Preparing for Holiday Marketing

Last-minute preparation for the holiday season is what keeps many e-commerce marketers up at night. With the holiday season right around the corner, it is essential to plan ahead in order to successfully capture increased traffic during the holiday season. To start, you need to formulate a strategy that is oriented toward results. If you haven’t already begun planning, I suggest you start now. Here’s my advice to prepare your holiday marketing strategy.

Prepare Your Holiday Marketing Strategy Now

With proper planning, all marketing campaigns can be successful. You can't afford not to be prepared for such a busy season. I suggest beginning preparation as early as July, but you still have plenty of time to get your strategy together. Start working on A/B tests for ad creative & copy, ensure you have enough inventory to handle the demand, and focus on increasing site speed to address the increased traffic.

Focus on storytelling

Storytelling is one of the best marketing tactics and a great way to connect with customers. The holiday season is all about emotions. If you tell a compelling story about how your products/services can solve a problem, people will be inspired to purchase from you. It makes a world of difference to turn your brand into something meaningful that customers want to interact with.

Customize your campaigns

Don't just create a campaign promoting your products/services; everybody can do that. Build a personalized experience with your campaigns. People do a lot of online research looking for deals and specific gift ideas. Use customer data to your advantage and create customized offerings based on people’s search behavior.

Host a holiday event

If you are not in the retail industry and still want to take advantage of the holiday season, consider hosting a community event. The holiday season is all about giving, and giving back to the community can be a part of that as well. You don't have to spend much money on decorating or catering either — extended shop hours, a cozy atmosphere, and free snacks and drinks go a long way. Make sure that your event has a theme or style that lines up with your business values. For example, consider organizing a game night with music, food and a raffle if your store sells board games and hand-crafted toys. Or, if your company sells beauty or grooming products, host an event with free tutorials on makeup and hot drinks on holiday.

Ask for client reviews

During the holiday season, shoppers are actively searching for gift ideas and many turn to others for recommendations. If you start asking clients for online reviews now, you will give interested customers plenty of positive reinforcement during the holiday season. You’ll want to get Google & Facebook reviews (as well as industry-specific platforms like Yelp, Trip Advisor, etc.).

How do you market during the holiday season? Let us know in the comments!

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