Not sure you want to go all in with your holiday marketing? Annoyed with the hassle of specialized emails, social media and website themes? Think that a basic holiday marketing strategy (if any) will suffice?
Well, maybe you are right. But that depends on what you are looking for in regards to your business this holiday season, and what you are willing to do to get there.
Let’s take some holiday stats from an infographic by Boostability, and dig a little deeper. You can check out the infographic at the end of this article.
What Are You Looking for?
Customers who come to you
The holidays are different than any other time of the year in that consumers are actually seeking to buy. Between all the gifts and parties within the season, people are on a time crunch to get their shopping done. Many of these shoppers start the weekend of Thanksgiving.
In fact, 59% of consumers plan to shop on thanksgiving weekend. 24% of consumers plan to shop on Small Business Saturday, November 26. That means people aren’t just running into an ad online and deciding to go shopping, but that they are deliberately seeking out good deals during that weekend.
Customers may come to you in-store, or online. They are searching for you. Common Google searches during the holidays are variants including the word “gift.” And these percentages are going up from the 2015-2016 holiday season. “Unique Gifts” growth is 65%, 80% for “Cool Gift”, and 70% for “Best Gift.” So if you sell a product or experience, consumers are searching for you. And if you are practicing SEO and marketing yourself as that “cool gift”, they’ll find you.
Increased sales
The holidays typically bring in the most revenue for most business. $1 trillion is expected in retail sales from November to December and $114 billion is expected in online sales this year.
People are buying more than ever before. In general, there is a predicted 4.5% increase in sales for 2017. In 2016 the average number of gifts purchased per person was 12.6, while this year that number is estimated to rise to 14 gifts. Mobile shopping dollars from 2015-2016 already saw a 45% increase, and mobile shopping is more popular than ever.
Here’s What to Do
Focus on local search and SEO
Local searching and SEO practices help people to find you amidst all the holiday competition. 38% of consumers plan to shop at a local independent store this season. 76% of people who research something nearby on their smartphone visit a related business in one business day. What this means? That people are looking for you based on location.
Also, 66% of consumers say online reviews influence their holiday shopping. Encouraging online reviews can boost your SEO and gain the trust of potential shoppers. You may even want to have “fan favorites” from your products displayed. If you sell a service, rather than a product, you will have to approach this differently, but reviews are still relevant.
Go Mobile
Did you know that 21% of holiday sales will be from mobile? That shouldn’t be too surprising when you know that 43% of consumers plan to find all their gifts online this year and that in 2014 around 24% of shoppers planned to do their holiday shopping online. Today, 78% of consumers use a smartphone for online holiday shopping. So if your holiday themes and discounts aren’t accessible via mobile or your site is prone to glitches and crashes, you are going to suffer the consequences.
Offer deals
77% of consumers make deals based on a coupon or offer during the holidays. 30% of shoppers believe shopping early has the best deals, while 27% believe shopping late has the best deals. Either way, people want deals.
The top three reasons consumers make an online purchase during the holidays are: Free shipping, easy returns, and price. The information to sales is in your hands!
Jump Into Your Holiday Marketing Strategy!
But if you don’t like customers who come to you, or high sales, then you are right–going all in with your holiday marketing probably isn’t for you. Leave the customers, sales, positive brand image, and general holiday success to those other businesses who are willing to work on their marketing techniques. As they focus on their SEO, mobile marketing, and special promotions (and you do nothing), they will take all those annoying customers out of your hair. Thanks to them, you can enjoy a quiet holiday and the holiday music playing in the background of your empty business.
