7 holiday marketing campaigns for e-commerce businesses
The holiday season is a time for celebration. And while it's important to make room in your budget for parties, gifts, and decorations, don't forget about the importance of marketing. In this post, we'll discuss 7 holiday marketing campaigns that you can implement during this festive time of year to help grow your business.
The holidays are a peak time for many businesses and if you're an e-commerce company these next few months will be crucial to keep up with demand and maintain high conversions rates. We'll cover how to optimize your website, what marketing strategies will work best during the holidays, and more!
1. Utilize Social Media
During the busiest times of the year, your content calendar will be packed to the brim, so it's important to have a solid social media plan in place. Keep your audience engaged with giveaways, product suggestions, and promotional updates that encourage them to take action now before stock runs out.
Social media has become essential to marketing campaigns because of its low cost and high reward. According to a survey from Burst Media, companies that invested in paid social media saw 3 times more engagement than those that didn't.
As you craft your updates consider these tips for this holiday season:
Gift Guides - It's important to make sure you're offering helpful suggestions to your audience so they can easily find the right gift for their loved ones.
This is a great way to promote discounts and limited edition offers in exchange for an email sign-up, but make sure you have a separate tab on your website detailing all of your holiday promotions.
Decrease Bounce Rates - Make it easy for shoppers to find what they're looking for. With the abundance of great offers and promotions during this time, you want to make sure that your audience can easily navigate through all of it.
Here are a few additional tips to consider this holiday season:
Up-sell Your Audience - One way to encourage visitors to engage further with your business is by up-selling them with additional products that compliment the one they're currently viewing.
You should also consider creating rules for your giveaway events so you can control your brand's voice and tone during these campaigns. For instance, if someone is winning a product worth $100, make sure to only post tweets with around 10% discount offers ($10 off!). You want to maintain the value of your giveaways.
2. Drive Traffic with Display Advertising
With all of the various marketing channels available online, it can be difficult to determine which one will work best for your e-commerce business. You'll want to make sure you're covering all of your bases because every second counts during the holiday season.
Even if you don't have a large budget to invest in paid traffic, display ads are a great way to get started because you can easily test different ad copy, images, and holiday-specific offers.
To make your ads stand out to consumers there are a few techniques you'll want to consider:
Holiday Themed Ads - It's important to be mindful of cultural sensitivities when designing ads so they don't offend anyone in the process. This is especially true around the holiday season.
You can find amazing examples of holiday-themed display ads here.
BOGO Offers - Have you ever seen an offer that says "Buy One, Get One Free?" If you have, then you know how powerful that copy is because it strays away from traditional sales messaging and appeals directly to your audience's inner desire to receive more.
You can also utilize retargeting campaigns to remind users who have already visited your site or abandoned their cart.
3. Optimize Your Website for the Holidays
Now is the time to double down on conversion rate optimization because it's likely that your audience will experience high volumes of traffic during these next few weeks.
Here are a few ways you can optimize your website for the upcoming holiday season:
Personalize Site Content - Make sure your site is both mobile and browser friendly so it's easy to navigate through while on the go. You should also ensure that all of your content speaks directly to your audience because this will increase the likelihood of them taking action.
Include a Clear "Buy Now" Button - It's important to make sure that purchasing your product is simple and easy for customers. Include a prominent, high-value button that clearly says "BUY NOW." You can also select the right color to create a sense of urgency around your offer.
Check out this comprehensive guide on conversion optimization for more information.
4. Advertise Advent Calendars to Generate More Sales
Advent calendars are one of the best ways to bring holiday cheer into your audience's lives because they're able to countdown the days until Christmas by opening a new door each day. People love advent calendars because they create holiday magic during this time of year. You can utilize this same idea to generate more sales with your e-commerce business.
There are three components you'll need in order to create your own promotional calendar:
- Customers - You'll want to find customers that will be interested in purchasing this type of product before they begin shopping during the holiday season.
- A Calender - You can either purchase or create your own calendar to offer on your website. Make sure it's in line with the holiday season and your branding message.
- Coupon Codes/Vouchers - You'll want to include promotional discounts that will drive sales for this promotion. People love getting free stuff so they'll jump on the offer if you include a discount.
5. Utilize Peer-to-Peer Marketing to Increase Holiday Sales
Peer-to-peer marketing is an ethical way to boost sales because you're not paying for ad space, rather your friends are sharing your product amongst their network without expecting anything in return. This is a popular strategy around the holiday season because it promotes a sense of community and reinforces goodwill.
Here are a few types of peer-to-peer referrals you can promote:
Secret Santa - Allow customers to purchase a gift for a loved one that they don't know very well. You can offer these gifts at an exclusive price or even for free.
Secret Santa is a great way to increase sales because people will open their wallets in an effort to avoid the awkwardness of not getting a gift for someone they care about deeply.
Holiday Party - Encourage your employees and business partners to purchase your product and give it away as a holiday party favor. This creates goodwill amongst the office and is a great way to get your product in front of a large audience.
Holiday Hack - Allow people to purchase your product and pay it forward by gifting it for free. Make sure that the offer is compelling enough to drive sales because you'll need a long list of recipients in order to create a perpetual cycle.
6. Increase Sales with a Holiday Shopping Spree Contest
A shopping spree contest is a great way to build buzz around your business because it creates a sense of urgency and competition between everybody involved. If you're able to generate enough interest, there's a good chance people will share their entry across multiple platforms online.
Here are some key components of this type of marketing campaign:
Entry - People need to know how to enter, so make sure you're clear. Providing entry options encourages participation because people enjoy multiple ways of entering contests.
Prize - This is the most important part of your campaign because it drives interest in the contest and adds a sense of urgency to your promotion. Make sure that the prize is something big enough for people to want to participate.
Here are some more great examples of Instagram holiday shopping sprees and giveaways.
7. Utilize Online Holiday Guides for More Customers in 2021
The holiday shopping season is just around the corner, so you'll want to take advantage of online guides that will funnel more customers to your website. Here are some types of content you can use to generate high-quality traffic:
Holiday Shopping Cheat Sheets - These are a great way to provide valuable tips and tricks that will drive sales. By providing value, you'll build an audience around your business quickly because people enjoy content that provides actionable advice.
Holiday Gift Guides - People love gift guides because it makes their lives easier by giving them ideas for what they can purchase. If you're able to lay out a clear plan for your guide, people will be more likely to share it with their friends and family members.
Holiday Deals & Sales - Advertise the exclusive deals that you'll provide for the holiday season. People like getting discounts so this is a great way to attract new customers.
So there you have it, seven ideas for marketing campaigns that will help generate more holiday sales in 2021. If you're able to implement these strategies correctly, your business will be on the right track towards success. Happy holidays!
Need help managing your digital marketing for the holidays? Contact DigiGrowth Marketing today, and let us know what you need help with!
