Win Big With Your Next Holiday Marketing Campaign
For the majority of businesses, the holiday gifting season is recognized as the most lucrative time of year. It’s no secret that launching a holiday marketing campaign is the best way to boost conversion rates and foster customer loyalty.
As consumers start gift-hunting for their loved ones, it’s vital for your business to grab the attention of buyers and reel them in. However, with every new holiday season, new challenges arise for marketing teams as consumer expectations and technology evolve.
The gift retail industry is a $475 billion-dollar market your business does not want to ignore. According to research markets, $1 out of every $10 spent is on gifts. That’s a whole 10% of the entire retail market. As consumers gain dependence on product reviews, those gifting dollars are progressively being spent online.
The gifting industry alone presents a plethora of marketing opportunities for brands and retailers. To prevent anything from falling through the cracks, your business needs a recipe for success. Planning, preparation and execution are the main components to a successful holiday season.
Planning
Many marketers neglect to remember that holidays are not seasonal. They are year-round. Selecting the right holiday for your business will determine the success of your holiday campaign. Consider your target audience and what motivates their purchases. For example, zoovu insights uses machine learning to uncover new audience segments that may not have been recognized otherwise.
Another crucial aspect of holiday planning is setting goals. By setting different objectives, your marketing team will stay on track and motivated during the race. Once KPIs are set in stone, it’s time to map out a plan. Define what needs to happen in order to make your holiday campaign promotions a success. From there on out, it’s smooth sailing!
Preparation
It’s never too early to start preparing for the holidays. If you jump into the game too late, there’s a good chance you’ll end up scrambling to come up with something creative. When a holiday campaign is lacking a unique and innovative touch, it’s likely to be drowned by the masses of other marketing promotions. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a race.
According to Shopify’s e-commerce study, the majority of businesses start prepping for the holidays at least two months in advance. The earlier you start, the more time your marketing team will have to prepare all of the assets such as graphic material and social media posts.
It’s also important to analyze what marketing tactics have worked best for your company in the past. If it was successful once, it’s likely to bring success again, as long as it’s aligned with your marketing goals. This method will help save a lot of time, and just because something hasn't worked in the past, it doesn’t mean you have to dismiss it right away. It may just need some fine tuning and tweaking for it to be effective.
We’re living in a time where we don’t necessarily have to work harder, we have to work smarter. Machine learning is on our side and AI can take out a lot of the leg work. Accessories Magazine revealed 46% of holiday shoppers say that not knowing what to buy as a gift represents the biggest stress factor during the holidays. Simplifying the customer journey is key. Many retailers combat this roadblock with digital gift assistants. For example, Canon implemented a camera selector to guide shoppers to the perfect products. The retailer with the easiest shopping journey wins, so take that into consideration while prepping for your holiday campaign.
Execution
It’s easy to get excited about your holiday campaign and launch everything all at once. However, this is not the optimal method of execution. It’s fundamental to pace your campaign promotions strategically. Consumers often feel overwhelmed by the masses of advertisements during the holidays. Instead placing focus on purchase messaging, incorporate some branded holiday content into the mix. Engaging, relevant promotions are proven to be high performing, thumb-stopping content.
What better way to broaden the reach of your campaigns than through social media and blog posts? Get shoppers motivated and excited for the holiday season with sharable content. All viral content all starts with a single piece of sharable content. People love sharing memes, videos, recipes, anything that’s interactive. Leverage your following and conversions will noticeably increase.
You have all of the components for success this holiday season, so now is the time to get started. Ready, set, win!