The holiday season is here. The season of festivities and shopping, which usually start with Halloween, continues through Thanksgiving and leads up to Christmas as well as New Year’s Eve around the end of December. During this time, many e-commerce companies all over the world fight for consumers’ attention.
However, as a B2B marketer, you can also capitalize on this great commercial opportunity. All you have to do is tweak your current digital marketing strategy to benefit this holiday season. To help you with that, we will be discussing 11 such tips to ramp up your business.
Conduct market analysis
Consider the holiday-special marketing strategy to be a fresh one, and accordingly, conduct thorough research on target marketing and audience. Start from scratch and see what works out. The holiday season is not only a time for fun and games, but it is also a stressful time for many people. Many companies also try to get a fresh start with makeovers during this season. Your holiday-specific marketing strategy must factor in this for better results.
At this point, you should also try to compare the previous season’s marketing strategy. If you do have previous strategies, then you can compare them and see what worked for you and what did not. And if you have one that worked last season, check if it is still applicable this year or not.
Design a content-driven strategy
Avoid the usual hard-sell techniques. Instead, focus on creating content that explains why your target audience should choose you. The content should also factor in consumer needs and how your product or service will benefit them. Do not force them to make a purchase, rather, show them how the partnership will be profitable in the long run.
Apart from your usual marketing content, add some lighthearted content to engage and entertain your crowd. Say, a video on Thanksgiving special dessert recipes, a blog on DIY Halloween decoration ideas, or a blog on Christmas gift ideas. While these may or may not be directly related to what you have to offer, they do reflect the festive spirit.
Create a schedule
When you are designing a holiday-themed marketing strategy, keep in mind the number of special occasions. Each occasion will need a special marketing message, landing page information, email, message, social media post, and others. Accordingly, create a content calendar that addresses each festive occasion.
For advertising, having automation tools is a great boon. They give you the power to start, pause, resume, and update your strategy as per your needs. For example, an MNC providing IT services can have a schedule dedicated to Christmas. The schedule can be automated to begin, say, on December 15 and commence on December 25. Creating a schedule well ahead of time gives you time to make changes and track it with ease during rush hour.
Conduct keyword research
Keyword research is crucial here. While conducting keyword research is the most obvious thing to do, conducting it during the holiday season is way more important. The competition is very high in this period, and targeting the usual one will lead you nowhere.
The only way to stay ahead is to target the latest trends and seasonal searches. You can use Google Trends or other popular research tools to help you with keywords. Ensure that the keywords, whether long-tail or short-tail, reflect your product or services. Also, conduct research every year and do not rely on what you did last year. The trends are dynamic, and what was relevant the previous year may not be so this year.
Write crisp ad copy
An advertisement of your products or services is most likely the first thing that a prospective or current customer will see. So ahead of designing content, focus on writing crisp ad copy that reflects festive spirits. Show that you are launching a holiday sale and have something unique to offer. Use targeted keywords to demonstrate that your offering is limited to a single holiday.This shows that your offering is the latest one, further interesting the viewer.
If you are offering any discounts, make sure to include them in the ad.
For example, “All treats & no tricks!! Get a 25% discount on all orders placed for Resolute B2B lead generation services. Grab this awesome offer before October 25.”
Use paid ads
The holiday season is a great time to invest in paid advertising. People usually try to avoid the holiday rush. Start warming them up with targeted ads on social media and search engines. As already said, your competitors will also be vying to get your target customer’s attention. It is crucial that you stand out, more so during the holiday season.
A paid ad is not simply about your product/service but also about you as a brand. Consider your USP and infuse it into your paid ad copy. Say, you offer excellent customer service. Your ad can subtly say, “Resolute B2B’s digital marketing services are most preferred by leading media houses.” Visit us on this festive occasion. If you manufacture television sets acquired only from ethical sources, then your ad can say the same: “Leading smart TV manufacturer Radiant Appliances cares for the environment. Make a perfect choice this holiday season.”
Instil a sense of urgency
To make the best use of the festive season, instil a sense of urgency in your ad copy, landing page, email, message, social media post, and others. Include limited-time offers to push the viewer into making the purchase, which they might be otherwise hesitant about.
Say, your agency is offering a flat 25% discount on its email marketing services, but only until Diwali. Or you are offering free logistical support until November 4. Combine the offers and discounts with crisp ad copy, and you are good to go.
However, there is a fine line between creating a sense of urgency and panicking your customers. The holiday season is a time of festivities and, hence, a great opportunity to build relationships with your consumer base. Do not push them away by devaluing your brand.
React & adapt quickly
Even the best-laid digital marketing strategy might fall flat in the worst-case scenario. You need all hands on deck, especially during the holiday season.You will need a team to be alert to any changing market dynamics and adapt your marketing strategy accordingly.
This tip is valid not only for the content and marketing teams but also for the customer service, operations, and logistics teams. These teams will need to make necessary changes to your existing strategy in case something happens that you have not prepared for. Say your website crashed during the Black Friday sale due to heavy traffic. You can send a message to site visitors saying, “We understand that you are facing issues and are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused.” We are aware of it and trying to work out a solution. Stay with us! Along with this, you will need a team to fix the server and another to handle the unhappy customers.
Capitalize on remarketing
As already said, your competitors will also be offering numerous offers and discounts. Expecting this, customers will be hopping from one site to another looking for options. Since you are a B2B marketer, you cannot use shopping cart abandonment techniques.
Start by analyzing customer behaviour such as interactions and browsing time. Look for visitors who checked out your pricing page, customer testimonials, case studies, or company performance pages. Set triggers on these values to find out about a particular customer’s purchase lifecycle. Say, a prospect registered for your weekly newsletter, went through the case studies, but never made a purchase. Track their behaviour and customize an email marketing campaign.
Offer something for free
Everybody loves a freebie. Make your offers lucrative to encourage a customer to splurge more. Say, you are offering 15% off on email marketing services. You can bundle it and ask the customer to hire you for content marketing services as well and get an additional 10% discount. Alternatively, you can offer free shipping for your products.
Be aware of social responsibility
Today’s customers scrutinize your brand not just based on your offerings but also on how you handle social responsibility. COVID-19 changed how we view the world. Business or not, we are all part of this society and hence have some social commitments. The primary concern will be maintaining business ethics, and the second will be giving back in some form. Such small steps humanize your brand by giving you a persona and a voice. Also, do not make this a one-time occurrence; rather, incorporate it into your strategies.
We know that Christmas is a season of giving. You can collaborate with a local non-profit organization and organize a fundraiser for the underprivileged.
Keep in mind that the holiday season is about festivities and celebrations. And since the customers are central to your business, express your gratitude to them for being with you. Use this opportunity to further strengthen your relationship.
