The season’s magic is now!
You can smile with shopping bags, gift bags, room decorations, and fancy dinners. Holidays can bring joy to anyone in the world. Holidays are not just for individuals. They can also be a great time for businesses. Marketers need to be strategic in holiday marketing.
People spend a lot of money every year during the holiday season. More than 51% of holiday shoppers plan to shop around Thanksgiving 2021. Holiday shopping sales are expected to reach $859 million in 2021, an increase of 10.5% over 2020.
If your company does not invest in holiday marketing strategies or ideas, it could be at risk of a huge loss.
You need to place holiday marketing campaigns all over the world, from social media, to email marketing, content creation, and social sharing. You should also consider offering loyalty and reward bonuses as a way to increase customer retention and sales.
Although marketing automation is an integral part of any successful marketing strategy, it is often underutilized.
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Automated holiday marketing campaigns can increase sales and customer retention
For many years, marketing has been the cornerstone of holiday marketing strategies. Statista statistics show that more than 80% of Americans shop online. It is important to create a strong strategy that your end-users will appreciate. Marketing professionals should incorporate automation into their strategy, rather than custom-defining and creating each touchpoint. Automation will save time and help you achieve the best results.
We have 8 automated campaign ideas that will help you increase your holiday sales.
1. Email marketing to increase lead quality
Email is a key component of any marketing automation campaign. Email automation is one of the best ways to increase open rates and engage with your subscribers.
Email marketing is a great way to reach out to current clients and generate new leads. Email marketing is the best way to connect with your target audience because it can be accessed instantly from mobile and tablet devices.
Timing is everything. It is important to send the email prior to, during, or just before the sale closes. This is a great way to increase sales last minute.
2. Retargeting customers
People focus on spending their holiday money quickly, but many companies rush to complete their last spending rounds before the end, which can lead to overextending their budget. It is better to use this time to sell to existing customers than to spend too much trying to convert prospects into first-timers.
Retargeting advertising can be used on Google’s Display Network, Facebook, and Instagram to remind customers about products they have viewed in the past. This will encourage them to return to your site. This is a great way to get seasonal discounts early to customers who have already purchased your products.
This is the perfect time to convert those who are still on the fence! To create marketing campaigns and sales content that grab attention, you can invest in the automation of sales content.
3. Strategy Building to Attract New Subscribers
Combine your email marketing efforts and carefully linked direct emails to get the best results.
Email marketing can help you gain new customers and subscribers. Email marketing has been a key part of holiday marketing campaigns for many years.
As website traffic increases, so will your email subscribers. As a way to automate holiday marketing communications, create an email series to welcome these new subscribers.
Not only do welcome emails make your brand more human and inviting, but they are also more likely to be opened at a higher rate which is a huge advantage in attracting new subscribers.
4. VIP Customers Get Early Access
Offer early access deals to reward your customers before the holiday rush. This makes them feel special and encourages them to purchase before the holiday season.
Launch email campaigns to thank customers who are regulars. Offer preseason discounts and unique prizes for consumers who share their stories, photos, and opinions on social media.
5. Social Media’s Power: How to Maximize It
Engaging your audience with giveaways or sharing content is a low-cost way to get them excited about an upcoming event. Encourage your followers to comment, like, and post about your contest. This will increase participation.
Companies have used giveaways for a long time to increase sales and generate interest in their products. Promotional competitions and prizes can quickly get your target audience excited about the upcoming holidays and your company.
You can host a Twitter hashtag contest, a Facebook photo caption contest, a festive quiz, or a wish contest depending on the size and budget of your team.
6. Upsells are a great way to attract customers
Bundles are not as effective as upsells when it comes to increasing your AOV. These are often add-ons to order and are often connected to the original purchase.
It’s great that they are shown to customers who are clearly in the buying mood, having made it to the checkout page.
Upsells can increase revenue and customer satisfaction, as they provide customers exactly what they need, such as matching spoons for their egg cups, or socks to match their new shoes.
7. Multi-Channel Marketing
You must be already committed to a multichannel strategy. Now it is time to automate and optimize your marketing efforts to maximize your results. Automation is an essential component of holiday marketing because it is triggered by the recipient’s activities. Automation allows you to reach the appropriate customers at the right moment with the right message.
Hyper-targeted automated campaigns are, in other words. These direct mail marketing techniques can increase engagement by a significant amount.
To entice social media followers, offer special deals to encourage them to support the cause. A social media contest is a great way to give away items. Interactive contests are more beneficial for you.
8. Push Notifications: Take Advantage
Email should not be the only tool for holiday marketing. It can be combined with other messaging channels to increase sales. Digital marketers will find browser alerts a great benefit, as they have to review and discard tens of thousands of emails each day. You can create an auto-growing list of marketing contacts by using browser notifications.
Because there are so many messages flooding subscribers’ inboxes with information, SMS and online push notifications may be more effective than email.
Holidays are a great time to reach your internet followers. Smart marketers know that to maximize profits and increase revenue, they need to grab as much attention as possible in a short time.
However, you must ensure that your notifications are properly automated. You can set your web push notifications to autopilot and see the money start rolling in. Automating your web push notifications at the right moment makes all the difference. You can determine when your traffic is highest and which devices consumers prefer to purchase on. Then, send your notifications accordingly.
Insider Tips for Automated Holiday Marketing campaigns
Even if you use all the techniques, your campaign strategy might not yield the best results. Personalization is a key component of marketing automation leads. Customers will engage if they feel they are more than just a number.
Personalization is the secret key to multichannel marketing via email, social media, and other channels. Most marketers ignore it. While the same strategy may have worked in the past, it won’t always work. You need to do more with your marketing campaigns. You can rise with personalized email marketing, social media marketing, or video marketing.
Facebook’s personalization approach is amazing, for example. Facebook creates personal videos for users all the time, for anniversaries or friendversary, creating a special memory lane.
A majority of 80% of customers will buy from companies that offer customized experiences. Personalization is a key component of modern marketing. It helps to create better customer interactions. They are now customizing content for all their marketing channels to include the information customers care about.
Top 3 Tips for Holiday Marketing Success
1. Watch Your Falls and Hits
Without looking back at the past, you can’t improve, simplify or change holiday marketing campaigns for seasonal events. To evaluate which strategies worked and which failed, you must first look at customer analytics before you start to develop marketing ideas.
2. You can run test offers before you go to the main campaigns
The entire holiday season is crucial for companies. To achieve your marketing automation campaign goals you must test the offers as soon as possible. You can sign up for email testing, get push notifications to give VIP customers early access, or host online contests.
3. Loyal Customers Get Special Deals
Loyal customers are your best source of new customers and massive sales. You can make them feel special with offers that will help grow your business and increase ROI. Ensure that your holiday campaigns are successful and deliver unique experiences to customers.
Wrapping up
One of the best ways to invest in a strong emotional connection with your holiday audience is by investing during the holidays. You can make your next season a success by segmenting your customers and making your campaigns easy to share.
Get started now with your holiday planning by taking a leaf out of our holiday marketing ideas guide. Use direct subject lines, broadcast value-adds, and automation. Retargeting is a good idea. You can use some of our suggestions to build trust, increase sales and convert customers into loyal ones.