The holiday season is one of the busiest and most important times of the year for businesses.
In fact, half of the consumers already plan their holiday shopping before Halloween.
Whether you operate within a larger company as a consultant or have recently become the CEO of your own business, keeping up to date with the latest market insights can help you make informed decisions.
To help get you started on the right foot, we’ve compiled a list of tips to prepare your marketing agency for the upcoming holiday season. Check them out!
- Build and Review Your Data Before the Holidays
Marketing campaigns that rely on assumptions or wishful thinking tend to fall short of their goals.
A solid foundation of data allows you to forecast demand, identify opportunities, and predict how different choices will affect your bottom line.
To build this data foundation, you need to start tracking your marketing efforts now to get a clear picture of what’s already working and what needs some fine-tuning.
You may also need to collect your data manually. If this is the case, keep track of which channels are generating leads and sales and which are not.
You can use Google spreadsheets to track your marketing efforts. By reviewing your data regularly, you can identify what’s working, what isn’t, and why.
With this information, you can then make informed decisions as the holiday season approaches.
- Gear Up Your Product and Marketing Teams
Your product team is responsible for creating the products you sell and getting them to customers as quickly and efficiently as possible.
If a product is back-ordered or sold out, you could risk losing customers to competitors. Not only that, but a customer who waits too long to receive the product might decide to cancel the order. This could cause a serious drop in sales.
To make sure your product team is ready to go, identify which products and product categories are likely to be the most popular during the holidays.
You can use past data to forecast demand and increase production accordingly. Your marketing team is responsible for creating sales campaigns, advertising, and outreach that drive targeted customers to your website.
If your team isn’t ready, you’ll miss out on a lot of potential sales.
- Don’t Forget About Mobile Users
Research shows that by 2025, mobile eCommerce will account for 44.2% of retail sales in the U.S.
If you’re not accounting for mobile customers, you’re leaving money on the table.
To prevent this, start by researching the most popular mobile devices and operating systems used by your customers. This will help you better understand which features and design elements are more important to them than others.
That way, you know how to create a website optimized for mobile users.
You may also want to look into SMS marketing. Using SMS marketing software is a great way to stay connected to your customers this holiday season.
Collect phone numbers before the holidays by adding a field for contact numbers on your landing pages or sign-up forms.
You can use SMS software to send early sale access and exclusive offers to your subscribers.
With SMS marketing software, you can also drive your subscribers to email, improving online awareness.
- Find Out Where Your Customers Are
Social media has become an integral part of many marketing campaigns. It’s a great way to engage with potential and current customers, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your site.
However, you may be overlooking a crucial part of your social media strategy.
You need to find out where your customers already are. Think about the social media platforms your target customers are most likely to use. Then, create a presence on those platforms and engage with your audience as much as possible, especially before, during, and after holidays.
- Be Prepared for Ad Fatigue
The holiday season is also a time when many consumers become desensitized to advertising. If you rely heavily on paid ads, you could see a drop in conversion as a result.
To lower your risk of experiencing ad fatigue, create a variety of ad campaigns with different messaging, targeting options, and imagery. This will help ensure that not all of your ads begin to feel overly repetitive.
To further reduce your risk, target your ads to specific audiences. Doing so will help reduce the number of irrelevant clicks and drive more sales.
Scale Your Business Anytime with Ringbot
There you go! These are some of the tips you can use to make sure your marketing agency thrives this holiday season. Learn more about SMS marketing software and how you can use it to engage with your consumers during this busy time of the year. Hit up Ringbot today!