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More people are flocking into stores during this month than any other day of the year. Understandable given the gift giving convention. As a matter of fact, an average person is likely going to buy three to four presents. Multiply that with the total population and you get a huge sum of potential consumer demand. To rake in the most profits, you need to find a way to point all of those people to your store. To do that, the secret lies with holiday marketing strategies.

Holiday Marketing Ideas

The hardest part about digital marketing is that it is a vague concept. You hear it not just once or twice, but a dozen times with fingers pointing to different directions. One says it works like this and then another would say otherwise. It can get overwhelming to say the least. However, you can stop scratching your head with these tested and proving holiday marketing ideas.

1.     Website and Social Media Page Optimization

Starting with the most obvious, optimize your page and website for the season. For starters, redesign it with Christmas elements. Not just the format, but your product photos as well.

Related: Double Your Sales: 10 Best Christmas Digital Marketing Ideas!

While it may seem something small, it actually makes a huge difference. The Christmas-y of your platforms influences buyers on whether or not to make a purchase. Put it this way, the Christmas theme reminds them of buying gifts which gives them the motivation to push through with a purchase

Though, talking about optimization doesn’t end with that. You are going to want to have everything necessary during the holiday season shopping rush. Highlight your products, emphasize on Christmas specials, discounts, and free shipping. In short, make it the shopping heaven for people who want to spend.

2.     Invest on Social Media Ads

Social media ads are a timeless approach on marketing. Though, during the holiday season is when they get more effective. When people are desperate for answers on the best gift, the first place they go to is social media. They post, ask questions from groups, or from their collection of friends. During this time of desperation, they are more likely to be susceptible to ads.

Who wouldn’t? When you are looking for a gift, any suggestion on the side of your social media page will catch your attention.

3.     Create and Use Hashtags

Hashtags work like SEO keywords, but for social media. With that being said, they can help get you seen. Spreading your digital footprint makes all the difference to generating sales. The more people that are aware of your products, the more potential customers you generate.

You can create hashtags for your products or for your store. Remember to keep them simple and easy to keep in mind. When people search for it, they are presented with the existence of your store and everything you offer.

Hashtags don’t necessarily function the same in all platforms. They work fairly well and effective for Instagram and Twitter. However, it is not as useful in Facebook. This doesn’t say that you shouldn’t. Hashtags are never bad, but you might want to concentrate your attention and effort on things that are going to matter the most.

4.     Target Customer Niches

Customers are not all the same. For instance, each have different needs and preferences. Younger generations have different perspectives when purchasing gifts as opposed to older people. Culture, ethnicity, and social status are also going to be factors affecting their purchasing decisions.

With this being said, you can’t create marketing material that is right for everyone. Instead, identify your target audience for a specific ad. The sooner you understand that marketing is all about understanding and curating the right content for the right people, the faster you can convert them to customers.

5.     Video Marketing for the Season

Don’t settle with photos, extend your marketing medium to videos. A short clip about the holiday season is one way to appeal to the emotions of potential customers. Everyone wants to be a part of the festivity and buying from a store showing dedication to the season is one way to do it.

Video marketing in other months are given the same amount of attention as photos. If anything, they even get skipped and ignored. The same cannot be said for the Christmas season. There is a higher chance for an individual to watch the entire Christmas spirit video, therefore, reaching the end of it where your products will be strategically placed.

Holiday Marketing Campaigns

Christmas season is the longest running holiday season in the entire year. As early as November, people are out decorating and shopping. This goes to say that a single marketing approach is not going to suffice for the impending weeks ahead. What you need is a well-planned and strategic marketing campaign.

1.     Social Media Marketing Campaign

People are very active in social media. One viral news and it spreads like wildfire, reaching far and wide within a day. In other words, social media is a fast-moving medium. If you post one thing today, it will immediately be buried deep down by other posts tomorrow. You need to be always seen and for you to do that means consistent activity.

Whether it maybe new products, curating photos and posts, or simply sharing useful articles, it helps get you seen. It shows that you are still relevant in this time when people are looking for the best stores. Your activity shows that you are an alive and thriving business. So, make it apparent that you have a social media marketing campaign at hand.

