Thanksgiving is almost here, which means it’s crunch time!
If you don’t have a strategic plan for your holiday marketing yet, now is the time to get started. It’s important to focus on the types of online marketing that can be launched quickly and will provide an immediate return. Search engine optimization (SEO) will take too long to build momentum, which means that you’ll probably have to de-prioritize it until after the holidays. However, there are plenty of marketing channels to utilize that will help your business catch up to the competition faster than Santa’s sleigh.
If you don’t have a strategic plan for your holiday marketing yet, now is the time to get started. It’s important to focus on the types of online marketing that can be launched quickly and will provide an immediate return. Search engine optimization (SEO) will take too long to build momentum, which means that you’ll probably have to de-prioritize it until after the holidays. However, there are plenty of marketing channels to utilize that will help your business catch up to the competition faster than Santa’s sleigh.
Paid Search Advertising (PPC)
Description:
PPC is a form of online advertising that allows you to place your products in front of shoppers at the exact moment that they are searching for them. This form of online marketing is a procrastinator’s best friend because it doesn’t take much lead time to get it set up. It’s also incredibly versatile, allowing you to make real-time changes to fit your business operations. You can boost revenue by running short-term ads leading up to big events like Hanukah or Christmas, advertising flash sales or last-minute promotions, or creating lasting ads to run throughout the entire winter season.
How to Get Started:
You already have enough to do during the holidays! Don’t try to learn the nuances of PPC on the fly (or worse yet, wing it). Instead, hire an online marketing expert to get your PPC up and running for you. It will take a pro less time and the results will be much better, which more than justifies the small upfront expense of paying someone else to do it for you.
Helpful Holiday Tips:
- Use gift-related keywords (ex. “gifts for sports fans”)
- Use product names as keywords for the season’s hottest products
- Incorporate keywords into ad text naturally
- Make coupon codes short and easy to remember (ex. “HOHOHO”)
- Ensure all coupon codes used are valid
- Turn off promotional ads when promotions end
- Don’t use click-bait headlines
Important Reminders:
With the stress and long to-do lists of the holiday season, many business owners take a “set it and forget it” approach to PPC. However, your PPC campaigns need regular maintenance during the holiday season to ensure profitability. This is why it’s best to hand over the reins to a seasoned marketing professional or digital marketing agency for the holidays so that you can focus on other areas of your business. Otherwise, you may end up with sub-par ROI by the time that last festive cookie is gone.
Suggested Timeframe:
Start immediately and then run until late-January. Create individual campaigns to advertise special promotions. This will allow you to pause and un-pause them for easy and efficient management.
Additional Resources:
Email Marketing
Description:
Email marketing doesn’t require much of an investment, can produce an impressive ROI, and has a pretty minimal learning curve – making it a clear choice for the holidays. If you already have an email list and are accustomed to sending marketing and transactional emails, creating holiday-themed emails is a cinch with an email management platform.
How to Get Started:
Segment your email list using any factors (demographics, purchase history, psychographics, etc.) that will assist with marketing to different audiences. Customize emails with compelling content and offers to target subscribers based on these differences. Then, follow-up based on subscriber responses by sending additional emails to subscribers who engage with emails as well as shoppers that abandon shopping carts.
Helpful Holiday Tips:
- Utilize holiday-themed templates and visuals to get subscribers excited about shopping
- Use subject lines that will entice email opens
- Offer value in the form of coupon codes, free shipping, or helpful content
- Email shoppers early enough to allow them time to purchase and receive products
Important Reminders:
Don’t email subscribers too frequently, or they may unsubscribe. Never risk doing future brand damage for the sake of trying to get one more sale right now. You’ll see higher revenue in the long-run when you respect subscribers’ time and satisfy them with content they’ll truly appreciate.
Suggested Timeframe:
Start now and use the engagement data you collect from holiday emails this year to inform your email marketing decisions next year. After the holidays are over, analyze what kinds of subject lines generated the most email opens, which types of promotions resulted in the most sales, when email engagement peaked in relation to major holidays, and so forth.
Additional Resources:
Social Media
Description:
For businesses that already have social media pages, now is the time to put them into action. Announce new arrivals, share sales, and provide important shopping information to followers and fans. This is the one time of the year when it’s acceptable to promote your brand substantially more than other content. Your followers are expecting to hear more from you and more about you. Fulfill their expectations with content that will encourage additional shopping during and after the holiday season.
How to Get Started:
If you don’t have a Facebook page, Instagram account, or Twitter profile set up yet, the holidays aren’t the time to get started because even if you can get them up and running, you won’t have an established audience-base to engage.
Helpful Holiday Tips:
- Offer social media-exclusive promotions
- Share followers’ mentions of your brand to make them feel recognized
- Showcase product images
- Bundle products to make gift giving easy
- Specify who your gifts are meant for and suggest ideas for shoppers
- Provide helpful content like gift guides
Important Reminders:
Social media doesn’t have to take all your time. Use a third party social media platform to schedule posts in advance so that you can focus on running your business. This will leave critical time for interacting with fans.
Suggested Timeframe:
Start now and continue to promote your products through the end of the year. Then, step back a little and give followers some breathing room after the holiday rush is over. Continue to provide helpful content but reduce the self-promotion.
Additional Resources:
Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Business Blogging and Web Copywriting. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and son and enjoys cooking, watching sports, and spending time together as a family. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about current marketing trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!
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