It’s the most wonderful time of the year, which means big things for your business. The holiday season is one of the most important in the retail calendar, and we want to be sure we’re wholly embracing it. While this period may easily be one of the busiest and most profitable for your business, it also provides an excellent opportunity to market your brand to new customers and build goodwill with your existing ones.
It is imperative that you approach this holiday season with a plan. Especially since many of your sales are likely to come from people who are buying gifts for others and wouldn’t usually shop with you, this is your moment to leave a lasting impression that may convert them to recurring customers.
In this article, we’re going to highlight some of the best marketing strategies to implement this holiday season for your brand.
Update Your Visual Presence to Reflect the Holidays
You may want to use the holiday season to give your website a festive makeover. It’s a great idea to switch up your headers, profile pictures, background images, and page elements to reflect the season by using secondary branding colours with holiday connotations, adding sparkles, and wintry imagery. Changing up your calls to action, homepage greetings, and the promotional copy can also be impactful and keep things fresh on your website, giving people a reason to keep coming back.
Create Dedicated Landing Pages for the Season
If you’re trying to drive traffic to your website for a specific holiday, particularly if you’re using online ads, it’s a good idea to direct them to a holiday-specific landing page. When people click an ad, it’s usually because they see something specific they were already looking for. If clicking the ad brings them somewhere irrelevant, they’re much more likely to leave your website and search elsewhere. When creating holiday ads, ensure your landing pages are dedicated to that holiday and any corresponding promotions.
Create a Holiday Gift Guide
A gift guide will give your customers a simple and concise way to find outstanding gifts for the people in their lives. This can be especially useful for those who are short on time or have a long list of people to buy for. Try curating a list of your products or services that may best appeal to different demographics — what works for your nephew likely won’t work for your mother-in-law.
Offer Free Gift Wrapping for Your Product
Wrapping is one of the most tedious and frustrating parts of any gift-giving holiday. If you have a product-based business, consider offering complimentary gift wrapping on purchases made during the season. While it may take you a bit longer to process each order, it also has the added benefit of building a good rapport with your customers and elevating the perception of your brand.
Try a Countdown Timer
A countdown timer is a great way to create urgency that can encourage your website’s visitors to take quick action by giving your shoppers a signal that this promotion is short-lived.
Use Festive Holiday Cards
Letting your customers know you appreciate their business can go a long way, especially during the holidays. A festive Christmas card or a small piece of candy on Halloween can add a little personal touch to make your customers feel special. While it may seem simple, a little handwritten note can be the genuine touch your customer wants to feel encouraged to purchase from you again.
Host a Flash Sale
The time-sensitive nature of the flash sale encourages purchases so that your customers don’t miss out on your great deals! While a flash sale can last a few hours or days, the shorter duration will increase the pressure to act quickly.
Offer Holiday Gift Bundles
It may not be sustainable for a small business to offer massive holiday discounts, but also anyone can offer exclusive holiday bundles. Consider packaging together a select pairing of your best sellers and offering a slight discount for the bundle compared to if they were purchased separately. This has the dual effect of making your customers feel like they’re getting a great deal and increasing the appeal of a single purchase.
Create a Holiday-Themed Unboxing Experience
The holiday season is as much about aesthetics as it is about the actual things we use. Since your product or service is likely being purchased as a gift, it’s vital that the unboxing experience feels like something extraordinary. A thoughtful and well-planned multisensory unboxing experience will position your brand at the front of people’s minds when they think back to what they got this year. It also has the added benefits increase “shareability” on social media.
Are you thinking about how your brand can elevate its presence during the holidays and all year? Reach out to us at Atelier Oluwatosin and discover how we can work together to create a bespoke brand identity that will leave an impression wherever your brand is.