2.     Content Marketing Campaign

If you really want to appeal to your audience, give them something worth giving attention to. Content is a great way to deliver information and stir curiosity. For example, if you are a clothing store, curate articles about fashion. Put in some essential facts here and there and you become the go-to store.

Content plays a huge role in making people come back to your website or social media pages. They first come for the information and usefulness, and then later, for the products. However, people are picky when it comes to content.

Not all forms of content are going to appeal to everybody. In regards to fashion, not everyone just wants shirts and pants. There are women who wants dresses and men who prefer cargo shorts. This is where the content marketing campaign gets in the picture. Make sure you provide content consistently and to a wide niche of audiences. Also, follow up previous content with something that will support and expound it.

3.     Omnichannel Marketing Campaign

Omnichannel pertains to having all platforms coherently working together to provide a consistent experience to the customer. With various social media platforms, it is possible for a customer to experience something different from Twitter and Facebook.

When this happens, it makes the entire shopping experience tedious. When a customer messages on Facebook, he shouldn’t have to explain everything again when reaching out on your Instagram page. The more unified and simplified the entire experience of shopping is, the more a customer will push through with a purchase.

Holiday Marketing Emails

Another thing to put your attention on is email marketing. While creating posts and waiting for people to see them helps, targeting content to specific individuals is a lot better. Put it this way, you can target your marketing more effectively, thus, creating a loyal customer in the end.

How to Get Customer Emails

Email marketing doesn’t work if you don’t have the emails of the people you are marketing to. Though, there are different ways to get them and it doesn’t have to be that hard.

  1. Content Offer – Every time somebody visits your website, offer them with content. Make them give their emails so you can send them your materials.
  2. Discounts and Promos – Who can resist a discount? Give them out through email. So, customers have to give their emailing details first.
  3. Newsletters and Updates – There are going to be people who want to stay updated. Make sure you give them this option because it is one of the most effortless way to gain their emails.

Benefits of Holiday Marketing Emails

Now, you might be wondering if this is worth the effort. To answer that question, look at the benefits and let it speak for itself.

  1. Better Brand Recognition – When you are communicating directly to the inbox of a customer, you are able to maintain a personal relationship. You provide accurate content and service them effectively. It then reflects to what kind of brand you are.
  2. Boost Sales – Providing specific content that will cater to the needs of your customer ensures that they are more likely to be influenced in making a purchase.
  3. Builds Strong Relationship – Email marketing creates a strong link between seller and customer. They don’t just end up making a single purchase, but become long term and loyal customers.

Creating A Holiday Marketing Email Campaign

It may sound easy, but a holiday marketing campaign can get challenging at times. You need to know where to begin and when to end. So, here is a step-by-step guide to make the entire process a lot easier.

  1. Start with a plan – The functional word here is “campaign”. You are not just sending one email, but a number of them. Make sure you have a plan on what to send first and the rest that follows. It should be systematic to be effective.
  2. Create your email content – Once you have laid out your plan, it is time to start creating content. Compose your emails beforehand and use a scheduler to send them out. Make sure that you are following a schedule. Don’t just send out randomly.
  3. Track progress – See which customers respond to which. You will be able to determine which content works and which one people have no interest in. Understanding your progress gives you an idea on what to work on next.
  4. Repeat – If your campaign has come to an end, just repeat the entire process. While it may get tempting to take control on your own terms, resist the urge. Consistency is what makes email marketing effective. Too much and it turns to spam, too little and people forget you are even there, too random and gets tedious to follow.

Holiday Marketing Tips

Sometimes, it’s the little details that makes a holiday marketing campaign fail. Overlooking a customer niche? Failing to follow marketing frequency? It can all come spiraling down. To prevent an impending failure, remember and follow these common tips.

1.     Start Marketing Early

The sooner you begin your marketing campaigns, the better. Give yourself some time to settle in the market. Don’t expect that as soon as you release your first wave of posts and initiatives, it will immediately catch on. In other words, there is a slow progression towards reaching your goal of getting seen and heard.

