{"id":142368,"date":"2020-11-13T15:09:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T15:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=142368"},"modified":"2022-11-11T08:30:24","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T08:30:24","slug":"four-digital-marketing-strategies-to-prepare-for-a-wild-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/11\/13\/four-digital-marketing-strategies-to-prepare-for-a-wild-holiday-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Four digital marketing strategies to prepare for a wild holiday season"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<h3>30-second summary:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Ecommerce has become an increasingly important element of any business, but it is more important than ever going into the 2020 holiday season.<\/li>\n<li>With the plethora of brands vying for ad space online, companies must make the most of their marketing budgets by adjusting their digital strategies.<\/li>\n<li>Socium Media CEO Owen Loft offers four tips for breaking through the noise to get in front of your customers and boost sales this holiday season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Retailers already set up for online sales had an immediate advantage, but others quickly fell behind. Instead of reaping profits from consumers who have chosen to shop from home, retailers without online infrastructures have missed out on booming sales opportunities. <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/11\/06\/customer-experience-optimization-cxo-for-online-stores-three-proven-seo-tactics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Online shopping<\/a> was already trending upward before the pandemic, but the pandemic pushed the shift from physical to ecommerce <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/08\/24\/covid-19-pandemic-accelerated-shift-to-e-commerce-by-5-years-new-report-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ahead by five years<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses cannot afford to overlook digital. But one question remains: How can they bolster their online presence and get in front of their target customers in the current landscape?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Holiday season 2020: A perfect storm of competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Reaching customers who have flocked online has become more challenging (not to mention costly) as large retailers take control of valuable advertising space. And big-box stores aren\u2019t the only ones driving up the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sociummedia.com\/blog\/utilizing-smart-bidding-when-limited-by-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cost of digital advertising<\/a> \u2014 political candidates have sunk more than <a href=\"https:\/\/adage.com\/article\/campaign-trail\/presidential-campaign-ad-spending-surges-past-15-billion\/2274006\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three billion dollars into campaign advertising<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n<p>Major retailers such as Best Buy and Walmart are taking more online-centric approaches to holiday shopping this year. Many have already announced that they will keep their physical stores closed on Thanksgiving. Some will even remain closed on Black Friday or offer limited shopping hours, pushing customers to stay home and shop online.<\/p>\n<p>With the coronavirus pandemic stretching into the fourth quarter of 2020, major elections, and the holiday season, marketers have major competition for valuable online ad space.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Revamp your digital marketing strategy to reach customers at home<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>To break through the noise and make the <a href=\"https:\/\/ceoworld.biz\/2020\/08\/26\/3-precautions-to-take-during-marketing-budget-talks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">most of your marketing budget<\/a> in the current environment, you must adjust your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.overthetopseo.com\/digital-marketing-strategy-guide\/\">digital marketing strategies<\/a>. Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Prepare for the early rush<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In years past, Black Friday signaled the start of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/key-insights-holiday-sales-predictions-milestone-dates-and-consumer-online-shopping-challenges\/264130\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">holiday shopping<\/a>. This year, however, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/key-insights-amazon-prime-day-2020-highlights-on-sales-and-funding\/263874\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amazon\u2019s annual Prime Day<\/a> \u2014 typically held in the summer \u2014 was rescheduled to early October due to the pandemic. Some experts predict this will be the starting point for holiday shopping in 2020, which amounts to roughly an extra month and a half of holiday-related advertising and deals.<\/p>\n<p>Another reason for the early start? Getting ahead of anticipated shipping delays. Some businesses already have felt the coronavirus-related strain on deliveries; pair that with additional demand, and customers will probably start shopping early to make sure their gifts arrive on time for the holidays. It will be more important than ever to start your holiday marketing efforts early. You\u2019ll also want to communicate shipping cut-off dates clearly on your website so customers can plan their purchases accordingly.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Leverage your email lists<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>With major events converging at once \u2014 COVID-19, the 2020 election, and the holidays \u2014 consumers will be bombarded with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sociummedia.com\/blog\/top-5-alternatives-to-google-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ads across the internet<\/a>. Considering this perfect storm, it might be easier to reach your target customers in their inboxes. And if they subscribe to your business\u2019s emails, it means they\u2019ve had positive experiences and trust your brand. They\u2019ll be more likely to order from you, a known quantity, rather than the thousands of other retailers jockeying for their attention.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Highlight gift-able items in your ads<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Some items in your business\u2019s inventory simply won\u2019t wrap well, while others are practically made to be gifted. Analyze your inventory and determine which products would fit in a gift guide for your business.<\/p>\n<p>To do this, harness the data you already have. Which products are popular with your customers? What were your top sellers during the 2019 holiday season? You should also research consumer trends to see what up-and-coming products will be popular this year, which will allow you to highlight them in your marketing.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019re armed with that knowledge, make sure you have adequate inventory of those products \u2014 even if those items aren\u2019t your typical bestsellers \u2014 and plan your marketing strategy around them. With <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/31\/image-optimization-for-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">high-quality images<\/a> and video and updated ad copy ready to go, those products are sure to fly off the shelves.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Be flexible<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While online shopping is by no means new, ecommerce in the time of COVID-19 is unprecedented. Retailers \u2014 even major ones \u2014 can\u2019t predict how consumers will behave this year. With a slew of retailers staying closed during the traditional holiday shopping times, some consumers may shift to ecommerce for everything. Others may decide to play the waiting game in hopes that physical stores reopen before the holiday season kicks into gear.<\/p>\n<p>Because it\u2019s impossible to know precisely what consumers will do, your tried-and-true marketing methods may not work. If you don\u2019t already, prepare some contingency marketing plans in case you need to pivot quickly and try a new strategy to reach your customers.<\/p>\n<p>Ecommerce has steadily become an important part of business, but this year it is absolutely critical. With a veritable trifecta of competition due to the pandemic, election, and holiday season, marketers must reassess their digital marketing strategies to ensure they can reach customers and boost sales.<\/p>\n<p><em>Owen Loft<\/em><em> is Co-founder of <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sociummedia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Socium Media<\/em><\/a><em>, a performance-focused digital marketing agency specializing in paid search, paid social, and SEO. He can be found on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/owenloft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Digital marketing is critical this year as consumers do their holiday shopping online. Here\u2019s how to adjust your strategies to reach your audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":142370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27893],"tags":[605,27813,27859,27726,30,615,514,282,27299],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-142368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-marketing","tag-black-friday","tag-covid-19","tag-covid-19-and-digital-marketing","tag-digital-marketing-tips","tag-ecommerce","tag-holiday-season","tag-holiday-shopping-season","tag-online-retail","tag-paid-advertising"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":"","tad_content_format":""},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Four-digital-marketing-strategies-to-prepare-for-a-wild-holiday-season.png","category":"Digital Marketing","timeago":"5y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142368"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=142368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}