1) Evaluate Your Campaigns from the Past. Take the time to understand which past holiday campaigns and ongoing campaigns have generated the most success and ask the question “why?” What was the messaging? What days were the ads running? What targeting methodology was used? What yielded the most traffic to your site? What generated the highest conversion rate? Did your efforts increase in-store traffic? What about an increase in social media?
2) Plan your Budget. Your budget should account for a long tail campaign that begins end of October/early November and spikes on key purchasing dates. Review your holiday sales trends from 2011 and make a note of your highest sales days during the holidays. Compare this to the most profitable days in ecommerce from 2011: Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Free Ship Days. Create an excel document that takes both trends into account and map out daily budgets for the duration of your holiday campaign.
3) Keep Holiday Campaign Messaging Consistent. Build on past messaging successes and make it better for the holidays. Remember to make sure that your holiday messaging matches across all your marketing channels. This means ensuring the promos offered in ads match the language on your site and social media outlets.
4) Landing Pages Must Complement Your Campaign. Make sure you present a clear and clean purchasing path for consumers. Don’t bait and switch users; make sure that specific product pages or product landing pages match the product featured in your ad. The language on your landing pages should complement the language and tone used in your advertising outreach and it should include a full description of product/service information – the more information the better recall for the user in the long run. Last, but not least, keep the transaction process simple – three steps and done!
5) Venture into Mobile. You can’t turn a blind eye to mobile this holiday. More and more consumers will be searching on the go as they attempt to feed their need for instant gratification. Mobile offers a perfect opportunity to geo-target consumers. Make sure you have a mobile/tablet friendly site and that your paid search ads extend to mobile platforms. (NTENT is now available on mobile. Ask how you can be featured on mobile today.
6) Leverage Your Existing Consumer Connections. Leverage consumer connections you already have and kick your outbound email campaigns and social media efforts into high gear! Existing consumer databases and social media connections present ideal opportunities to convert consumers this holiday. They already have some level of interest in what you have to offer and would welcome suggestions and ideas this holiday season. Make a calendar of when you intend to send out email blasts and social media pushes. Consider special offers for consumers who have made purchases in the past.
Keep these 6 tips in mind as you kick your holiday campaigns into gear. Remember, you can’t view marketing efforts in a vacuum; online campaigns should be looked at as a piece of the pie that works collectively to generate awareness, drive in-store traffic and increase online conversions. Getting your brand/product/services in front of consumers early, online and on mobile is crucial to holiday sales success.
6 Tips to a Successful Holiday Campaign
Need help preparing for the holidays? Ask Us. Whatever your budget, one of NTENT’s dedicated account managers will be on call to help you prepare the perfect holiday campaign.
No comments:
Post a Comment