Is Your Business Ready for the 2017 Holiday Season?
Yes, we know it’s not even Halloween but right now is the perfect time to start thinking of your plan for the holiday season to maximize your sales during the infamous shopping season.
The kids are back in school and the weather is starting to cool off. Soon, the marketing world will explode with pumpkin-flavored-everything and the end of the year still seems so far away. But in reality, the holiday season will be here before you know it. Do you know how you plan to capitalize on holiday traffic? Are you prepared? If not, don’t worry – that’s why we’re here! Here are a few things to get you started:
Consistency is key
Great branding has one major component – consistency. All professional marketers know to keep your brand consistent across the board of your printed and online materials but it is also important to apply this principle to your sales and promotions throughout the holiday season. Your consumers may be flooded with emails, commercials and all other kinds of advertising at this time of year. To stand out, plan out what your look and feel will be like for the holiday season. Keep your promotions consistent across all your platforms social, print, the web with the same fonts, colors and feel to everything.
Use those holiday feels to your advantage
People feel all kinds of emotions around the holidays and your marketing campaign can benefit from it. Marketers can leverage these feelings too deeply engage with their customers on an emotional level and build trust and credibility. Plan out your holiday-specific ideas around the thoughts like ‘home for the holidays’ and ‘pay it forward’. Some ideas – create a gift giving guides, friends, and family discount sales and special shipping discounts to those ‘far away loved ones’. Get creative based on your target audience and think outside of the box with sales and specials based on more than Black Friday and Christmas and include Hanukkah and Kwanzaa campaigns as well.
Prepare for online shoppers
Once your look and promotions are in check, the next step is to make sure you are ready to handle the extra holiday traffic online. Black Friday, traditionally where consumers race from brick and mortar stores to get the best deal may not seem like something you need to prepare your website for but think again – In 2014, $1.5 billion was spent online on Black Friday alone.
If you are an online retailer, prepare by ensuring your website is in tip-top shape to get ready for an influx of sales. Check your website for user friendliness, speed and up-to-date material with your current branding. From there, you can incorporate your holiday look into your website or create a new page dedicated to your specials. Another tip to keep you ahead of your competition – set up abandoned cart automated e-mails to recover those indecisive buyers. According to Baymard Institute, more than 68% of shopping carts are abandoned but most are recoverable.
If you aren’t already using a marketing agency to handle your web and print marketing, odds are you haven’t started your holiday marketing plan. Don’t wait and let your holiday marketing end up like your Christmas shopping that’s done at the very last minute – contact GS Creative to jump start your campaign and cater your holiday marketing plan specific to your product and target audience.
