10 Hanukkah marketing ideas for a festive holiday season

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There are plenty of wrong ways to spell “Hanukkah.” But there’s no wrong way to connect with your audience while the holiday lasts.

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish celebration of resilience, miracles, and tradition. Rooted in a miracle in which oil lit a lamp for 8 days even though it was only enough for one, it’s a time for family gatherings, lighting the menorah, and indulging in treats like sufganiyot and latkes.

Gift-giving is a more recent addition to Hanukkah traditions, but the holiday is about much more than presents. Hanukkah presents an opportunity for ecommerce brands to engage with customers in a way that honors these traditions while also providing unique value.

Whether it’s highlighting exclusive products, offering a Hanukkah-themed gift guide, or creating campaigns centered around family, tradition, and the spirit of the season, there’s plenty of opportunity to show your customers that your brand understands and respects the essence of Hanukkah.

While we can’t promise you’ll become a part of your customers’ holiday traditions like sufganiyot, we can present you with 10 Hanukkah marketing ideas—one for each candle on the menorah, plus two extra in the spirit of giving.

1. Get to know your audience with quizzes

Quizzes are not only fun, they’re also a perfect way to engage your audience during Hanukkah while collecting valuable customer data to use in future marketing efforts.

Imagine creating a fun “Which Hanukkah gift matches your personality?” quiz that asks your website visitors questions about their preferences—like their budget, favorite colors or flavors, or who they’re shopping for. Then, if they input their email address, they receive tailored product recommendations alongside the results of their answers.

This not only makes shopping easier for your customers, but also helps you collect valuable data. By storing this quiz data, you can segment your audience more effectively in the future, offering targeted recommendations, email campaigns, and Hanukkah promotions.

Hanukkah marketing tip: If you’re not familiar with the power of quizzes in ecommerce marketing, look no further than the example of Andie Swim. The swimwear brand uses a fit-finder quiz to segment their email list based on style and fit preferences—a strategy that drove over $70,000 in revenue in just 8 months.

2. Grow your email and SMS lists with a contest or giveaway

People love gifts and freebies, so a well-executed contest or giveaway can be another powerful way to grow your email or SMS list before Hanukkah.

In the spirit of Hanukkah, you might offer contest entrants the chance to win a one-time donation in their name to a charity of their choice in exchange for their email address. Or, you can take a leaf out of POPFLEX’s book and run a giveaway that offers participants the chance to win a free shopping spree.

The activewear brand took this approach in October 2023. To enter, contestants had to create a holiday wishlist on the POPFLEX website. Nearly 100,000 people ended up entering the contest, supplying the brand with valuable data for personalizing communications with subscribers over the course of the holiday season—all of which contributed to 91% YoY growth in ecomm revenue.

AriZona Beverages took a different but equally creative approach with their “Thirsty Thirty” online contest in November 2022. To celebrate their 30th anniversary during a time that’s traditionally an off season for the brand, AriZona invited users to design their own iced tea flavor—choosing everything from the base tea to the fruity flavor twists.

Participants stood to win a $10,000 prize for submitting their iced tea ideas along with their email addresses—and the chance to see their flavor actually hit the market. The campaign reinvigorated AriZona’s digital presence and helped them net 15,700 new email subscribers.

Hanukkah marketing tip: The chance to win a contest is a unique holiday incentive that’s worth experimenting with instead of offering a universal discount in exchange for email and SMS sign-ups. Other non-discount incentives to consider include free gifts with purchase, free shipping when customers spend above a certain threshold, and early-bird deals.

3. Talk about Hanukkah without pushing a sale

During a holiday centered on tradition, celebration, and family, your brand has the opportunity to foster a deeper relationship with your customers by engaging with the holiday’s values.

In other words, make it your mission to connect with your audience through emails and text messages focused on the holiday itself—not necessarily promoting your products.

