6 Tips For Effective Holiday Marketing!

6 Tips For Effective Holiday Marketing!

by | Blog, Branding, Marketing

The Holidays are practically here! While for many that means Christmas shopping, Thanksgiving meals, and delicious hot cocoa, you still have a business to run. That means that this holiday season consists of more than good food and cool decorations. You have to stay ahead of the game this season, not only keeping your business in front of your customers but doing it in a way that’s appropriate to the season.

Don’t worry, even if you’re just now getting around to holiday marketing, there’s still so much you can do to greatly improve your business sales! Check out these 6 Holiday Marketing Tips to maximize your reach, your profits, and your productivity this holiday season.

6 Tips for Effective Holiday Marketing

#1 Start planning your holiday marketing campaigns as early as possible.

While many recommend that you begin your holiday marketing plans in July, right now it’s November so you don’t exactly have the ability to go back in time. But that in no way means you shouldn’t still plan for holiday campaigns! You should get on it as soon as possible, start creating some killer campaigns that you can complete in the time you have, and then follow through.

#2 Don’t just sell your products; sell your brand.

People know when someone is trying to sell them a product. It’s annoying, pushy, and let’s be honest: there are many products similar to that one, so maybe stop putting all of your efforts into making your product sound so life-changing. You can try to also market your brand. What makes it different? What makes it stand out from your competition? Why are you the best choice? Why would someone care about it this holiday season?

#3 Repetition

Repetition might sound annoying to you, but it sells, so market often. This means sending multiple emails, directing mailers or holiday cards announcing your sales, talking to people about your brand, checking up on old leads, and more. There is an old advertising rule that says repetition is the key to success, so be sure that your repetition is valuable and then go market that thing. Who doesn’t want to hear about Christmas sales more than once?

#4 Create Limited-Time, Short-Term Offers

Create some limited-time offers in order to incentivize your customers to buy now and not wait until later. You have to provide something that people want to buy, but you also have to give them a reason to buy it. While a lot of shopping happens out of necessity or convenience, especially during the holidays, you can help increase your sales by creating a sense of urgency. Limited-time offers should be your friend.

#5 Focus On Your Target Market

Define your niche, identify your target market, and then sell to it, even throughout the holidays. Many businesses fail by trying to sell to anyone and everyone when the sad reality is that not everyone wants what you sell. You should concentrate on marketing your niche products specifically to a highly targeted audience rather than to an unknown abyss of everyone. Learn how to segment your audience, learn about your audience, and sell to them how they want to be sold to. This will save you time, effort, disappointment, and probably money.

#6 Host An Event

If you’re trying to get more customers through your door, then host a holiday season event. This could be a tree-lighting ceremony with free hot chocolate and a visit from Santa Clause, or a stocking-stuffing party with candy and crafts, or really anything else that will interest your audience.

Bonus: Budget-Friendly Holiday Marketing Tips

If you’re trying to minimize your holiday budget, try techniques to encourage multiple sales at once:

  • Customer loyalty cards
  • Referral cards for discounts
  • Family-and-friend coupons
  • Add-on product options at checkout

You can also try partnering with businesses in your community to help boost sales since they’re likely to be seeking ways to increase their profits as well! Try things like cross-promoting, referral agreements, product-sharing, or more!

Have a great week!

Robyn Bennett

 

PS: I want to offer you a chance to jump on the VIP waitlist and be among the FIRST to access my Black Friday offer before I launch it. Click here to get on the VIP waitlist today: Being on the VIP list means you will get access to the details on my Black Friday special offer before everyone else!

It’s About Looks, Sometimes! Four Things Your Brand Needs To Pop!

It’s About Looks, Sometimes! Four Things Your Brand Needs To Pop!

by | Branding, Contributed Post

***Contributed Post

When you are trying to establish your business brand, you are likely to look at what your competition is up to and move forward from there. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but you have to be able to own your brand without a cheap copy of others. Branding is no longer an option for businesses these days, not when you need a strong website, a solid social media presence and merchandise that can knock the socks off even the trendiest client out there. You have to be so mindful about the brand that your business has because this is the face that you will be showing to the world.

