Attract New Customers with These 2020 Holiday Season Business Strategies
The winter holiday season is the most anticipated time for shoppers. This year has brought many changes to every industry, so it’s no surprise that marketers bear the responsibility of creating a convenient shopping experience for consumers. Whether it is new product launches or unbelievable promotions, you can create the buzz that’ll bring new and old shoppers through your digital (or actual) doors with some tools you already have in your back pocket.
Before we give you the how, here is the why – Why is it important to think through a solid holiday strategy?
Six months into the pandemic, a study published on October 4, 2020, by CommerceHub shows that e-commerce will be the primary method used to shop for the rest of the year. This data brings us to the reality that this holiday shopping season will be different from ever before.
With the global pandemic affecting markets, targeting audiences is more critical than ever. According to the same study, 67% of U.S. consumers now find it more convenient to purchase items online than in-store. Additionally, of the 2,000 U.S. consumers surveyed, 89% plan to continue shopping online the same amount, if not more, in November. With shopping holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday right around the corner, the opportunity to influence buyer behavior has become a race to online advertisement space.
Since you may be looking to reinvent your holiday strategy to incorporate the pandemic’s impacts on shoppers, here are our ideas about 2020 holiday season strategies to implement.
Understand Your Audience
Knowing who your audience is won’t only teach you the most effective tactics for advertising to your shoppers or connecting with them but will encourage you to consider their buying behavior when designing a holiday campaign.
By finding areas where your shoppers engage, be it on the mobile web or through social apps, you can target your audience to experience your promotions or campaigns anywhere and any time of the day. Southern California News Group (SCNG) encourages clients to use mobile-optimized advertising to reach the fastest-growing internet audience, especially during this holiday season. Mobile users are highly engaged and access news or other content on their devices multiple times from when they wake up until they go to sleep. Searches are the key to unlocking consumer demographics and understanding your audience and their consumer behavior.
With e-commerce sales expected to grow 25%-35% during the 2020 holiday season, far outpacing the 2019 holiday growth of 14.9%, there is an increased opportunity for businesses to utilize the digital space’s competitive advantage to attract new holiday shoppers while keeping their existing customers engaged. To do this successfully, create your shopper personas and list specific attributes, including their demographics, such as age range and income or other information like geographic location and buyer behavior, to appropriately target your audience.
Design Your Offer with Consideration
Shoppers are exposed to digital advertisements everywhere they go, especially now since the pandemic led to a drastic lifestyle change for many. More than ever, the marketer’s goals for this holiday season are evident; Get the brand to stand out and lead the shoppers to online/offline storefronts.
While designing holiday offers, put yourself into their shoes to understand the different obstacles your shoppers might face and think about how you can alleviate those through your strategy. Does your retail website need to be more user-friendly and convenient to complete transactions? How about the payment process? Do your shoppers know about your holiday discounts and offers before they abandon products in shopping carts? Many brands have enhanced their digital store experience by offering discount codes, time-sensitive deals, and convenient “Buy Online Pick Up In-Store” (BOPIS) agreements. Today’s marketing has grown more than ever by changing the perspective to the benefit of the consumers.
Based on these new developments, Forrester projects that the 2020 shopping season will experience online holiday sales boosts in popular gift item industries.
In contrast, consumer behavior changes to online purchases may cause in-store sales to decline for those same categories significantly. Analyze your industry opportunities while designing your offers to maximize the return on investment this holiday season.
Go Multi-Channel by Getting Social on Every Platform
When it comes to reaching out to potential customers, the first thing to do is find out where they view content. By going multi-channel, you take on every line of communication between you and the consumer. Does your team have the bandwidth to create a multi-channel strategy, or should you partner with a team of specialists? When looking to partner, consider a full suite agency that can manage your social media platforms and interactions, develop content such as blogs and promotions, monitor your fans, and optimize potential influencer marketing, such as Southern California News Group. SCNG takes a 360° approach to encompass traditional media and emerging digital opportunities. If you have less experience with various digital solutions, like influencer marketing, this is the perfect opportunity to learn more about using social media influencers to amplify your brand to their followers.