Here are 3 ideas for doing that:

Hanukkah marketing tip: Sending out meaningful, non-promotional content like this helps keep your brand top of mind throughout the holiday season. This way, when it does come time to shop, your audience is more likely to turn to you, rather than a competitor.

4. Create a Hanukkah-themed product and market it

Creating a Hanukkah-themed product is a powerful way to connect with your audience during the season. By developing something unique that resonates with the holiday’s traditions and symbology, you can do more than just meet market demand—you can also earn trust with your audience.

Take Little Sleepies as an example. They make soft, comfortable sleepwear for children and adults. They also do marketing right.

This year, to boost Hanukkah sales and connect with their audience, Little Sleepies introduced Hanukkah-themed pajamas featuring menorahs, dreidels, and Stars of David. But the product line wasn’t just for kids. The brand also unveiled adult sleepwear featuring the same motifs so the entire family could look picture-perfect when it came time to snap a holiday photo.

5. Get food onto plates

Food plays a special role in Hanukkah celebrations, making it a great theme to weave into your Hanukkah marketing. Dishes like latkes and sufganiyot aren’t just delicious—they’re a nod to the miracle of Hanukkah, when, remember, a small amount of oil lasted 8 days.

Depending on what your brand sells and who you’re marketing to, sharing traditional recipes like latkes, sufganiyot, or brisket through emails or SMS messages could be a smart part of your Hanukkah marketing strategy.

A great example is Boarderie, a brand that makes artisan cheese and charcuterie boards for all occasions—including Hanukkah. A quick glance at Boarderie’s email campaign makes it obvious they’re offering tasty food and a convenient solution for those without time to prepare a feast.

But Boarderie is also doing several other things right with this Hanukkah marketing email. Notice how it contains:

• A catchy headline with a playful twist on the holiday tradition
• Excellent product positioning right at the top
• Bold, hard-to-miss CTAs, with contrasting colors and inviting copy
• A bestseller section for cross- and up-selling

Hanukkah marketing tip: When communicating about your holiday-themed products and gift options, be clear about your shipping and delivery policies. There’s nothing worse than ordering a gift for someone, only to have it arrive after the holiday.

Your audience needs the things you’re selling when the holidays come around. If they don’t get it from you, they’ll get it elsewhere. In your holiday-themed communications, be sure to remind your customers of important order and shipping cut-off dates so that they don’t end up disappointed.

6. Encourage customers to celebrate alongside your brand

To build stronger connections with your audience during Hanukkah and raise engagement with your brand on social media, encourage them to celebrate the holiday with your brand in fun and meaningful ways.

One great example of this is Sloomoo Institute, an interactive, experiential space that calls itself “a celebration of sensory play,” which embraced the Hanukkah spirit by creating themed slime kits. They developed slimes in traditional holiday colors like blue and silver and infused them with sparkles, charms, and even scents reminiscent of holiday treats, and even added a little twist to their “Got Gelt” slime, inspired by the traditional Hanukkah gift gelt—a real or chocolate coin wrapped in gold foil.

But here’s where the marketing gets really brilliant: the email encourages those lucky enough to receive the “Got Gelt” slime with real gelt inside to snap a photo, share it on their socials, and get another slime for free. It’s a brilliant way to center user-generated content (UGC) and raise authentic brand awareness during the 8-day celebratory period.

Hanukkah marketing tip: UGC is effective because when prospects and customers see their friends and families engaging with your brand, it makes them more confident in their purchase decisions and builds trust in your product offerings.

Ask for holiday-themed UGC in a post-purchase flow after someone buys a product, organically on your website, or by launching a branded hashtag or social community around the holidays where your audience can share their stories and experiences.

7. Share gift ideas for every day of Hanukkah

Attaching one of your products to every day of Hanukkah is an excellent way to showcase your products while helping customers find thoughtful presents for their loved ones.