At least when you start early, you will be in a much better position by the time the shopping season peaks.

2.     Optimize Ad Extensions and Meta Descriptions

If you are running paid ads, make the most out of it. Check your ad extensions and put all the necessary information. Don’t leave any field behind. Same goes for your meta descriptions. You might think that nobody checks them, but you’d be surprised.

When people are making a search in Google, they read the meta description before clicking the link. The meta description is what gives them the idea if the website contains what they need. If you skip it, then you are losing potential customers. The same concept applies with ad extensions.

3.     Don’t Rush Your Content

With Christmas getting closer, you are left with lesser time to conduct your marketing. While you may be in a lot of pressure, don’t ever underplay the value of quality content. Good grammar and right spelling can make all the difference in ensuring that you are a trustworthy business.

If your blog or post is filled with errors like misplaced symbols and wrong spelling, it can easily raise eyebrows. It gives off the impression of a low-quality store which can urge potential customers to go somewhere else.  

4.     Reply to Inquiries

Make sure you have an inexhaustible amount of patience to answer inquiries. Remember, this is the Christmas season. It only happens for two months every year, it’s not a daily kind of thing. A lot of people are still going to be adjusting to the new offers and promos you are running. So, when you receive a question, answer them.

To put it simply, shoppers are going to multiple online stores at a time. They are weighing which one is better than the other. If you don’t reply to an inquiry and the rest do, you are immediately off the list of choices.

Skipping the Holiday Marketing Trend?

If you are thinking about going lowkey in online platforms, then you are making a huge mistake. Business is an everchanging industry. You find ways to appeal to your audience. In this generation, people have a higher affinity towards comfort with the help of the internet. To put it simply, everybody wants everything to be on the internet. When your competition is providing it and you are not, then you are guaranteed to lose customers.

Online marketing is the standard today and for the future. However, if you think that it is something too much that you alone can handle, then you need the help of the best online marketing agency. Contact us today for a free strategy consultation.

Amazon is one of the biggest e-commerce platforms. It has a huge customer base and an effective online selling structure. Even then, success is not immediately guaranteed for your business. Standing out from the competition is one of your biggest challenges, but there are a lot of ways on how to increase sales on Amazon and we are going to give you three of the best of them. 

Why E-commerce?

Every year, more and more businesses make a jump into e-commerce. Even major brands and businesses are starting to provide online purchases instead of settling with their already established network of stores. The question is why? Why is there the need to shift to e-commerce?

The answer is simple, adaptation and keeping up with the trend. More and more people are having a higher affinity towards online shopping. It is fast, convenient, and consumes less time. People can make a purchase with a click of a button and just wait until it arrives. Compared to physical stores, it has its perks which a lot of people are happy to exploit.

It is important to understand why e-commerce is thriving and rapidly growing. It gives insight on what you should be concentrating on when working with your e-commerce business. Ultimately, it will tell you how to increase sales on amazon.

How to Increase Sales on Amazon Tip #1: Work on Your Posting

Despite the benefits of online shopping, there are still drawbacks to the system. One of that is being unable to get a good look of a product before making a purchase. As a result, when trying to make a sale on Amazon, make sure that you are doing your best to bridge this gap between product and customer. Remember these three core concepts.

Provide Quality Photos

If you want your customers to buy your product, give them a clear and appealing image of what it is. There is a balance between refining your photos and giving a realistic expectation. Trying too hard to make things look good is going to make your customer skeptical. While doing little can make your product unappealing.

Always provide photos that you have taken of the actual product from every possible angle. Leave nothing to be questioned. The better the overall image they have of what you have to provide, the more confident your customers get in making a purchase.

How to Increase Sales on Amazon? Describe Your Product!

Your photos can only show so much, so never forget to clearly describe the features of what you are selling. Just like in providing photos, provide details to a point that you leave nothing to be questioned. 

What most people are afraid of is buying the wrong thing. Purchasing a phone that is not 5g capable, a keyboard that is not wireless, or a headphones that is not surround sound. It is something that commonly happens in e-commerce and it could all have been prevented with a proper and comprehensive product description.

