It’s only October but the holiday season has already begun and presents the best money-making opportunity many businesses have had all year. In order to capture as many silly-season shoppers as possible, you need to start thinking about your holiday marketing strategy right now.
What does the data say we can expect from the holidays this year? Here’s what we know so far to help you prepare your 2020 holiday marketing.
Holiday Marketing 2020: Consumers Want Deals
Many consumers may have less to spend around the holidays this year. And while this isn’t what businesses looking to recoup lost revenue want to hear, it’s something for you to consider as you plan your holiday marketing.
Consumers already appreciate a bargain, so they will likely find deals, specials, and offers very appealing around the holidays. Sales give customers the urgency and desire to purchase. In fact, 37% of Aussies and 33% of Kiwi shoppers say they’ll wait for products to be on promotion, discount or sale before purchasing. If you can orient your marketing around these promotions, you can entice new customers to your business.
How to incorporate deals into your holiday marketing:
- Create Search Ads: 1 in 2 APAC shoppers discover new brands and products through search engines, and ads provide you a quick way to get in front of them for relevant searches. Make sure you’re running Search Marketing and Google Shopping Ads that are specific to your holiday specials and deals.
- Promote your deals on Social Media: Run targeted Social Ads to reach consumers who may be interested in your products and services and optimise to users most likely to complete a desired action. Build momentum around your promotions and capture shoppers’ initial interest so you can alert them on the day of your actual sale.
- Use Google My Business: Promote seasonal events and special services like gift wrapping by creating a Google My Business Post.
Holiday Marketing 2020: Online Shopping will Dominate
People are seeking safer, more convenient, and digitised ways of shopping this year. This shift means it will be vital for businesses to be discoverable online because this holiday season will be about who can adjust and respond quickest. According to Google, this year 75% of consumers say they plan to shop online for the holidays more than they did last year.
This means your online presence is more important now than ever. You’re going to need to get in front of consumers while they’re browsing online if you want to entice them to do business with you.
Here are some tips to ramp up your online presence for your holiday marketing:
- Make sure your local listings are updated: Google My Business and other local listings provide consumers with an easy way to see your business’s hours, location, and phone number. Add shopping FAQs such as gift-wrapping advice and click and collect instructions to your listings.
- Create a holiday gift guide: Make online shopping feel like real-life shopping. Provide clear information, covering topics such as making safe online payments, and delivery/returns policies. Showcase these on your website, or via Instagram Stories or Reels.
- Do a quick audit of your website: To enable seamless shopping, it’s crucial to ensure your mobile experience is easy to navigate. 87% of APAC mobile shoppers experience some problems while shopping online. This includes issues like fonts being too small, the site taking too long to load, and product information being difficult to view. In addition to providing a great user experience, make sure your website contains all the information a consumer would want to know before becoming a customer.
- Make communication quick and easy: Enable messaging for quick, convenient and in-the-moment conversations with Messenger on Facebook, a live chat widget on your website and FAQs on Google My Business.
Holiday Marketing 2020: Supporting Local Businesses
Consumers are planning to shop more at local businesses this holiday season. But 1 in 5 APAC customers will still research online before making an offline purchase. That means local businesses that don’t have an online store still have a lot to gain by engaging shoppers on digital platforms. You may need to adjust the way you offer your products and services to provide an additional incentive for them to do business with you.
Here are some other ways you can highlight your local business for your holiday marketing:
- Build brand awareness: Make sure your product or service is strategically top of mind while customers explore. Over 50% of APAC online consumers use YouTube to find out more about specific brands, products or categories, so consider a YouTube Ads campaign this holiday season.
- Partner with other local businesses on special offers: What’s better than supporting one local business? Supporting several at once! Consider partnering with one or two other businesses in your area to bundle products or services for local customers.
- Show up in local results: “Near me” searches have grown 4.5x since 2016 across APAC. Drive your offline goals and bring more shoppers to your stores with location-focused search ad campaigns across Google and Bing, and optimise your Google My Business listing to appear in the ‘snack pack‘ of local results.
We know the holidays might be stressing you out already, which is why our digital marketing experts are ready to help you create a holiday marketing strategy that makes you merry! Reach out to us today to get started: 1300 655 312
Emma Reid
