By Alicia Fiorletta, Senior Editor
Using key shopping dates as the cornerstones of your 2014 holiday marketing strategies is a smart way to get started. Black Friday is considered the official kick-off of the holiday season, making it an important shopping day for consumers and a tremendous sales opportunity for retailers of all sizes. Last year, shoppers spent up to $22.2 billion during “Black Weekend” alone, according to ShopperTrak.
There are only 28 days from Black Friday and Christmas Day this year, but you still have time to grab holiday shoppers’ attention by incorporating a variety of channels in your marketing mix, including social, mobile, online and TV advertising.
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Here are a few ideas to get you into the holiday spirit:
- Establish your messaging: Determine your Black Friday plan, and launch a relevant campaign. Are you holding a weekend-long sale you want to promote? Will you throw a festive party in your store to kick off the holidays? Do you plan to extend store hours or offer free shipping or gift-wrapping? Create consistent marketing messages to spread the news among target customers.
- Connect with consumers on screen: There’s no doubt that today’s consumers are tech-savvy and are typically checking multiple devices throughout the day, but television still plays a central role in their daily lives. The average American, in fact, watches more than five hours of television a day, according to Nielsen. Embrace TV advertising to promote timely sales, offers and events to successfully engage customers on their favorite screens. The holidays are an ideal time to get creative, so have fun. Use whimsical messaging and visuals, and craft compelling offers and incentives that get shoppers in the holiday spirit and drive them to your store.
- Extend offers to mobile devices: The TV may still be consumers’ favorite screen, but more consumers rely on their smartphones to access information and even purchase products. By 2016, approximately 2.29 billion people will own smartphones, up from 1.40 billion in 2013, according to eMarketer. What better way to connect quickly and personally with shoppers than through their personal devices? Keep your messages short, simple, and yes, fun. Take a cue from flash sale site Rue La La, which sends mobile push notifications to people who download the app. A recent message promoting a shoe sale simply stated: “Holyyy shoes! (Yeah, we said it.)”
- Continue the conversation with social media: Consumers refer to Facebook, Pinterest and other social networks during the holidays to research gift ideas (48%), find discounts (44%), read reviews and recommendations (40%) and browse products (37%), according to Deloitte research. As a result, social media is becoming a key outlet for retailers to build one-to-one relationships with customers. Although it’s important to promote events, offers and deals on social networks, don’t get too carried away. If customers feel like they’re being marketed to too much, they’ll turn away. Instead, engage with customers on a more personal level by asking questions and participating in conversations. Last year, Target used the Twitter hashtag #MyKindOfHoliday to encourage shoppers to share their favorite holiday traditions.
- Encourage customers to connect with you on different outlets: Whether a consumer first interacts with your brand on social media or through their mobile devices, it is important that you encourage them to continue. A compelling call-to-action gives them an extra incentive to either learn more about your business or visit your store. For example, you can post a photo of a store display on Facebook or Instagram with the message “Check out our must-have gifts!” It’s simple, concise and gives consumers a clear next step in their shopping journey.
