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.
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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.
- Content Offer – Every time somebody visits your website, offer them with content. Make them give their emails so you can send them your materials.
- Discounts and Promos – Who can resist a discount? Give them out through email. So, customers have to give their emailing details first.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
