It seems like every year, holiday promotions pop up in stores and online earlier and earlier; shoppers stocking up on Halloween candy could easily find them across from Christmas decorations. Last year, Target received sharp criticism for starting their holiday marketing campaign in mid-October. As its CMO recently told AdAge, the corporation launches this year’s marketing in November and, not surprisingly, shift substantial portions of its budget to mobile, social, email and display.

So while holiday marketing schemes can sometimes border on the ridiculous or create shopper fatigue, it’s always interesting to take a look at how different companies market their products and services at this time of year. After all, it pays to partake right about now: according to Ad:Tech Connect, last year consumers spent a staggering 42.3 billion dollars between November 1 and December 31st.

No matter what your industry, be sure to remember these best practices for your holiday marketing:

-  Embrace mobile. In June of 2013, 55% of the time U.S. consumers spent on retail sites was conducted on mobile devices and that number will surely only rise. So make sure your e-commerce site is optimized for mobile or you could miss out on significant revenue.

-  Infuse some holiday spirit into your content, like offering gift guides and year-end promotions; pay attention to the keywords you use, especially in your meta descriptions and title tags on your site to boost SEO.

-  Strategize on social media – use timely hashtags, create holiday photo albums, boards and blog posts, and offer sneak peaks and coupons for upcoming promotions. Plus, remember how many people will be online on days like Cyber Monday and take advantage, even if you’re not a retailer.

-  Consider a charity component. Many companies donate a portion of sales to a nonprofit, and everybody wins.