Three Simple Steps For Holiday Marketing Success in 2021
While the leaves are just beginning to change color in the Northeast, and other parts of the country are cooling down just a little bit, thoughts of snowstorms and Santa seem months away. While that is true for today, as discussed in our previous article, Holiday Marketing 2021, the typical retail calendar begins marketing for holidays two months in advance of the actual “holidates.”
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), “Each year, about 40 percent of consumers begin their December holiday shopping before Halloween.”
The following three recommendations will help set you on the path for a successful 2021 holiday season. Ready…Set…Go!
Fast & Friendly
Your website should load quickly and be mobile-friendly across all devices. The design and navigation of your website must be intuitive and accessible. All of your pages, links, and plug-ins need to be working and optimized.
Your site should feature a succinct menu and a prominent search bar. The faster and easier users can get to where they want to go, the more inclined they are to click the “buy now” button!
Simplicity translates into happy, repeat customers who appreciate a smooth shopping experience – especially during the holiday season.
Bring It Home
Holiday shoppers tend to be impatient shoppers. To that end, your home page should immediately display your most popular, top-selling, and high-converting products – not to mention the most photogenic. While it is important to avoid adding too much clutter to your home page, NOW is the time to “WOW” your visitors with compelling visuals of appealing products and holiday imagery.
To further expedite the shopping experience, consider including product categories directly on the home page during the holiday season. Clickable categories like “for the handyman” or “gifts for the home” will instantly send shoppers to the desired product page.
The most successful holiday home pages are instantly informative, clickable, and look exceptional.
Targeted & Time Sensitive
While consumers are being flooded with a constant stream of special offers and discounts daily, directing your marketing efforts toward a more targeted customer base and creating a sense of urgency, can be a highly effective tactic.
Reviewing past holiday sales and activities – especially from 2020 – should be done right now. Capitalize on what worked and what did not and be prepared for the online shopping influx right after Halloween and during the Cyber 5 period – Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.
Now’s the time to send targeted messaging to past customers and promote Reward, Loyalty, and Friends & Family offers and programs. These promotions should include a sense of urgency and selectiveness: “Only available for rewards member shoppers until a designated date. “
Essential to this strategy are UCG (User Generated Content) tactics that include discounts for your promoters. Not only will you increase the bandwidth of your marketing, but you will also be inviting participation and “buy-in” from a strong and promising demographic who respond positively and profitably to User Generated Content. (Keeping your Instagram account current and compelling with attractive time-sensitive hashtags can greatly benefit your business this holiday season. )
The most challenging aspect of marketing during this very concentrated period of time is to walk the line between promoting too much, too often, and not missing opportunities. That is why it is imperative that after each promotion you keep detailed notes and run informative reports monitoring how your efforts are being received. This information will prove invaluable both going forward this season and when planning for 2022.
Remain keenly aware of the timing, demographics, and response to your holiday marketing campaign.
Until Next Time…
This article touched on just a few simple tactics to help launch your digital holiday marketing for 2021. Upcoming articles will explore additional ideas that will give you and your business a creative edge when it comes to optimizing your share of seasonal sales. Good luck and get going!
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