Prepping your marketing strategy for the holiday season

December 9, 2016

And, it’s that time of the year again. Get ready for the ho ho ho!

The world goes on a shopping spree beginning Black Friday, and deals continue to pour on till Cyber Monday. Statista reports the desktop retail E-commerce spending to 56.46 billion US dollars during the holiday season.

While people gear up for the online shopping bonanza this year, you (the proactive marketer) might be looking to leverage the holiday season for achieving your business goals.

So, what’s your plan this holiday season?

How are you looking to looking to woo the target audience?

Having a marketing strategy in place is the way to go.

Planning for Holiday Success

Is there any opportunity for you?

Yes, absolutely if you plan ahead.

Your target audience maybe active on multiple online channels – Website, Social, Blog. Knowing where the user spends most of the time and planning a consistent user experience across these channels is key. Go-over your analytics data to uncover the channels which are responsible for your sales related activities. Google analytics provides valuable data, but you’ll need to analyze the data for your marketing campaign carefully. The website data along with data collected from social media platforms can be used to create messaging targeting your audience.

If you don’t have a consistent messaging, now is the time to plan and setup the cross-channel campaign in accordance with their buying journey.

Key things to keep in mind include:

Offers and promotions along with the specific date
Messaging tailored for the customers
Call-to-action to be used in sync with the offers
Metrics for measuring the holiday campaign
Ensure all promotions are integrated across channels on time

Planning is one of the most important principle of management. If you plan out your strategy across channels, you have a much higher chance of attracting customers.

Be Mobile Ready

What is the one thing that’s always in our pockets and helps us to search stuff? Yes, you guessed it right, it’s a mobile. Mobile is an integral part of a marketing strategy.

56 % of holiday season searches in 2015 were done on mobile devices.

37% of online transactions were made via mobile phones from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

Ignoring the trends means missing out the chance to attract your target audience.

Optimize for mobile by:

Keeping it easy and simple with minimal variation
Adapting a responsive design for a user-friendly experience
Making all buttons, links and Calls to Action (CTA) tap friendly
Using visual content for providing an immersive experience
Using URLs to send customers directly to the landing page
Push notifications, to let your customers know when offers are available

Mobile is a valuable marketing tool, as customers can interact with it any time of the day. If you can manage to provide a rich mobile experience, make payment methods easy and provide quick support, the probability of a customer buying an item increases.

Discounts & Offers

Customers are just drawn towards discounts offered on their favorite item. From an increased sale to a boost in reputation, discounts can bring in more customers to your brand.

Update your holiday campaign to include:

Specifically show discounts on products
Highlight offers such as Free Shipping and Cashback
Ensure prominent Calls to Action (CTAs) for attaining a higher click through rate

Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days, thanks to the amazing deals & offers. To attract customers and stand out amongst the competitors highlighting the product offering is essential.

Watch your budget

Worried about ad-spend? Instead of just rushing to last minute bid adjustments, it is always better to prepare in advance to boost the process.

Analyze the time and day of the week where purchases are happening, to adjust bids accordingly in order to capture the customer’s attention.

Take advantage of the subscriber list. Customers who have already given you the permission to market to them can be sent out personalized emails of your product offerings. The ROI of an Email is $38 for every $1 sent. Utilize email marketing effectively to maintain your overall budget.

The budget allocations might seem an impediment in your marketing strategy, but by adopting a strategic approach, you can effectively utilize the money allocated to the campaign.

Schedule before the holiday storm begins

Once the holiday season starts, you might be seen running here, there and everywhere to execute campaigns. Instead of going berserk, plan and schedule your campaign ahead in time. This gives you time for optimizing the campaign too!

Prepare in advance and know:

The important dates like Thanksgiving and Christmas
Look at the past trends to ensure timely product availability
The facts and figures from past year

The holiday season is the perfect time to connect with your customers. With an array of online deals available, catching your customers’ attention might get a little crazy, so buckle up and get ready. Preparing your marketing strategy can help you win customers and position yourself for the desired results.

By Lavanya Loomba