The 2016 holiday season is rapidly approaching and if you are a retailer without a holiday marketing campaign strategy, you need to create one quickly! Here are some tips to help you help you edge out the competition and boost profitability.
Start Now (You’re Late)
One of the vital factors to running a successful marketing campaign is being prepared before the holiday season. The marketing you do, leading up to the holiday season, will make a huge impact on your holiday results. During the holiday season, you should be focusing on fulfilling orders, customer inquiries, and operations – not marketing. The holidays are likely your peak season so be prepared.
Incorporate SMART Criteria
As mentioned by Cleverism.com Marketing Objectives: Smart Ways to Define your Marketing Goals, a good marketing strategy incorporates the mnemonic SMART:
- Specific – The objective is focused on a particular area. In this case, your objective is a holiday marketing campaign. Therefore, you need a specific plan for the peak holiday season. Are there certain products you would like to draw attention to? Who is your target audience? Do you have enough of these products in stock? Are your products competitively priced?
- Measurable – Your holiday marketing campaign must have measurable objectives. Whether measured by total profits, revenue generated, or quantity sold, the marketing strategy must be measurable. For example, if you own a clothing store and would like to sell more cable-knit sweaters this year, you cannot simply hope to do so. Set a realistic marketing objective, such as selling 15% more sweaters than last year.
- Achievable – The goal of your holiday marketing campaign must be within reach as related to your level of skill and expertise. The growth of a business is gradual. For instance, if last year’s holiday season only saw a 15% increase in sales, then it is unrealistic to set a marketing objective of 50% without any data to back it up. Set holiday marketing objectives that are achievable and celebrate if you surpass them!
- Realistic – Your holiday marketing campaign must be able to be reached within the resources you have in place. For example, you have sold 30 of the cable-knit sweaters since the beginning of fall. You may be assuming the sales will significantly increase over the holiday season; however, the distribution and manufacturing processes for the cable-knit sweaters are not in place. Be realistic by ensuring your expectations do not surpass the historical averages of the cable-knit sweaters. If you sold 35 cable-knit sweaters during the holiday season last year, it is highly unlikely you will sell 150 sweaters this year.
- Time-bound – This is the easiest part of your holiday marketing campaign strategy as it dictates the results are achieved within a set period of time. Your time period is already set for you – the holiday season.
SMART marketing objectives can define where you want your business to be during the holiday season while providing a measurable goal.
eCommerce Tips for Holiday Marketing
If you own an eCommerce store, your holiday marketing campaign strategy should center on online advertising, sending emails to current customers, ensuring you have sufficient inventory ready to be shipped, and making certain you have the bandwidth to handle spikes in traffic. A slow website or one that crashes often will cause you to lose customers. Your average page loading time should be just under three seconds.
Your website should have a festive, holiday appeal. This tends to tug at holiday heartstrings and can lead to conversions. Feature your best sellers and offer gift suggestions. A lot of times, consumers do not know exactly what they are looking for, they just know a person who shops your website and they want to buy them a gift. Best sellers and gift suggestions are fantastic conversion helpers.
Lastly, prominently display shipping times and deadlines. If all orders need to be received by December 16th to be delivered by Christmas, clearly state that on your site.
Have Fun and Spread Joy
When creating your holiday marketing campaign, remember the holiday season is about joy – yours and your customers. If you need help from someone more experienced – ask! We hope these tips help you and your business achieve a profitable, successful 2016 holiday season.