Choosing a multi-channel approach creates higher visibility for your brand while making the shopping experience more convenient. Not only is it essential for generating brand awareness, but you’ll also be able to reach many potential holiday shoppers and influence their buying decision through a multi-touch multi-channel approach.
A strong example of this kind of approach is the tech giant, Apple. Their brand invests heavily to understand its customers’ commerce journeys and user experiences, resulting in loyalty and repeat business. The Apple retail stores and e-commerce businesses work together to achieve a majority of their sales. Their stores’ overall experience includes immersing shoppers in the latest Apple products, features, and technology available for purchase and support. With their new streaming services, Apple News + and Apple TV +, shoppers will be using branded products to stream branded content, thus creating a multi-channel Apple experience for loyal Apple customers.
Digital is the Present and the Future for Marketers and Consumers
Digital transformation is accelerating faster than ever. Uncertainty about in-store experiences is causing businesses to embrace digital avenues. These changes create a necessity to expand website traffic, customer engagement, and online sales. The most effective way to do this is by increasing media consumption from consumers on all available digital channels.
Having only a user-friendly website may be a great first step, however, embracing digital opportunities is crucial for marketers in 2020. Holiday shoppers are looking for an authentic and personalized digital experience to feel connected to the brands. Which is why
going multi-channel with your outgoing communications is even more crucial now and will amplify your voice and reach on multiple platforms.
There are also many options to synergize your strategies by adding new and innovative products to your brand. Digital advertising with targeted and custom audience features is becoming increasingly competitive for reaching the right customers. Finding new avenues to distribute your message is one way you can utilize your ad space. These methods include banner displays, which are versatile online display ads. These display ads get prompt attention from users and can give immediate access by connecting additional links and content as a tremendous brand-building tool. If you’re interested in admail, try delivering your message right to the audience with email marketing tools and sponsored newsletters. Admail subscribers read relevant news relating to sports, real estate, things to do, and more, in their local area. The possibilities of promoting yourself are as simple as identifying your shoppers and delivering your message wherever they are online this holiday season.
A One-Size-Fits-All Strategy Is Not the Way to Go
Holiday shoppers are looking for the latest products and services to buy this holiday season and marketers have an opportunity to drive sales by localizing marketing efforts. Localizing efforts can mean understanding local cultural values and views to create meaningful connections with shoppers. Understanding audiences is half the battle, and delivering the right message to get their attention builds the brand trust and loyalty needed to have repeat customers.
Social listening is used in localized messaging and can greatly aid marketers in learning how to speak to locals and where to drive their attention. Simply, if you are advertising in Colorado, you might want to focus on local landmarks like hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park instead of surfing on the sunny beaches. Try to keep yourself from alienating audiences by including messaging inclusive and relevant. This effort is how localization strategies can better understand both the shoppers and strategy solutions.
Your business and audience are both unique – so your marketing strategy should be too. There is no one-size-fits-all model for any business, so taking a creative approach to your content and delivery methods will separate you from competitors. Generate sales during the holiday shopping season by taking advantage of all the digital marketing space available to you right now. What’s great about partnering with a full-suite marketing agency is that you have the freedom to create the kinds of promotions that work best with your business. Create content that speaks to each shopper by addressing who they are. Then try to distribute your content where your audience will see it. 2020 has been an unpredictable year for every business and shopper, and with the holiday season right around the corner, are you ready to make your impact?
About Skyline:
Skyline is Southern California News Group’s in-house Content Studio. We provide our clients with a full campaign support team to develop messaging, build-out creative direction and design, identify formats for content and distribution, and assembling media schedules for promotion. Our suite of services includes Custom Content, Branded Content, Influencer Marketing, Media Planning, and Creative Services.