13 New Year’s Marketing Ideas to Dazzle New Customers

The end of the year is almost upon us. Do you have some great New Year marketing ideas to help get your brand across the 2024 finish line and start the new year strong?

If not, we’ve got you covered. Many of these simple concepts are easy enough to implement in a hurry using digital marketing tactics you already have in place for your brand.

There’s no time to waste—the countdown to the New Year is on! Let’s dive right into these New Year marketing ideas.

13 best New Year’s marketing ideas to try

Add these New Year’s marketing ideas to your 2025 planning.

1. Create an end of the year sale
2. Build out resolution promotions
3. Share year in review content
4. Thank your loyal customers
5. Write a New Year’s newsletter
6. Design a New Year’s social contest
7. Host a New Year’s event
8. Take part in community events
9. Update your business hours
10. Draft a New Year’s blog series
11. Try out SMS marketing
12. Announce a new product
13. Gather customer feedback via survey

1. Create an end-of-the-year sale

The fourth quarter is a time for sales. From Black Friday to Small Business Saturday to Cyber Monday, you might think that consumers are burnt out on shopping by the time we hit the last week of December.

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In truth, people are still game to open their wallets for the right deal. 45% of consumers say they like shopping the week after Christmas, and 50% are shopping for themselves during that time.

That makes the sleepy week between Christmas and New Year’s the perfect time to launch a flash sale, perhaps with some “treat yourself” messaging.

While the power of this approach is obvious for a business like a spa or salon, where the self-care angle is clear, that doesn’t mean other businesses can’t lean into it, too. A SaaS project management tool might offer a discount on its annual subscription, encouraging people to give themselves the gift of organization in 2025.

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2. Build out resolution promotions

Nearly half of all Americans make New Year’s resolutions. Tying your product or offering into this goal-setting activity is a great way to boost sales in the last weeks of the year.

There are some businesses for which this tactic will be a no-brainer. Every gym knows the power of offering discounted memberships ahead of January 1. But other less-obvious businesses can also leverage the approach.

Pew Research finds that Americans make resolutions about:

• Health, exercise, or diet (79%)
• Money or finances (61%)
• Relationships with family or friends (57%)
• Hobbies or personal interests (55%)
• Work or career (49%)

With the breadth of this list, just about any business can find a tie-in to popular resolutions.

No matter what your resolution-centric promotion is, be sure to advertise it! Paid social or search ads can help spread the word, as can unpaid tactics, like organic social content or email marketing.

3. Share year-in-review content

One need look no further than the popularity of Spotify Wrapped to understand the power of year-end wrap-up content.

For the uninitiated, Wrapped is Spotify’s annual recap of what users listened to that year. Each subscriber gets a personalized breakdown of their top artists, genres, songs, and more. And calling Wrapped popular is an understatement. Over 227 million people engaged with Wrapped in 2023.

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You might not have the time or budget to produce anything as sleek and dynamic as Wrapped, but a business of any size can find an engaging way to share “year in review” content with its followers.

The key is to ensure the data is interesting to your audience—not just to your leadership team. Wrapped is so successful because it’s about each individual’s listening habits, not Spotify’s total number of streams or revenue.

Consider ways for your business to share similarly customer-focused data points. Then, find a fun way to share them. Blog posts, infographics, and social media countdowns are all effective tactics for getting your content out there.

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4. Thank your loyal customers

Expressing gratitude is a major theme of the holiday season. As you close out the year, you have one last chance to thank your customers for all of their support over the previous 12 months.

You may tie this thank you messaging in with your year-in-review content, or send this as a separate New Year’s email. Either way, thanking customers can engender feelings of goodwill and strengthen customer loyalty as we enter the new year.

Ulta shares some impressive stats and thanks its customers for making it all possible.

A heartfelt thank you can go a long way, but you may also opt to pair it with a special offering for loyal customers. This could look like a discount code sent only to email subscribers, or a coupon offered to those who shop during the holidays, welcoming them to enjoy a discount when they shop with you again in the new year.

5. Write a New Year’s newsletter

Email marketing remains a high-impact, low-cost digital tactic. Over 50% of people made a purchase directly as a result of an email they received.

So how do you find creative ways to land in your subscribers’ inboxes? One way is to create a New Year’s newsletter.

The topic of your missives will vary based on your business and customers, but creating a must-read series to help your audience start the new year right can boost open rates and lift sales.

The content shouldn’t be overtly sales-focused. Instead, share your expertise and provide your audience with actionable advice. As you speak about your field, it will naturally tie into the work you do. If you’re providing solid guidance, there’s no need to sell what you do. Your expertise is the selling point, and your continued presence in subscribers’ inboxes keeps your business top-of-mind.

6. Design a New Year’s social contest

If you’re looking to grow your reach and build up your following right before the new year starts, a social media contest might be the right tactic to try.

Frame the contest or giveaway to align with your business. A veterinary clinic could run a contest for the best pet New Year’s Eve outfit, while a stationery company could offer a giveaway of a brand-new bullet journal to help a lucky winner start 2025 organized.

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A key element of an effective social media contest is how you structure entry and voting.

