Are you ready to gear up your online sales this holiday season?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are right around the corner. National Retail Federation (NRF) sees sales in November and December jumping 4.1% to $616.9 billion (excluding autos, gas, and restaurant sales), up 1% from the 2013 increase. Did you know that in 2013, $150 million dollars in revenue was generated just between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday? Total online sales generated from November 1 to December 31 was a whopping $46.5 Billion. You still have time to gear up your online marketing efforts to garner a piece of that revenue.
Gift-to-yourselfSocial Media. People are already talking about holiday shopping. Your products/services need to be in the conversation for people to talk about them. Referrals from Social Media accounted for the highest percentage of purchases in 2013. Here are some ideas you can implement right now:
Create a Pinterest board of holiday gift ideas and include some of your products in the mix.
Use Instagram to post up photos of your goods
Use #gifts, #giftidea and #shopping hashtags, as they are already starting to trend high.
Change your Facebook cover photo to one of your best-selling items. Be sure to link the photo to your sales page
Paid Advertising: Whether it is Google AdWords, or social media, paid advertising increases your content’s exposure exponentially. Google AdWords lets you buy the targeted keywords that best suit your products. Social Media ad buys give the opportunity to target behaviors and demographics that match your target customer.
Email Marketing: Strategic email marketing can create greater awareness about your goods and services. Email marketing also generates a high level of spontaneous purchases.
Use a special “email list only” coupon
Bundle goods for special prices
Create landing pages on your web site for those special packages
Mobile Friendly: Nearly half of last years holiday sales were made from a mobile device. Those numbers are expected to increase this year. Make sure your website and email campaigns translate well on mobile.
What if you are NOT in retail?
For those of you who offer services, now is a great time to offer gift certificates to your customers and “soon to be” customers. From massage therapists to coaches, you too can participate in the holiday buying frenzy. There is a lot of focus on simplifying the home, life and work. Gift Certificates offer a way for people to buy meaningful gifts without increasing the clutter.