Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday season, and businesses need to be ready. With the average shopper ready to spend more than $600 during the holidays this year, the potential for profits is high. You just need to convince shoppers to choose your store over others.
To that end, you need a holiday marketing campaign. To promote your business during this most wonderful time of the year, you need some killer digital marketing strategies. Here are a few of our favorite suggestions for how to market your business during the holidays.
Add a gift guide to your website.
Shoppers are now focused on buying gifts. And, they welcome suggestions. Cut down on the amount of time shoppers have to spend looking for gifts, and earn some goodwill from customers, by offering them a gift guide.
This gift guide can take many forms. You can create one using all of your holiday sale items. You can focus on the most popular gifts from previous years. You can make multiple gift guides for kids, men, women, etc. As long as your guide highlights thoughtful, meaningful gifts, you are golden.
If you want to make your gift guide even more useful, try making it searchable. The ability to quickly find inspiration for any gift they need will encourage shoppers to buy from you. Promote it on your website to earn maximum exposure and entice visitors to stay and explore (and buy!).
Update your designs.
It's the holidays! Do customers know you are in the holiday spirit? They might not if your ads and website are still sporting an everyday look. How to market your business during the holidays includes updating your look.
As a result, change your designs for the holiday season. Fonts, images, and colors can take on a festive feel even while staying faithful to your brand.
Make sure social media, ads, and your website all receive a holiday refresh. When people know you have holidays on your mind, they'll be more likely to shop with you. Here are a few areas that should receive a themed update:
- Social media posts
- Social media ads
- Internet ads that include images
- Website homepage
- Product pages
- Blogs
- Gift guides
- Checkout process
Create special holiday messaging.
If it is the week before Thanksgiving, and your ads still talk about the heat of summer, you're going to sound out of touch. If you can't be trusted to get your seasons right, customers might wonder if they can trust you to deliver quality goods and services.
If you want to know how to market your business for the holidays, try creating special holiday messaging. Talk about how thankful you are for your customers. Become nostalgic about warm fires and hot chocolate. Let customers know the holidays are as much on your mind as theirs.
This messaging should be part of all of your digital marketing. For example, blogs should reference the holidays. Social media posts should acknowledge the changing seasons. Google Ads should address the gift-giving crunch before Christmas. The holidays should be as much a part of your marketing as it is a part of your customers' lives.
Send holiday greetings to your customers.
If you want to know how to market your business during the holidays, try sending along holiday greetings to your customers.
Generally, these greetings work best as an outreach to previous customers or those who have signed up for an email list or other promotion. For example, send holiday cards through email to your loyal customers.
Alternatively, you could follow up with customers who complete a purchase during the holiday season, or send a greeting along to shoppers who abandoned their carts.
When sending these greetings, don't forget to include a little holiday deal to show them your holiday spirit.
These communications can be used to get your business back on the forefront of your customers' minds. They will also help your customers feel welcomed by your business and can help to build a meaningful relationship with them.
Give customers holiday gifts.
Sending free, gift-wrapped items from your store to all of your website visitors might not be realistic, but you can give a little holiday gift to your customers. An unexpected bonus or thank you gift can earn some serious loyalty, and business from customers. Consider the following presents for your customers.
- Site-wide discount.
- Discounts off certain items
- Bonus items for purchases of a certain amount
- Donation to a charity for every purchase
If you want to make your gifts feel even more special, try sending one of these gifts to your loyal customers. Everyone likes being part of an exclusive club.
As the holidays approach, don't wonder how to market your business. Instead, embrace these strategies for meaningful holiday marketing. Don't forget to reach out to Distinct Web Design for help. We can develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that includes effective holiday marketing. And that can make your company's holidays merry and bright.
