Let’s be honest: businesses have a lot of competition during the holiday season. With retail sales up in every province in Canada as businesses reopened, now is the time to start thinking about your holiday marketing and prepping your online presence to establish yourself when the season kicks off.
The average Canadian is expected to spend close to $1,000 for pre-Christmas sales events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, despite the current pandemic. These sales are expected to contribute $29.5 billion to the economy.
With the biggest shopping events of the year right around the corner, here are some tips on how to set up your company for a more successful holiday season, and how to make the most of the current rebound in economic activity.
1. MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE SEAMLESS
Today’s consumers shop across multiple channels and devices. It’s important that your company is active across various platforms to provide a seamless experience and connected purchase journey.
15 years ago the average consumer typically used two touchpoints when buying an item. Today, consumers use an average of almost six touchpoints with nearly half regularly using more than four.
A potential customer may see something on social media and then head into a bricks-and-mortar location to make the purchase. Or they may be at an in-store location but notice their desired item is out of stock and then pull out their mobile device to check if inventory is available online.
Customers expect frictionless interactions with your brand across whatever series of channels they use, and that’s why it’s essential to create a smooth omni-channel experience for your audience.
2. EXECUTE DIGITAL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS SOONER
Heading into the last quarter means that there will be changes in auction pressure when launching paid digital campaigns.
What is auction pressure?
Auction pressure is when there is increased competition between buyers that prompts higher bids, which then inflate CPMs (cost per mille) / CPCs (cost per click). The main reason why auction pressure goes up and down is the number of advertisers running campaigns. The more advertisers, the higher auction pressure goes, the fewer advertisers, the more it drops.
Corporations will soon be injecting massive budgets into their holiday campaigns, and if your company is working off a moderate marketing budget, you won’t be able to compete.
Combat auction pressure by executing your paid digital campaigns earlier. Instead of launching a week or two before the specific holiday, you need to be putting things in place now.
This will ensure that whether your brand is looking to ramp up its lead generation efforts or grow its social media audience before the holidays, your cost per acquisition (CPA) will be lower and you’ll get more bang for your buck.
3. BE A RESOURCE, NOT JUST A SALES PITCH
While the holidays are a time for celebration and giving thanks, they are also a time of great stress for a lot of your customers because they will be bombarded with an overload of brands trying to pitch their products and services.
Be a leader in your industry and differentiate yourself from the competition by helping your audience and providing them with something useful. It can be something as simple as sharing tips on how people can prepare for the festivities at home, tips on how your product or service can help improve their lives during the holidays or even a special coupon for email subscribers.
If you need help with executing your holiday marketing strategy, feel free to contact us at info@fifthstory.com.
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