The holiday season is the most lucrative time of year for retailers all around the world. To attract more holiday shoppers this year than ever before, take an extra few moments to make sure that your holiday marketing strategy is up to scratch. The following list outlines five effective holiday marketing strategies to help you ensure that your ROI this year is cause for celebration.
1) Create a Sales Timeline:
Holiday shoppers come in many shapes and forms, and it’s important to be prepared for all of them. While some shoppers start preparing for Christmas as early as Thanksgiving, others leave it until Christmas eve. To ensure that both the early birds and the procrastinators get the best of your Christmas sales, schedule fresh deals to debut once a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas eve.
2) Select Your Sales:
Sales are a crucial part of attracting holiday shoppers, but you don’t want them to start eating into your profits either. To choose the sales that will optimally benefit your ROI, identify which of your products are in the greatest demand, which have the best profit margins, and which are the most overstocked. By putting these products on sale, you can attract shoppers to your store without diminishing your holiday profits.
3) Cater to Return Shoppers:
During the holiday season, you’re likely to get a lot of first time visitors. To make sure that they make the transition from bargain hunter to repeat customer after the holidays, start offering return incentives. Try adding coupons to your sales receipts that kick in after the New Year, or offer special gift certificate deals. The more gift certificate sales you make, the more post-holiday customers you are guaranteed. For example, in November, Texas Roadhouse began offering a free holiday turkey with every $100 purchased in gift certificates, or a $5 bonus with every $30 purchased in e-gift cards.
4) Get Your Social Media in Gear
Your social media pages are an important part of your holiday advertising. Consumers will visit your Facebook, Twitter and Google + platforms to check out your upcoming sales and decide whether or not to stop by your store. To ensure that your social media pages display your store in the best light possible, keep your pages consistently up to date, posting fresh updates consistently throughout the day. To attract new followers to your pages, offer exclusive social media deals and giveaways.
5) Ready Your Website
Make sure that your website is in tip-top holiday shape by updating your graphics, images and videos to reflect the holiday season. Add a special holiday sales tab to make it easy for visitors to find your discounts and special offers, and promote holiday-themed merchandise. To accommodate mobile visitors to your site, make sure that your website is compatible with a full spectrum of devices. If you don’t have an app for your store yet, now is the time to create one. With almost half of US consumers now using mobile devices to shop, making your store as accessible as possible for mobile visitors is sure-fire way to boost your mobile sales.
