Black Friday and Cyber Monday are traditionally the start of the holiday shopping season in the U.S. Both brick-and-mortar and online retailers hope to be very busy during November and December, closing out the year with great sales numbers and profit margins.
Mastercard projects that retail sales during the 2021 holiday shopping season will grow by 7.4% over 2020 sales for the same period. 2021 online sales should increase by 7.6%, and in-store sales are projected to be 6.6% higher than in 2020. As part of gearing up towards this busy shopping season, companies need to ramp up their holiday marketing and advertising strategies to adapt to current consumer trends.
The 2021 holiday shopping season is expected to start earlier than the traditional Thanksgiving mark. You’ll need to be prepared to cash in on early sales.
Do You Need Fresh Marketing Insights and Strategies?
Every business wants to increase sales, so it’s important that you create a unique marketing strategy to make your business stand out from the competition. A solid digital marketing presence is a vital component in a successful overall marketing campaign. Here are some ideas to help you get started:
Analyze Your Past Marketing Campaigns
Consumer trends are different every year, but you can learn a lot from previous marketing strategies. By looking at your sales statistics side-by-side with your past marketing, you can determine which aspects of those campaigns worked well and what areas need improvement.
Turn Possible Problems Into Advantages
Unfortunately, there are pandemic-related issues that directly affect the availability of merchandise. Transit times can be doubled, and quantities of available merchandise are lower due to factories being short-staffed. Some items are in extremely short supply, which is driving prices up. Retailers are understandably concerned about these problems, but you can use effective marketing to turn them into advantages for your business.
Present consumers with the message that supplies are limited. Encourage them to make their purchases early to be sure they can buy the items they want since limited availability will cause these items to sell out.
Strengthen Your E-Commerce Presence
More and more people are turning to online shopping. Your company’s website needs to be user-friendly, enticing, and geared towards excellent customer service. However, it’s not recommended to make drastic changes to your site immediately before a busy time since changes can create kinks in your website’s functionality. Your site needs to be checked regularly because higher traffic can overload or damage the site’s checkout process.
Promote your website and inventory using strategic advertising. This advertising should be geared towards your company’s target market, both in the content and the advertising platforms you choose. The use of SEO keywords greatly enhances visibility to potential customers.
Use Email Marketing to Drive Sales
Targeting customers directly through a personal email campaign can often be more effective than alternative advertising methods. Include an email sign-up option on your website, then send out email blasts to showcase specific items, sales, and special discounts for email subscribers only. You will be able to reach consumers who already have an interest in your company, which increases the likelihood of sales directly from email marketing.
Use a FAQ Section To Highlight Your Business’s Strengths
Today’s consumers expect immediate answers to their questions due to the power of the internet. Anticipating those questions and providing answers to them increases customer satisfaction, resulting in higher sales. Including a FAQ section in both email marketing messages and on your website about the holiday shopping season is an easy way to gain customer confidence.
Try these tips for optimizing your FAQ section:
- Include a direct link to your FAQ section on your site and in email marketing
- Focus this section on information customers need to make their shopping experience easier
- Keep it simple — don’t use wordy answers to the questions and format the answers in an easy-to-read style
- List a minimum of five questions and answers
- Customer support options should be linked to the bottom of the FAQ section
- Address relevant questions such as:
• Are there gifting options such as gift wrapping and gift receipts available?
• What is the usual handling and shipping time?
• Is personalization offered?
• Is this item low in stock?
• Are quantity discounts available?
• Are there multiple shipping options?
Using these tips to create your business’s unique marketing plan will provide a solid foundation for increased sales during the 2021 holiday shopping season.
How Can ScaledOn Help With Your Marketing Needs?
ScaledOn is a highly-rated e-commerce marketing firm that specializes in developing targeted marketing strategies geared toward online advertising. Contact ScaledOn today to discuss your marketing needs and get started increasing your sales.
Holiday sales projections for 2021
Pandemic-related issues affecting 2021 holiday sales
Turn problems into advantages
E-mail marketing benefits
Tips for creating a FAQ section
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