Optimize Your Keywords

So you now have great photos and a proper product description, but you are still having little to no sales. Let us introduce you to the third core concept, optimize your keywords. What this means is that you are going to want to name your product post using the most relevant words.

How you name your product post is going to determine the rate that it is going to be seen. Selling memory cushion mattresses? Put all those words on your product post. Don’t just settle with the brand name and product type. Use words that are likely going to be searched for when people are looking for a product similar to yours. All the effort on product photos and description are going to waste if your product cannot be seen in the first place.

How to Increase Sales on Amazon Tip # 2: Establish Credibility

Two brands sell the same kind of product, who among them will likely get chosen by a buyer? The answer would be the one who is more credible. A customer wants a guarantee for their money. Will the product arrive safely and properly? Or will it even arrive in the first place? These doubts and questions are silenced when there is proof that you, as a seller, have established your reputation. You can do this in three ways.

Improve Your Ratings

The first thing that customers look at is not going to be your seller reviews but your rating. It is the most simplified yet comprehensive evaluation. If it is below three stars, most likely a person is no longer going to even bother checking your reviews. If it is more than that, then a customer is going to proceed to the next step which is looking at what people actually have to say.

The rest of the procedures in establishing credibility are no longer going to matter if you have a low rating. It is what will set the pace for a customer on whether or not to consider you in the first place. As a result, never underestimate the value of your ratings and find ways to always build it up to more than three stars.

Gain and Collect Reviews

As we’ve said, after a potential customer looks at your ratings, they jump to the reviews of what people actually have to say about their experience. If there are common problems with how a seller treats customers or a prevalent issue with the product, this is where they are going to see it. This means that if all a customer can see are consistent positive feedback, they have no reason to doubt your service. 

Build up your archive of reviews by following up with your customers. Message them, ask for their feedback, and get to know their experience. It is not an easy task but a little reminder to your happy customers can make all the difference. Most people don’t leave reviews because they either forget or simply don’t think it’s necessary. 

Reply to Messages and Reviews

How you engage with your customers is also going to significantly matter on your credibility. The rate at which you reply to messages and inquiries will either make or break a sale. The longer it takes for you to respond, the more doubt that builds up. Bot messages and automated answers also don’t help secure the feelings of your customers. 

Responding to customer reviews is helpful, not for the one who posted it but for those who are reading. Seeing a seller engage in both good and negative reviews assures possible customers of the ability to reach out when something goes wrong. Making them feel that they are part of a bigger community can significantly impact their trust towards you.

How to Increase Sales on Amazon Tip # 3: Marketing

Get people to look at your product. Don’t wait for people to search on Amazon, instead bring your products to them. That is how marketing works and you should never forget about that just because you are selling on one of the biggest e-commerce platforms. So, what are the most viable marketing options when selling on Amazon?

Friends and Family

Always start with the people closest to you. Have a friend in need of a new mattress? Sell them one. With your personal connection with them, you can ask for favors such as posting about your product and leaving a review on your Amazon post to establish your credibility. 

Social Media Marketing

Everybody has some form of social media account which means that posting on the platform can gain you widespread attention. Make posts using your personal account or make a page for your brand. If you are willing to invest, you have low-cost social media influencers. Generally, your options are limitless.

If you have a lot more to spare, putting some money on paid ads can get you quite far. Facebook, for example, provides a wide range of pricing options for their paid ads. The best part? The platform utilizes effective algorithms that makes sure that you are marketing to people that are likely going to make a purchase.

When selling online, your best bet for the most efficient marketing strategy are going to be online platforms as well. Remember to keep it within spending range and balance your expenses with your revenue. 

Is This Enough?

There are different things to consider when thinking about ways on how to increase sales on Amazon. The product you are selling, your competition, supply chain, and so much more. Depending on the factors that surround you, you are going to have to implement one thing more over the other. However, these three tips are enough to get you started in a much clearer path of e-commerce success. 

If you are thinking that it is quite tedious, then you are right. There is no easy way to business success, let alone on the online platform. It is going to take some effort and patience, but there is a shortcut. Seek the help of the best marketing agencies. Contact us today for a free strategy consultation.