It’s still September, but brands and marketers everywhere are already busy planning for the holiday season. Planning can be overwhelming, but there are endless ways to reach prospective and returning customers during the holidays, both digitally and offline.
The best in the marketing business make sure to switch up the mediums, modes, and methods to create the most memorable holiday campaigns. If you’re feeling a little swamped as the season quickly approaches, here are some diversification tips to simplify the campaign process.
Finding Not-So-Obvious Places
It’s the most traveled time of the year, so the possibility to reach customers in unexpected places can be extremely effective. Customers will be bombarded with holiday advertisements and marketing messages, so being in unexpected places—especially for brands that have only been using a few channels—can drive a sense of surprise.
For DTC brand Andie swimwear, the unexpected meant a large billboard advertisement at the New York City subway station at 59th and Lexington. Andie had started their marketing work using direct response through display, paid search, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and podcast advertisements. They made the push from bottom-funnel to top-funnel in order to get their brand “out of home” and attract new sets of eyes.
Since Andie’s physical advertisement was out in the real world, they were able to generate more online clicks, due to the fact that people were recognizing the brand from somewhere other than the Internet world. Once consumers realize they’ve seen the advertisement somewhere else already, they are more likely to click on the Google or Facebook ad when it pops up on their search or in their feed.
Running Promotions/Sales/Discounts
Shoppers are expecting deals during the holiday season. Everyone will have at least some form of a holiday promotion, sale, or discount, and customers will be comparing different deals right up until they hit the “buy” button. Some savvy consumers will even let the product sit in their cart and wait for a retargeting email—hopefully with a promotion in it.
Brands should be thoughtful about the value they are bringing to their customers. It may not just be a discount, but also add-ons or even exclusivity. For example, Nike Plus members have early access to reserved products and new styles. No matter what method a brand chooses, they must clearly communicate the value they bring.
Creating Dedicated Landing Pages
By curating a landing page specifically speaking to the promotion and clearly showing the value gained, brands can show their holiday spirit and create a sense of something “special.” Without being gated behind landing pages, your offers won’t support your lead generation efforts.
It’s also helpful to have page visitors leave their contact information in exchange for an exclusive offer so you can collect data about who is visiting your site. The landing pages will help you generate new leads as well as track reconversions of existing leads, which allows the identification of which prospects are engaging with your business.
Measuring Success
Speaking of collecting data, you want to understand how well your Google and Facebook campaigns did during the holidays. You have to remember how real customers behave. They are generally busy comparison shopping, traveling, and preparing for festivities.
Consumers will not buy a product right away, but they will certainly remember the promotion. When they decide to buy, they will open the link back up or go directly to the site. They will also share with friends, relatives, co-workers or anyone else they think might be interested.
There will be plenty of blogs and websites that compile all the big and relevant promotions as well. We might lose the ability to measure separately and directly which campaign drove the purchase. Therefore, we should be looking at overall sales of all channels and visits regardless of how customers got there.
During the holiday season, the marketing ecosystem of how all channels operate synergistically is even more pronounced. By diversifying the channels you’re pushing your brand through, you’re diversifying the demographics of those seeing it, and therefore attracting new customers and generating new leads. Remember to keep in mind the shopping patterns of consumers during the holiday season, think beyond campaign data, and keep a big-picture view of overall sales—as you watch them go up.
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