5 Data-Based Ideas To Take Your Holiday Marketing Campaign Up A Notch

Are you an ecommerce business owner or a retailer who wants to boost their sales this holiday season? Total holiday online sales are projected to reach $105 billion this holiday season.

If you want to get your piece of this pie, here are some suggestions (based on hard data from Hubspot) to take your holiday marketing campaign up a notch this season.

1. Offer Sales And Free Shipping

78% of shoppers used the internet for holiday shopping research last year, so going digital is a must for all retailers, this season.

73.1% of consumers say sales are a factor in their holiday shopping decision. Besides making sure your website is responsive and optimized for mobile, consider announcing a sale during the holiday season. If you have a mobile app and want to boost your downloads, you can have an exclusive sale or a bigger discount for your mobile app users.

47% of holiday shoppers consider free shipping or shipping promotions as a key factor in their purchasing decisions, while 87% prefer free shipping over fast shipping.

With free shipping being such a big trigger for holiday shoppers to hit that buy button, it would be a great advantage if you could work it into your promotions.

2. Boost Your SEO with Blogs and Rich Snippets

In 2014, organic search drove 21% of holiday orders. If you haven’t already worked out an editorials calendar for your blog, as a way to boost organic traffic, you need to seriously consider working on one right now. Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to enjoy a positive ROI.

66% of marketers say educational holiday marketing content is beneficial to their site traffic and bottom line. Put some effort into the content you create during the holidays. Tell stories, create events, get creative with your promotions and you might just give other bloggers a reason to write about your business too.

According to a Blue Nile Research study, Rich Snippets have been shown to provide a 26% lift in clicks on the second search listing. If your ecommerce site features reviews of your products by reviewers or if you post reviews on your blog, you need to use a Rich Snippets plugin to boost your search engine rankings and clickthroughs.

Also read: Learn how to add rich snippets to your WordPress site.

3. Personalize Your Emails And Create Coupons

Did you know that more than half of shoppers will go to a brand’s website to look for coupons? You can display coupons on your ecommerce store using one of these WordPress coupon plugins.

85% of consumers say an email with a coupon code would influence them to buy. Coupons are a very effective way to get impulse sales and make your email subscribers happy. 78% of people expect a retailer’s email promotions to include personalized offers and recommendations.

8 in 10 consumers who sign up for brand emails will make a purchase based on what they receive in their inbox. Give your customers a reason to stay subscribed to your list by sending out personalized emails with informative and engaging content and coupons.

Using marketing automation, you can even send out different offers to different segments based on how much they have purchased in the past. If you haven’t already invested in a good email marketing software, it’s time to do so now.

You can also increase the number of emails you send out during holiday season. Retailers saw an 88% increase in email revenue when sending two mailings in a day during last holiday season.

4. Advertise on Facebook and Pinterest

51% of holiday shoppers will use social media to get gift ideas, while 50% of holiday shoppers will use social media to find discounts and sale information.

Facebook accounts for 50% of total social referrals and 64% of total social revenue. 13% of shoppers turn to Facebook and 8.8% of shoppers will use Pinterest for holiday shopping inspiration.

2/3rds of Pinterest users look up pins via their mobile while in store. You can use Pinterest’s Promoted Pins to reach this demographic. You can also create special pins with your discount codes and special offers for your Pinterest shoppers.

If you want to stay top-of-mind with your customers, you need to invest in ads and content that are designed to provide them with the information they’re looking for.

Promote your discounts, sales and coupon codes in ads on Facebook and Pinterest. If you have the capability, use Facebook’s Place Tips for Businesses to push your content in front of your customers in-store.

Place Tips gather useful information about a business or landmark – like posts from the business’ Page, upcoming events and friends’ recommendations and check-ins – and show it at the top of News Feed to in-store visitors.

They are shown to people who are in store and who have given Facebook permission to access their location on their phone. They’re also shown to people who check in to the business on Facebook. You can take advantage of Place Tips to offer special content to in-store customers based on their location.

5. Target Millennials With Content Marketing

67% of millennials say they have never clicked on a sponsored post. 95 % say their friends are their most credible source of information. For many of them, blogs are a credible source of information.

If your target audience comprises mostly of this demographic, try selling to them with content marketing rather than ads. Have a plan to create remarkable content and tell engaging stories to get the interest of the millennial audience.

Create a content marketing plan targeting millennials and their pain points and put it into action during this season. Show them how your products have helped your customers solve their problems, and how they can potentially help them solve theirs.

Viral videos, well-written blog posts and stories told from your customer’s point of view are some of the best ways to get under their radar and create interest in your products and business.

Must read: How to Generate Blog Post Ideas (A Beginner’s Guide)

Since it’s the season for giving, you could even tie up with a charity and showcase your efforts to help them this season. Make your customers feel like they are making lives better with every purchase and they will eagerly choose you over other retailers.

Did you like these holiday marketing campaign ideas? Let me know in the comments below.