Tips for Keeping Your Marketing Active during the Holidays

As the calendar winds down into the last few months of 2015, we find ourselves once again heading into that busy holiday season. With all the extra preparations and tasks on our to-do lists, it can be tempting to take your foot off the gas when it comes to your marketing efforts. But as much as we could all use those extra hours in our days, pulling back now can put a serious damper on your revenue both now and in the months to come, so our experts at McCauley Marketing Services are offering some tips that may help you make the most of the season.

• Start planning early.

As we’ve already established, the holiday season is pretty tough on everyone’s schedules. Getting organized can be the key to staying on top of things, so start now and make a detailed plan, including any special discounts you’re planning, as well as exactly how and when to promote them (like which Facebook posts you’ll be boosting on which days, when you want have signage posted, etc.).

• Optimize your online marketing strategy.

Every year, more and more people turn to the internet to plan and complete their holiday shopping. With nearly one billion websites vying for first-page visibility in search engines, now’s the time to revamp your web presence by customizing your search engine optimization (SEO) for your special offers, making sure your promotions are prominently displayed on your site, and, most of all, ensuring that your site is mobile-friendly. This can help your holiday sales run more smoothly so can you spend less time fixing problems or trying to pull in more web traffic.

• Find ways to cater to the busy shopper and streamline your process.

If you have a packed calendar throughout November and December, so do your customers. Now is the perfect time to make your purchasing process more efficient – which can do you AND your consumers a favor. Optimizing your mobile site can make a powerful difference by making it convenient for people to shop, book appointments, or find information quickly. You can also consider investing in more customer relationship management employees during the holiday season, either to fulfill orders and help customers more quickly or to extend your available hours. Even a small amount of added convenience can make consumers more likely to choose you over your competitors, especially when their schedules are pinched.

• Take advantage of special shopping days.

Black Friday has long been a staple of the shopping year, and Cyber Monday has quickly become a huge event of its own. Even non-retail companies can get in on the fun. For instance, if you’re a medical spa, try offering a discount on cosmetic facial injections for anyone who stops in on Black Friday and schedules their appointment, or offer a special on any online products you sell for Cyber Monday. For small business, try taking advantage of the new up-and-coming shopping day, Small Business Saturday, which is organized by American Express on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to encourage consumers to shop local.

• Plan ahead on your social media marketing.

While you should always maintain a bit of flexibility in your social media marketing efforts so you can incorporate current events and trending topics, having more time to think about and plan a post can bring you a higher return than tossing up a quick, not-well-thought-out post to maintain your quote of X posts per week. Remember to incorporate hashtags you can expect to be popular, like #Thanksgiving or #BlackFriday.

Keeping up a robust marketing strategy and using these tips during the holidays can not only help you get your slice of the proverbial pie this year, but it can help you hit the ground running for next year, too, because your customers will remember how easy it was to do business with you. With such high stakes, it’s important to continuously track your results so you can make adjustments as necessary, and if you’ve been considering getting help from a professional marketing time, this can be a great time to give it a try. To start discussing how we can help you make the most of the holiday season, schedule a meeting with McCauley Marketing Services. Or, for more helpful marketing and advertising tips, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.