We are in the heat of the holiday season (pun intended) and as shoppers frantically run to the stores or shop online, retailers hope that their holiday marketing plans will be a success. If you happen to be a retailer and feel as though your efforts fell short in 2019, we have some tips and trends to consider for next year’s holiday shopping season.
The Early Bird Gets the Worm
Taking a look at Google Trends, searches for holiday gift ideas started to spike as early as late October. One assumption could be made that as soon as the Fall holiday events begin (starting with Halloween), consumers get bit by the holiday bug and start thinking about gifts for their family and friends. Setting up holiday ad campaigns early can help you stand out above your competitors. It’s also a good idea to create a sense of urgency utilizing limited time offers as well as flash sales that offer large discounts over a short amount of time.
I Didn’t Come All This Way for a Bad Time
If you are driving customers to your website, you want to be sure that when they get there, they have a good user experience. With more and more web traffic coming from mobile devices, users are much less patient with sites that don’t load quickly and are hard to navigate. You cannot afford to have a poor user experience on either desktop or mobile devices. A bad experience can lead to less customers driving down holiday earnings for your business.
Don’t Just Sit Back and Relax
It’s relatively simple to choose ad copy/creative and drive traffic to a website utilizing proper audience targeting, but how can you stand out above the competition in the modern day? Facebook provides messaging ads that help bridge the gap between ad, website, and purchase. Utilizing the Facebook Messenger platform, customers can click an ad that will open a dialogue directly with the business. This is a very strong form of lead nurturing and can be exponentially beneficial for retailers that take advantage of this platform.
Pile into the Car, We’re Going Shopping
Nothing beats the good, old fashioned holiday shopping grind. Businesses are finding that customers still love going to the store to pick out their items. Whether it be for items that people want to physically touch (such as clothing) or experience for themselves (such as furniture), shopping in-store is still relevant. Digital marketing platforms can help to drive more engagement by capturing consumers during the decision-making process. When it comes to making a final decision, many consumers will make the trip to the brick-and-mortar location to make that purchase and have the gift already in hand.
Brand Ranch Media helps retail clients design and implement successful marketing campaigns. We know this holiday season is coming to and end, but if you need help with your marketing plans for 2020 please feel free to contact us or call 713-309-6380.