflow, you can leverage it by:
Using AI for advanced segmentation and personalized recommendations.
Automating follow-ups for cart abandonment, where recovery potential remains high (with rates near 70% —Statista).
Beyond automation, strategic partnerships are crucial in 2025. Collaborating with brands that share your audience or values through joint pop-ups or co-created gift sets generates buzz. Launching these partnerships in early Q4 not only catches your audience's attention but also builds digital “memory” within AI systems that surface recommendations later in the season.
Rule #4: Get offline
With the internet becoming inundated with ads, people want to minimize their screen time. This holiday season, the tangible and personal will define the most memorable brands.
According to a report by Agency EA, 84% of marketers now see experiential activations as essential to their strategy, and for good reason: they allow people to interact with your brand in a more immersive way.
Take MKWCC client Falk Ruvin Gallagher, for example. They host cooking classes for community members who have used their real estate services. By offering these classes, participants are already in the zone of thinking about their own kitchen and the intimacy of their space.
Another great example is how Avenue 8 Cocktails hosted a tasting event for their canned cocktails— allowing customers to try before they buy. This allowed people to meet the owner, Tiffany, and create a genuine connection to the brand.
We dive in on more ideas for offline marketing in Kiss My Aesthetic Podcast Episode 198: Marketing without Social Media, including handwritten notes in orders. A simple note thanking people for supporting your small business can go a long way toward making them feel part of your circle.
Adding personalizations, creating printed materials, or organizing events might be costly in the short term, but the long-term benefits of people having a tangible memory with your brand is something that no algorithm can replicate.
Be a brand that stands steady even when the market doesn’t
At MKW Creative Co., we believe this season will separate the reactive from the resilient. The businesses that thrive will be those that can pair strategy with storytelling and transparency with empathy.
Success depends on planning now, aligning your communications, operations, and partnerships around transparency and adaptability.
Economic uncertainty is here to stay, but so is opportunity for brands that can move quickly and connect deeply. Whether it’s using AI for more intelligent segmentation, hosting co-branded local pop-ups, or simply telling the truth about pricing, authenticity and agility are the new currencies this year.
If you’re planning your next move for 2026, now’s the time to start.
Book your brag-worthy rebrand in 2026.
