For many e-commerce businesses, the holiday season is the busiest time of the year, and they make a significant portion of their revenue in a few short months: those centered around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
However, it’s important to remember that those aren’t the only holidays throughout the year, and while your competitors are working on their Black Friday strategies, we’d like to present you with a universal e-commerce marketing strategy that goes beyond the holiday season and applies to all other holidays throughout the year, as well. In this guide, we’ll discuss what exactly makes a good e-commerce website strategy.
What Makes a Great E-commerce Holiday Marketing Strategy?
Unfortunately, trends change, and there isn’t a universal strategy that would improve the conversion rates of your online store each year and each holiday. However, there are tried and true ways of reaching your target audience through already-existing marketing channels.
Before we begin, it’s important to note that e-commerce holiday marketing strategies build upon your pre-existing digital marketing campaigns, so we’ll assume that your search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, new product pages, product descriptions, and influencer marketing channels are already functional and secured.
One of the first things you should do when devising an e-commerce marketing plan for the upcoming holiday season is to audit previous marketing campaigns and competitors. The statistics gathered from previously implemented strategies will help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your strategy and improve on areas in need of improvement.
Next, you want to identify holiday marketing strategies that fit your audience. You shouldn’t use the same strategies you use for the Holiday season when promoting products for Mother’s Day or Back to School. This is really important because it determines the product category you’re promoting and the target audience you’re appealing to.
It is also important to plan as early as possible, often months in advance, which will help you with inventory, staffing, and marketing resources. It also pays to really know your target audience and potential customers, as well as their preferred marketing channels. Some users can be reached through email marketing, while others respond better to social media marketing, like social media posts on TikTok or Facebook.
E-commerce Holiday Marketing Strategy Ideas
Regardless of which holiday you’re strategizing for, there are several ideas that apply to them all. Here are some effective ideas to get you started:
12 days of deals: While this marketing approach is usually associated with Christmas, you can easily implement it with any other holiday. By offering a different deal for 12 days, you can attract new customers, excite the current customer base, and get more repeat visits to your e-commerce site.
Gift guides: Gift guides should be part of your content strategy, as they can be easily implemented on your e-commerce store’s website or social media platforms. It’s important that these guides cater to various segments, like “Gifts under $50” or “Gifts for Tech Lovers,” and so on. They can even become part of your email campaign.
Social media contests and giveaways: Run contests and giveaways where you reward customer loyalty for sharing their holiday-themed photos with your brand or product using a special hashtag. This significantly increases customer engagement, drives positive customer experience, and increases brand awareness.
Customer loyalty programs: Offer double points, special discounts, or rewards for purchases during the holiday to encourage loyal customers and incentivize your customers to repeat purchases. This will also attract new customers and help with existing customer retention.
Retargeting campaigns: These are great e-commerce marketing tactics for customers with abandoned carts. Show them ads with products they previously viewed or left in the cart, possibly with a small holiday discount, to encourage them to complete their purchase and resolve online shopping cart abandonment. Alternatively, you can send them abandoned cart emails to remind them and offer a discount if they complete the purchase.
Exit-intent offers: Exit-intent offers are effective marketing tools designed to capture lost online sales by displaying a special offer pop-up when customers show signs of leaving your website. This can include a discount code, an offer of free shipping, or buy-one-get-one deals.
E-commerce Holiday Marketing Strategies To Consider
The following tips and tricks will help you refine your marketing efforts and boost your e-commerce sales during the most profitable time of the year:
Stick to the basics: The holidays are definitely not the best time to experiment with different types of marketing, so it’s best to play it safe, especially if this is your first holiday as a brand. Even the largest e-commerce brands, such as Amazon, often refer to the basic strategies during holidays.
Be on standby: Regardless of how big of a retailer you are, always keep a fast-acting team on standby during holidays if something doesn’t go according to plan in the tech department. Doing this will ensure that you have a team available to remedy any issues that might occur during your holiday marketing campaigns.
Prepare content: This is actually really important because content drives sales. Make sure that your SEO practices are applied to all content on your website, ranging from copy to landing pages. Promoting this content over social media or email will drive more website visitors to your store, which will increase your conversion rates and drive your Search Engine Results ranking to increase your organic website traffic.
Consider affiliate marketing and influencer strategies: A large percentage of millennials base their purchase decisions on online reviews and other user-generated content, so make sure to partner up with a social media influencer or a business that might send referrals your way during the holidays.
Holiday Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
Everyone makes mistakes in business, which is why it’s important to review your e-commerce marketing strategy from last year. Knowing which mistakes, you and your marketing team have made can help you avoid them in the future.
Not understanding your buyer personas and target market is probably the greatest advertisement sin you can commit. It’s really important to understand your target demographics, as it determines the best marketing approach for said market segment.
Focusing solely on a single marketing channel is yet another mistake you can avoid, as it limits your potential customer reach. And lastly, avoid last-minute planning; being in a rush will make it easier to miss things and opportunities that might present themselves.
Summary
This concludes our guide on creating holiday e-commerce marketing strategies that can help your business flourish, regardless of whether it’s a Christmas Holiday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or any other holiday in between. If you’re looking for help with your e-commerce marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to contact Orchard Marketing.
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