Yes, you read that right. We’re talking holidays in July because it’s the perfect time to begin your holiday season planning instead of waiting until the last minute. The earlier you start planning, the better chance you are to achieve your goals and have a successful holiday campaign.

Develop creative ideas. When you wait until October or November to plan your holiday marketing strategies, you tend to quickly develop and deploy standard cookie-cutter campaigns. These can be successful but not overwhelmingly so. By planning now, you have time to think strategically outside the box and come up with something more innovative than you would in a time crunch. A business gift is an opportunity to put your brand at the forefront of your employees’ or customers’ minds so the same strategic decisions apply here, too. The right gift can create impressions long after the holiday season.

More time to invest. A large obstacle that you might face is a tight marketing budget – putting money into a marketing campaign at the last minute isn’t always feasible. But if you are planning ahead, you can invest slowly over time allowing your campaign to be planned, paid for and executed when the holidays arrive.

Your money is valuable. When you have time to strategically plan and work on your campaign, you can focus on finding the right promotional products that fit your budget. Whether it’s a branded electronic, a kitchen utensil set or a desktop accessory, planning ahead allows you to find something that is in-line with your budget, or even find something on sale that you can’t find closer to the holidays.

These three simple tips for planning ahead will allow you to sit back and relax when the holiday season approaches.