When you think about the biggest companies out there, you associate them with names. Oprah Winfrey, for example, is not just the name of the host of a show, she’s a brand, in the same way that McDonald’s is recognised worldwide for its golden arches and McNuggets. Looks DO matter, and whether you are currently crunching the numbers to fit a good social media boost to your website or you’re thinking about labeling solutions for your products; everything that you do has to reflect your brand and what you want to achieve. There are a lot of things that a business needs to achieve to establish a recognisable and competitive brand, and four of those things are listed below:

Image Source

A Vision. No, you don’t physically need glasses for this, but you do need to be able to see into the future and envision where you want your business to go. You need to have an understanding of what your business is and what you want it to accomplish. Once you have that, you have a purpose.

A Message. You have to have something that speaks to people. A message is something that is unique to your business compared to the competition that you could come up against. You need to know what you want to say to people and you need to say it louder than anyone else in your industry. This way, people can sit up and take notice.

An Audience. While you ponder the message that you want to send out to the world, you need to know who your audience is. They are going to be the ones that receive your message and you want them to receive it well. Consider your message against your audience and learn where to market them together.

A Coach. Some small startups have no idea what they’re doing in terms of branding, which can make for a very messy brand. A coach or mentor in the field who has walked the walk before can give you the guidance that you need.

Branding is going to set you apart from the other companies in your industry that you will be competing with. You are your brand, so the real question is how you want people to see you. Once you know that, you can move forward to success.

3 Ways You Can Increase Your Conversion Rate Right Now

3 Ways You Can Increase Your Conversion Rate Right Now

by | Blog, Branding, Conversions, List Building

Today’s topic we will cover how you can improve your landing page conversion rates with 3 simple changes.

For the most part, readers have short attention spans. 

I’m sure that’s no big surprise to you. In fact, you probably browse the Internet at light speed, too, skipping to the bottoms of sales pages, and fast-forwarding through videos just so you can get to the next thing.

The same is true for your readers, and if you want to capture their attention long enough to entice them to opt-in to your mailing list, then you have to keep that in mind.

1. A Tip From Newspaper Publishers

Have you ever noticed that everything you need to know about a news story is in the first paragraph? 

Journalists are trained to answer all the questions—who, what, where, when, why and how—in the first few sentences, just in case the story gets cut off when the paper goes to print.

In today’s online world, where column inches no longer matter, this type of story formatting isn’t quite so critical anymore, but it’s still a useful tip to use when you’re writing an opt-in page.

Think about it: If your readers are skimmers (as most of us are) then making sure you include the most important information right at the top of the page is going to greatly improve your conversion rates.

For opt-in pages, that means putting the biggest benefits in your subject line and following it up with two or three sentences that build on your headline. That’s it. Keep it short, sweet, and benefit-driven, and you’ll have greater success than you would with longer content.

2. Graphics Matter

Whether your opt-in incentive is an e-book, a video, or even a simple checklist, having a graphic representation of your offer is an important part of your landing page.

You could create an e-book or CD cover, which you can easily outsource, but be sure you follow these strategies:

  • Bold fonts and short titles make your cover more readable.
  • Use high-contrast colors for more visibility.
  • Be true to your brand and stay with colors and fonts your readers expect.

3. Crafting a Compelling Call to Action

You might think that when readers land on your opt-in page they know exactly what to do, but that’s not true. You need to invite them to take the next step. Give them clear instructions and you’ll have higher conversion rates than if you just leave it to chance.

Your call to action needs to tell your reader exactly what to do, like this:

  • Click here to download
  • Enter your name and email for instant access

Watch the text on your form buttons, too. After all words like “Subscribe” or “Sign Up” don’t exactly excite you do they? Consider using a phrase that matches your call to action instead, such as:

  • Get the Checklist!
  • Send the Video!

Take a look at your opt-in pages. Do they follow these strategies? If not, consider making some changes to your copy, your images, and your calls to action, then watch your results. You’ll more than likely see a boost in conversion rates if you do.

Have a great 24 hours!

Robyn

P.S: If you’re looking for virtual support in growing your business, click here to schedule a call with me where we can discuss your business needs and how I can help you.