As we hit the end of the year, it’s obvious the holidays are just around the corner. Even with all the world events going on, the holidays aren’t waiting and neither should your marketing team! We understand that this year was kind of unpredictable and nothing we expected, but you shouldn’t let that drag down your marketing team.
In order to prepare your business for the holiday season and just how much business marketing you’re about to do, here are some reliable tips to keep in mind when planning and launching your digital marketing strategies.
1. Do Some Pre-Holiday Prep
It might be a little late to get started on pre-season prep work, but ideally you’ve already got at least a little work done. If not, this is definitely something to keep in mind for next holiday season. Get most of your plan finalized and organized before the holiday rush begins. By doing this, you’ll be able to focus more of your attention on the business rush when it hits.
Pre-holiday prep work can be extremely detailed or fairly open. Whichever you choose will have a direct influence in how much more work you’re doing during the actual marketing campaign. For example, if you have all your advertisements drawn out and know exactly where you’re going to post each one, you’ll have much less to organise than if you just have an idea and are saving the design work for later.
2. Incorporate Email into Your Marketing
Don’t get caught up thinking email marketing is old school. Including emails into your holiday marketing plan can allow for almost instant feedback and help you develop your digital marketing.
When you do incorporate email into your digital marketing, don’t forget that you aren’t the only one. Your customers are receiving many other holiday emails so make sure your emails are short and personalized. This will keep customers from immediately disregarding them along with the other holiday emails they’ve received.
3. Take Advantage of Shopping Campaigns
If your business sells anything, do not overlook a shopping campaign, also known as product listing ad. It makes your product easy to view and customers don’t have to scroll through an entire website to see if you have what they want. A shopping campaign will show the product price and the photo easily so potential customers know exactly what you have available.
Now one possible downside to this is that your product will be shown alongside competitors’ products, so you’ll have to practice competitive pricing and advertising. Make sure product photos are eye catching and well taken and that pricing is competitive.
4. Use Ad Automation
Ad automation is one of the easiest ways to manage an ad campaign. It doesn’t work for long term campaigns as it’s easy to forget, but for the holiday season, it’s fantastic. Dedicate twenty minutes or so to it each week once you’ve set it up and you’re good to go.
It’s a great way to run a Thanksgiving campaign or other shorter holiday campaigns. You can stop it automatically and schedule it to start again sometime in the future. Just make sure you don’t forget to terminate the campaign when you are done with it.
5. Advertise Against the “Holiday Rush”
One thing all your customers have in common is the desire to avoid the holiday rush feeling. Take advantage of this and design your ads to make your customers feel like your service or product will make it easier for them.
Offer special services “just for the holiday season” such as free shipping over a certain amount ordered. You could also offer gift wrapping services for a low cost. Customers are willing to do almost anything to make the season easier, so play to that.
6. Research Keywords Thoroughly
Keywords should always play a huge part in your digital marketing campaigns and holiday ads are no exception. Just because certain keywords worked last season doesn’t mean they’ll work this year. Don’t get caught up slacking on research and then later scratching your head about failed results. Research your keywords ahead of time and adjust your marketing campaigns accordingly.
7. Try Out Paid Social Ads
Customers are on social media more often these days. Try running a paid social marketing campaign and advertise your business on social media platforms. Do research beforehand to see where your target age range spends most of their time first so you don’t waste money on a platform your customers aren’t. Once you’ve decided on a platform, try your holiday campaign and watch the results flood in.
Conclusion
There’s all sorts of business looking into digital marketing for the holiday season so the most important thing you could keep in mind is creativity. Make your ads creative and personal and your customers are more likely to actually look at your advertisement instead of ignore it. Whatever your business is, digital marketing is vital and this holiday season is no exception. Contact your favorite Tampa digital marketing agency today for more holiday marketing ideas!
Stephan Boehringer is the CEO of Get The Clicks, a web marketing company. Stephan has over 20 years of experience in the field of web marketing, and has been a speaker and consultant for many years. Stephan is passionate about web marketing and helping their clients be the best they can be.
Stephan Boehringer graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services.
