Digital Marketing 101: How to Maximise Your Christmas Sales
Posted on 17th December 2021
Christmas 2020 was a bit of a non-event for many but that’s about to change as consumers are determined to make up for it during Christmas 2021. With many high street stores closing their doors over the festive period last year due to the last minute lockdown, this year they are throwing open the doors and welcoming excited shoppers.
But for many retailers, particularly those that promoted their online stores, Christmas 2020, wasn’t as bad as many had expected. In a survey conducted by GLG Insights, 60% of their respondents reported meeting, if not exceeding, their sales budgets. With demand and competition high in the online e-commerce world, and still the need to meet sales targets, how can you maximise your Christmas and New Year sales this year? We’ve got some great digital marketing tips for the small business.
What are your goals?
Before you hit the button on your sales promotions, it’s vitally important to set out your digital marketing strategy. So, you need to define goals for Christmas and New Year sales and then work out how you are going to achieve them. The S.M.A.R.T. acronym – Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant and Timely – is a great way to help you with your goals.
Our top tips
Get your website ready – whatever the type of website you have, i.e. an online shop or dedicated ecommerce website, make sure it’s SEO optimised, mobile friendly and above all up to the challenge of handling a surge in increased sales. Make sure all product images are of good quality, the product descriptions are informative, easy to read, include key information and not too long, that pages load quickly and the checkout process is quick and easy. Don’t forget to maximise your landing pages, too, and ensure there are no 404 errors.
Social media – no digital marketing strategy should be without using your social media channels to promote your Christmas sales. With more than 1.8 billion active users a month on Facebook alone, not to mention Twitter and Instagram, social media is one of the best ways to get the word out about your Christmas and New Year sales. Whether your sale starts in November and runs up to Christmas, or you are focusing on Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, or your sales are starting on New Year’s Day, get your Christmas social media marketing going with a campaign of regular boosted posts and even Facebook ads.
Make your content Christmassy – at this festive time of the year, adjust your online content and make it Christmassy. If you have videos on your website, consider changing the background music (or adding, if you don’t have music) to a popular Christmas carol, song or even a song from a big hit Christmas movie.
Email marketing – if there’s ever a good time to get going with your email marketing, the festive period is it. Emails put your Christmas promotion right in front of your target customers and the likelihood that they’ll click through to your website almost immediately is high. As well as sending emails to your subscribers, don’t forget to send to past customers and qualified leads that haven’t bought from your online shop for a while. Add a special promotion, such as an extra 10% off if customers use the coupon code in the email. Make sure you plan your email campaigns carefully and test your emails before you send them.
PPC ads – if you’re not using pay-per-click advertising, you should be. If you’re already using Google Ads, adjust your adverts to promote your Christmas deals. If you’re not using PPC ads yet, consider doing an ads campaign as a way to increase sales over a short period of time, like the festive season. Target Christmas-related keywords, or even how to save money over the Christmas and New Year period. If you don’t want to do Google Ads, consider Facebook Ads or Twitter Ads and promote via your social media channels.
Deals, deals, deals – within reason! Don’t be tempted to offer too many deals or to cut your prices too much. Create an urgency around your promotion across social media, through PPC ads and online by using a countdown on your offers. This will encourage your buyers to make a decision before the deadline or they might miss out.
Create a Christmas video – it’s all about visuals today and videos are hot. Have a look at some of the Christmas promotional videos your competitors are posting on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to get an idea of what they are doing. Personalise your video in some way, such as co-workers’ singing a Christmas carol.
Reward loyal customers – your existing, loyal customers are just as important as your new customers. Keep them loyal by rewarding them with a special offer, gift cards, special coupon codes or cashback. Use your email marketing campaign to notify them of your offers.
Monitor, analyse and adjust – above all, you must monitor your Christmas and New Year digital marketing campaigns and cross-reference the results with your digital marketing strategy. Keep an eye on your website analytics, look at the pages that are being visited the most, study the click-through rates and sales from your PPC and email campaigns, and monitor activity on your social media channels. Make any adjustments according to the analytics, such as changing the content in a PPC campaign or adjusting a website landing page.
The festive season is a time for giving and this year, people are wanting to celebrate this Christmas and New Year like no other. Now is the best time to maximise your Christmas sales.
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