We're reaching the last few months of the year, and that means big holidays are just around the corner! The holidays are an exciting time for business owners who are hoping to make an end-of-the-year boost in sales. This is a big time for local businesses, with an estimated 700 Billion to be spent during the holiday season. In the current digital era, competitive markets may necessitate extra help in getting your business noticed. Here are some digital marketing tips and considerations for braving this holiday season!
Start Prepping For The Holidays Early
Is your digital strategy ready for holiday shoppers? Planning ahead for the holiday season can help you get your advertising strategies in order. By launching programmatic advertising with your digital marketing agency, you can reach your target so they can reach you faster. By implementing your programmatic advertising plans early, you can get ahead of the early holiday shopping trends. A relatively recent trend known as “Black November” shows a spike in holiday sales beginning nearly two months before the end of the season.
Programmatic advertising is a great way to increase brand awareness and bring in local customers who are shopping in new markets for the holidays. Programmatic advertising can also help you keep your website at the forefront of user’s shopping experience as they click onto other websites. Staying ahead of the shopping trends through programmatic is a great way to reach the pre-holiday market and create a spike in your sales.
'Tis The Season For Pay-Per-Click
Pay-Per-Click marketing is another excellent way to reach customers during their holiday searches. These advertising strategies will put your website at the top of relevant searches in your area to expand brand awareness and increase your lead generation. These marketing strategies can be especially important during Black Friday and other sales events while you compete with other local businesses. One of the best ways to beat out your competitors is to outrank them in local, relevant searches with PPC advertising. If you need help configuring a strategy or configuring budget, we have PPC specialists dedicated to helping your business succeed.
Responsive Website Platforms Can Help Handle Massive Online Traffic
As always, the best way to keep up leads and keep sales strong throughout the holiday season is to ensure that you are set up on a reliable, responsive website platform so users can easily browse your site on mobile. Responsive websites are the key to adapting your site from desktop to mobile device. Salesforce estimated that in 2018, mobile purchases would beat out every other shopping platform for the first time, and now in 2019, Practical Ecommerce suggests that more than half of the U.S. will complete their shopping on mobile.
With rising numbers in mobile research and sales, having a responsive website platform can help you increase your leads year-round. Your website provider should also be able to handle a large increase in site traffic during the holidays. Every moment that your website spends offline or unresponsive could lead to a significant decrease in sales.
Advanced website providers like Sokal have multiple servers, which means that there is always a backup server working to keep your website online. It is not too late to partner with a responsive website provider before the holiday season takes off. Agencies like Sokal can launch a new responsive automotive website in just 15 days, and a brand new ad campaign in less than a week.
Things To Remember:
Master holiday marketing by planning ahead, starting early, and critically thinking about how the coming season will affect the digital climate in your market. With an increase in sales happening during this time of year, programmatic and PPC advertising can bring those customers through your door. By partnering with a digital marketing agency like Sokal, you can stay ahead of the holiday marketing strategies to increase end-of-year sales.