It’s the most hectic time of the year and people are happy and excited about the holidays, as they look forward to buying and receiving gifts, so business owners should ensure that they are ready with their holiday marketing strategies.
Throughout the year, shops steadily promote their services and products to current and prospective customers. But during the holidays, shops try to increase their revenues as people shop for gifts for themselves and their loved ones and friends, as well as food items for their holiday feasts. This means attracting and enticing shoppers to buy and buy some more.
With quite a number of different holidays in the United States, it is important to be specific with the holiday marketing strategies to implement to fit the holiday, enchant particular customers and boost the sales of your products.
A time when customers start holiday shopping
Why must retail business owners have different marketing strategies for the holidays? During the holiday season, companies should feel connected with their consumers and foster a feeling of gratitude and companionship. A marketer should make use of this deeper connection on an emotional level to build credibility and trust.
Some of the things to consider are those that are related to the holidays such as visuals, promos, texts and more. While appealing to the customers’ emotions, you should also think about standing out against your competitors.
The holiday retail sales from November 2017 to January 2018 reached $1.05 trillion, based on the U.S. Commerce Department data. In a news report, the department predicts that the total holiday sales this year, 2018, will reach $1.1 trillion.
With that said, it becomes more challenging to create holiday marketing messages. Consumers do their holiday shopping during these periods:
- October (start of shopping)
- Before Thanksgiving
- On Thanksgiving
- Black Friday
- Cyber Monday
- Early December
- Last minute shopping or on Christmas Eve
- New Year’s Eve
Holiday marketing tips and tactics
What must a retailer do to rise above the crowd? With too much holiday noise, what should a retailer do to be noticed and gain more customers?
Start your holiday shopping messages early and end it late
The actual month when holiday shopping starts is in October, not in November, so it is best to plan your holiday shopping strategies earlier in the year (typically June or July), you can have a polished marketing strategy before you actually need it. Many shoppers buy gifts earlier to avoid the crowd that seems to enjoy the panicky state of last minute shopping. Some people, on the other hand, wait for things to quiet down and buy gifts after Christmas until the New Year. You’ll be realizing additional revenues past the height of the shopping period when you end your holiday marketing messages later than the rest of the retail shops.
Use more channels to inspire shoppers
Several options are available for holiday shoppers today. Therefore, it will be advantageous for you to reach your consumers where they are. Consumers today not only hunt for gift ideas from physical shops. Most of them are intelligent shoppers and ask for recommendations from family and colleagues. They also look at traditional advertising, email newsletters, retailer apps, and social networks including Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and even YouTube. Try to find online influencers such as popular bloggers who are more credible to online shoppers than typical advertisements.
Sometimes you have to tailor your marketing messages to different audiences. Often it is no longer applicable to have one message to use on different channels. For example, if your products are for young consumers, tailor your holiday shopping message to fit the consumers who use Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. You can even include images of QR codes (created via any of these best QR code generators) for viewers to scan and visit the product page.
Ensure that you specify the holiday
Just like each holiday is different, your holiday marketing approach and messages should also fit the specific holiday. Aside from the federal holidays, there are also local holidays specific to each state, meaning if you’re targeting consumers in specific areas during specific holidays, use holiday-themed language for your marketing messages effectively by mentioning the particular holiday. This makes more sense because consumer recall is higher than when you use a generic message that other retail shops use as well.
Make sure your holiday marketing campaign is relevant
Your marketing campaign for a specific holiday should be relevant to the community or the country where you sell your products. Most holidays are country-specific and there are universal holidays that are celebrated in a different way according to local traditions.
Your holiday marketing strategies should be relevant to the personas of your target consumers. Identify events that are popular across all of your target consumers, unless you are trying to develop a specific demographic.
Make your marketing message personal
Personalizing your message resonates better with your target consumers. If you use email marketing for the holidays be sure that the email is individually addressed. This makes your message more meaningful. There is a sense of warmth, friendliness and acknowledgement when you mention the recipient’s name instead of addressing your email message with “Dear customer.” When it is personalized, the chances of the email being opened is higher, which can lead to the completion of a transaction.
Understand the value of offering freebies
Many people love to shop and they love sales, particularly during the holiday season. But you know that every retailer is doing the same thing – offering discounts. So how will you stand taller than your competition? Address the issue by offering more than just discounts. One that consumers love is the offer of free shipping. You can create a sense of urgency by having a sale for a limited time only. Another thing you can do and avoid shipping cost is to allow consumers to buy online and pick up the merchandise from your physical shop. You can also opt to offer a gift for every purchase. Even having customer service reps can boost sales.
Ensure that you target mobile customers
Tablets and smartphones are very important tools that many consumers today rely on. Marketers should understand that they are already a part of the consumer’s existence, so prepare marketing messages for mobile consumers as well. You must understand that ease of access and portability should be considered to create an entirely enjoyable mobile shopping experience, from product displays, information and checkout.
Monitor huge retail outlets
While you may carry several items that are of particular interest to holiday shoppers, keep in mind that there are online retailers that may affect your offline and online sales, such as Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Target, Costco, Aliexpress and others. They may also have the items that you are selling in your shops. So to beat them, you need to keep an eye on them and regularly check the information they provide, marketing messages, changes in searches and in particular. pricing.
Processing of returns should be easier
Holiday shopping makes for impulse buying. The processing of returns is a lengthier process when the item is brought online. It’s a common reason why many people are still wary of making online purchases. Return policies of online retailers are intimidating to consumers. Some of the shared concerns include:
- Cost of return shipping
- No refund for returned merchandise, only store credit
- Difficulty in making a return or store does not accept the return of items
- Timeframe to make a return is very short
Make some changes in your return policy and be sure to announce the changes so customers are aware of them.
Use emotions to your advantage
Being creative is one of the elements that make a marketing campaign successful. Holiday shopping decisions, especially when looking for Christmas gifts for special people, involve the shopper’s emotions, which can include gratitude, giving back, goodwill, friendship, giving happiness, sharing blessings or being with family for the holidays.
Focus on the feelings related to the holiday you choose and use it to reach your objective.
Increase anticipation and intensity with relevant giveaways and easy-to-join contests
Your contests do not have to be too grand. What you need is a clever approach to promotional contests either on your own or with the support of suppliers and distributors. Contests are cost-effective means to engage with your current customers, entice new ones and build the anticipation for the coming holiday. You can use simple online contests relevant to your brand and products using social media platforms. There are several things you can do, such as asking customers to send their favorite holiday recipes and asking other customers to vote for their favorites or run a photo caption contest.
A final note – Let us help you with your marketing strategies through excellent translation
Retail store owners should constantly be on their toes to create a brand new experience for their customers. This means customer engagement. Provide them with incentives to patronize your store for their holiday shopping by using the available marketing tools, both online and offline, smartly in order to make the lives of shoppers easier. Use the data you have collected on your customers for the rest of the year so you can segment them to create relevant campaigns with specific messages for different demographics, all in the interest of realizing better holiday shopping revenues.
The holidays are upon us and you should make the most of your holiday marketing strategies. For a multicultural and multilingual country like the United States, consider catering to a diverse set of customers by having your online and offline marketing messages translated in different languages. Doing so can help your customers navigate your outlets better because they can fully understand your messages, posters and signage. Contact Day Translations, Inc., a U.S.-based translation company, for all your translation needs. We are open 24/7, 365 days of the year, so you can quickly have accurate translations of your marketing messages. Our translators work with over 100 languages so you can hit your specific target markets in the language they speak. Make your holiday marketing more effective through translation. Call us at 1-800-969-6853 or send us an email at Contact us today.