Is your business ready for the holidays? If you haven’t started thinking about how your business can drive sales and engagement this holiday season or just need a few tips, we’ve put together a brief checklist to help with your holiday marketing.
First, consider what your goals are for the holiday season:
- Sales
- Brand awareness
- Audience engagement
- More social media followers
Second, study your competitors:
- How are they preparing?
- What did they do last year?
- What lessons can you learn from their successes and misses?
Third, what kind of time and budget will you allocate to marketing this season?
Insider Intelligence, 2022 US holiday retail sales are expected to reach $1.262 trillion, an increase of 3.3% over 2021. Holiday e-commerce is expected to grow 15.5% to $235.86 billion. To get your piece of that billion-dollar pie, you’re going to have to invest some time in your marketing.
Here is a 10-step checklist to help get you started:
1. CREATE A CALENDAR ▢
Develop a day-by-day spreadsheet filled with social media content, specials, goals, and any other critical marketing info. Planning your weeks in advance will help maximize your outreach and efficiency.
2. SEND CARDS ▢
Send thank you notes that express sincere appreciation for your customers and also help keep your business top-of-mind. At the very least, send emails, perhaps with a discount code or a truly special offer. Also, remember those who have helped your business by treating them to a small gift.
3. TARGET SPECIFIC AUDIENCES ▢
Tailor special offers for specific kinds of customers, like the Early Bird (begins shopping in November or earlier), the Decemberist (begins at the flip of the calendar), and the Procrastinator (still hasn’t made a dent yet).
4. SCHEDULE SOCIAL MEDIA TO AUTO-POST ▢
Use services such as Buffer or Hootsuite to auto-post your social media at scheduled times. Also, be sure to check in periodically since customers will assume you’re available to respond after making posts.
5. SHOW PERSONALITY ▢
Reduce the salesy tone of your business on social media and talk to your customers like people, not profit. The holidays are stressful, so if you can make people smile or lighten up for a minute the better connection you can make.
6. ENCOURAGE SHARING ▢
The holidays are the perfect time to bring people together on your social networks by encouraging them to share their experiences. For example, have customers tweet photos of their favorite holiday ornament, use a unique campaign hashtag and tag your business. Select one photo each day to win a 10% discount.
7. GIVE BACK ▢
Adopt a charity close to the hearts of you and your employees and volunteer, provide financial support or donate your services. Holding a charity event, such as a clothing or toy drive, is another good way to get your customers and employees to participate.
8. PREP YOUR WEBSITE ▢
Decorate your website and logo with holiday-related graphics, including in any e-blasts. And with more people now shopping and searching online, ensure the mobile version of your website and online ordering systems are up to snuff.
9. SPEAK OUT ▢
Send a press release to attract attention to your business. But be sure it has an interesting angle that breaks through the clutter and draws intrigue. What kind of news from other businesses catches your ear? Perhaps like this one we did in 2011.
10. MEASURE UP ▢
Use analytics (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to measure the impact of your marketing so you can understand what’s working and what’s not. This allows you to optimize your campaigns and also get better results in the future. Not sure which one to start with? Take a look at these top 15 social media analytics tools.
To review, how prepared is your business in:
- Mobile online presence
- Website’s readiness for holiday shoppers
- Holiday content strategy
- Email marketing strategy
- Social media marketing strategy
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