3 Ways To Win At Holiday Marketing

And a ton of holiday shopping. In fact, most consumers started their holiday shopping weeks before you began reading this sentence; on the other end of the spectrum, a huge chunk of customers actually do their holiday gift shopping on Christmas Eve – even some as late as Christmas Day.

Talk about procrastination, right? So, if you’re reading this article about how you can get the jump on holiday shopping as a marketer – you’re already ahead of the proverbial curve.

TWENTY. MILLION. TIMES.

In fact, rethink the concept you have a “mall” altogether; if you are around the same age as us (hint: Super Nintendo), you remember that the cool thing to do was hang out at your local mall on the weekend (or after school during the week if you were…rad). And that’s still a cool idea, only now, the mall exists on your phone. Not only are millennials and beyond gathering within social media as community forums to discuss their favourite shows, watch new media, and keep updated on the popular news – but make their entire purchasing decisions from start to finish.

From clicking on your Facebook Ad to “add to cart”, the mobile phone represents every step of the buying process – from window shopping to the register. All considered, your best move as a marketer for Christmas 2017 is to follow these three best practices we’ve derived from trends and data within recent years.

It’s no secret: personalized shopping experiences are that much more than generic advertising approaches.

A whopping 49% of smartphone owners prefer sites and apps that provide recommended products based on their prior views, sales, and purchases in similar areas.

Accordingly, you should be cross-platform with your advertising efforts to reach consumers on the most effective levels. Remember our article on Winning Black Friday? The same principles on maximizing your brand’s success for that holiday are the same as Christmas 2017; consumers have the ability to switch from mobile-to-desktop-to-tablet to start and complete their buying processes.

Also, think about employing callout and sitelink extensions among as many of your Search Ads as possible; we know we bring these features up all the time, but they’re quintessential to the success of your ads in general, let alone for the holiday season.

With speed and efficiency representing the forefront of success during the holidays, these two AdWords features will help improve your ad CTR across the board but more importantly will provide the end-consumer with the direct links to what they’re looking to purchase.

• Callout Extensions: add callouts as benefits or standout points for your ad (free shipping, price matching, etc.).
• Sitelink Extensions: links directly to specific pages on site (product pages, for example).
• Remember: the simpler the path to purchase for end-consumers, the higher the likelihood of conversions on your site/ads.

On the subject of timing, it’s one-third of the marketing equation: meeting the right customers, at the right time, with the right information.

On the subject of information, many customers aren’t just looking for what they want this Christmas – but what they should avoid. Mobile searches for “___ to avoid” and “is ___ the best” are common and have shot up over the past two years. What does that mean for you as a marketer? Ensure your reviews are up to par with Google, Bing, and other review sites – but also consider revising your negative keyword lists specifically for the holiday season to include what customers aren’t looking for.