Encouraging entrants to follow you as part of a giveaway helps you build up your follower count online. Asking people to vote on contestants’ entries gives you the opportunity to collect email addresses and build up your mailing list (with proper opt-ins, of course!).

Once you’re connected with these new people, you can continue to share or send marketing material their way—all part of the lead nurturing process.

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7. Host a New Year’s event

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are rife with traditions. There’s the ball drop at midnight, and the polar bear swims the following morning. Many cultures and regions also have specific customs for ringing in the New Year.

If this tactic feels right for your brand, consider hosting a special event to celebrate the start of the year. For restaurants, offering a special New Year’s Eve menu is a simple decision. Bars might hire live entertainment and make it a ticketed event with an open bar.

Those outside the hospitality industry can get involved, too. A fitness studio might host a free “start the year right” class on New Year’s Day. A nail salon could offer free mimosas to clients getting pampered on January 1.

8. Take part in community events

Not ready to host your own event? See if there’s something already happening within your community that you can sponsor or otherwise take part in.

For example, a coffee shop might provide hot beverages at the polar bear swim to help brave participants warm up after a chilly dip.

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Not sure if there’s anything going on? Reach out to your local Chamber of Commerce or chat with other business owners. You might even join forces to co-host an event with other local businesses!

Taking part in local events can help establish your brand as an integral part of the community. And with the majority of Americans eager to support local businesses, anything you can do to encourage them to shop with you is beneficial!

9. Update your business hours

This one might not be the most creative or exciting marketing idea on the list, but it is vital. It’s always a best practice to keep your store hours up-to-date online.

People who are discovering your business for the first time need to know what your hours are during the regular and holiday season, while returning customers will want to confirm you’re open at the time they usually stop in.

Take a minute at the start of the holiday season to update your business hours on local listings sites, like Google Business Profile (instructions here) and Yelp (and here). Enter any special hours for each of the holidays, so there’s no confusion for your customers.

And finally, consider adding a pop-up to your website announcing any reduced or expanded store hours for the season.

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10. Draft a New Year’s blog series

What do you want to help your customers achieve in the new year? The answer to that question can serve as the basis for a brand-new blog series.

Blog posts are a great way for your brand to showcase its expertise and establish your team as a go-to source of wisdom for consumers seeking the solution you offer. Blog posts should never be a hard sell. Instead, simply sharing advice helps distinguish your business as one that your audience knows, likes, and trusts.

11. Try out SMS marketing

Whether or not you typically set resolutions in your personal life, the start of a new year can be a great time to set professional goals. If yours is to try a new marketing tactic, consider making 2025 the year you add SMS marketing to your bag of tricks.

According to research from Gartner, SMS marketing boasts a 98% open rate and 45% response rate—far higher than for any other channel. And it’s growing in popularity; in 2024, 79% of consumers opted-in to receiving texts from brands.

Creating a holiday-themed pop-up to capture customer phone numbers, like this one from Urban Stems, is one way to build up your contact list to launch your SMS strategy. 

If you’re not employing SMS marketing as part of your broader digital strategy, the start of the year might be a great time to try it out. Kick things off with a New Year’s campaign to gather texting opt-ins from your audience—perhaps by offering a discount code to those who sign up.

Then, build out a strategy to stay in touch via text throughout the year. As with most digital marketing tactics, consistency is key in SMS marketing.

12. Announce a new product

You’ve heard of “New Year, new me?” How about, “New year, new product?”

Launching a brand new product or service as the clock strikes midnight on January 1 can be an exciting way to begin the year. A new offering gives you a reason to reach out to your audience, and it can generate interest in your brand during what can otherwise be the post-holiday doldrums.

You might also create limited-edition offerings just for the holidays. This is another way to create buzz. And if a product is only available for a short time, you also create FOMO for your audience, which can help drive sales.

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A new product launch is a little more involved than some of the other tactics on this list. But even if you don’t have a brand-new offering to share with customers, the new year can also be an opportunity to put a new spin on something you already sell.

For example, a dentist’s office could create a package deal that includes bi-annual cleanings, orthodontic aligners, and a teeth whitening session and brand it with a thematic marketing slogan, like “New Year, New Smile.”

13. Gather customer feedback via survey

Most businesses strive to grow continually better. If that’s a 2025 goal you’ve set for your brand, asking for customer feedback can help you improve.

Email a brief survey to solicit input from those who did business with you in 2024. The survey doesn’t need to be complicated; give your customers a chance to rate their experience and then provide short-form written feedback on what they loved or where they think you can do better.

Then, once the holiday whirlwind is over, take the time to sit down and analyze the feedback. Identify trends, and potentially even reach out to certain respondents to see if they’d be open to chatting more about their experience.

Shimmery New Year marketing ideas for your business

There’s never a bad time of year to market your business. But the start of a new year is an especially good time to step up your efforts to ensure your next twelve months are the best yet.

These New Year marketing ideas are easy to plug into the digital marketing infrastructure you already have and can give your messaging some sparkle at a busy and exciting time of year.

Amanda Rodhe

Amanda Rodhe is a freelance content marketing writer. She’s passionate about the power of the written word and loves helping brands craft compelling stories that stick. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or learn more at www.amandarodhe.com.

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