Here are a few ideas for taking this gift-a-day approach with your audience:

• Share a one-time gift guide that includes 8 different products, one for each night of Hanukkah.
• Create an 8-part email or SMS sequence where you send one gift idea per day at some point in the weeks leading up to the holiday, making it easy for your customers to shop while also tapping into the festive spirit of anticipation and joy.
• Develop an 8-item bundle, combining several of your products that go well together under a single price tag that’s slightly lower than it would be if customers bought each item individually. It’s a win-win for customers: savings alongside the convenience of making a single purchase.

In this example, sustainable clothing brand United By Blue takes the first approach, sharing a straightforward gift guide with products that “go together like latkes, sour cream, and applesauce.” It’s a smart way to feature a range of items that cater to different tastes, keeping customers engaged over the multi-day holiday.

8. Offer free shipping

The holiday season is about saving money while shopping, and customers hardly say no to perks like free shipping. In fact, according to a 2022 survey, 68.2% of people are more likely to purchase a product online when free shipping is available.

Use this in your Hanukkah marketing initiatives and offer free shipping in the days preceding the holiday. Advertise the perk through emails and SMS messages to your subscribers and suggest this is the perfect time to treat themselves or their loved ones.

If offering universal free shipping on all products won’t burn a hole in your budget, do it. If not, you have other options, too:

• Offer free shipping only for orders that exceed a specific amount of money.
• Offer free shipping only on specific products.
• Offer free shipping only for certain customer segments, like VIPs or discount buyers.

Here, see how bath and towel brand Onsen offers free U.S. shipping on orders over $95 and free worldwide shipping on orders over $195 during the busiest shopping season of the year—Black Friday.

Hanukkah marketing tip: If you’re offering free shipping for holidays on your website or social media, ask people to subscribe to your lists in exchange for this perk.

9. Provide a Hanukkah-themed unboxing experience

If you’re leaning into the holiday gift-giving theme, elevate it further by creating a memorable unboxing experience. Even if your products aren’t specifically Hanukkah-themed, thoughtful packaging can still leave a strong impression on your customers.

Consider using:

• Blue and white wrapping paper and boxes
• Packaging featuring menorahs, dreidels, or candles
• Personalized Hanukkah-themed cards

Hanukkah marketing tip: A well-designed unboxing experience doesn’t just make your customers feel special—it can also inspire them to share their excitement on social media, turning your packaging into an authentic ad for your brand.

Take matters into your own hands and encourage this behavior by offering a discount on a customer’s next order if they share their unboxing experience on social media and tag your brand.

10. Do good and inspire others to do the same

One principle of Jewish tradition is tzedakah, which translates to charity or helping those in need.

Living by this tenet will make you feel good—we all know that. What it can also do is help improve your brand’s reputation. Doing good can help your brand generate positive publicity and form deep and meaningful connections with your audience.

Here are a few ideas for how to implement this strategy around Hanukkah:

• Find a reliable local charity and make a donation.
• Organize a food or toy drive to help those in need.
• Donate a percentage of your sales around Hanukkah to one or more families or charities.
• Organize a fundraising event for a cause near and dear to your heart.
• Sponsor a project to help the local community.

Whichever way you decide to help, document it. You can share your good deed with your audience via emails, website, or social media. This will create a positive image of your brand and cater to customers who enjoy buying from and supporting a business that gives back to the community.

In 2020, London Sock Co. not only offered their customers a discount for the entire month of November, but also pledged to donate two pairs of socks to a homeless charity for every purchase their customers made.

When one of their emails spreading the word about the initiative contained a typo promising to donate 22 pairs of socks instead of two, London Sock Co. proved their integrity by donating 22 pairs per purchase for the entire remainder of the month.

All of this contributed to a 142% increase in revenue during Black Friday, which only goes to show you that no good deed goes unnoticed.

Hanukkah marketing tip: To make an even greater impact, invite your audience to do charity work themselves in any way they can—whether through financial donations or helping out at an organization. In return, you can give back to your customers by offering a discount to those who give back this holiday season. That way, everyone benefits from paying it forward.

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