The holiday season is probably the busiest time of the year in the marketer’s world. Every single business owner struggles to increase sales, attract customers, and improve conversion of the shopping basket.
In consequence, there is even bigger chaos in communication. All of this influences the necessity to tailor the communication channel to the audience.
Most of the promotional actions in the Christmas season, regardless the channel and the tools, rely on the discount offers.
Discount codes or special promotions constitute great incentives to attract more customers and finally convince even the most sceptical minds. Such mechanism works well especially on products characterised by price flexibility.
How do online retailers communicate their offer? In the ocean of possibilities, the scope of options is limited only by the marketer’s budget. Promotional instruments include such basic forms as display advertising, AdWords campaigns, usage of social media networks (with Facebook and YouTube unceasingly on top). Great effects can also be expected from a well-prepared targeted mailing and communication via newsletters.
When preparing a plan for the holiday season, you should also bear in mind cross-promotional campaigns which can turn out extremely beneficial – if the choice of your partner is successful, you might succeed at increasing the scope of the campaign.
Marketers are constantly searching for new ways to get into the consumer’s head and trigger the purchase decision. We can observe a growing interest for using PR tools based on media campaigns, collaboration with bloggers and popular influencers.
New positions on the marketer’s check-list also appear to be discount codes. Implementing promotional codes into your marketing strategy and developing close relation with coupon platforms (e.g. Picodi.co.za) allow to discover and reach new, valuable group of potential clients.
There are plenty of forms and variations of strategies used by online stores. However, it’s worth to mention a few useful tips:
1. Analysis of the current situation on the market
Micro and macro-trends, fashion trends, latest tools and solutions available on the markets.
Consider your business from the viewpoint of your potential clients and you will get a fresh perspective, increasing your chances for a success in communication and sales.
2. Target group
A diligent analysis is a must. If you are familiar with the profile of your target customers, it will be easier for you to come up with an appealing message.
3. Planning
The fast-paced nature of e-commerce business shouldn’t absolve us of the necessity to create a plan in advance.
Let’s not make it too complex, a good plan is logical and clear as it should present a certain logical concept tailored to your business.
4. More doesn’t mean better
Sometimes one promotional channel can increase conversion better than a number of channels in total. It’s wiser to find the channel that appeals to your target customers.
5. Evaluation
Always do an insightful analysis of the results, make important assumptions for the future. Even the most basic analysis helps to determine which idea will end up delivering best results at lowest total cost.
Christmas is just around the corner, but the temperature is rising in the e-commerce arena. Retailers will be battling over customers, inventing new methods to attract the client.
Time will show who will “win” Christmas this year. Approach the subject in the right way, you may just find yourself among the winners.