To help you kick things off the right way, here are our simple but effective steps to take to ensure your digital marketing strategy produces results.
#1 Plan early, plan well
Planning your Christmas digital marketing strategy is not just a matter of deciding whether you’ll be using Facebook and Instagram, or just Google Adwords. You’ll need to consider:
- What you’ll be promoting
- Who is most likely to buy these items
- Where this target audience spends most of their time, digitally-speaking
- The best channels to reach them, considering the above point
- What your Unique Selling Points are (price, availability, bundling, delivery)
- What date you want to start your campaigning
- What milestone dates you need to highlight through your campaign (i.e. Black Friday, Boxing Day Sales etc.)
- What budget you have, and how you want to allocate this
- What research and data you have to enable you to choose the right budget allocation, keywords, target audience areas etc.
#2 Are you really ready?
It’s all well and good marketing great deals and getting traction in your target audience, but can your business handle the extra load? While you’re planning the campaign, do a quick sanity check for the following:
- What logistics you’ll need in place to ensure timely delivery
- Is your website able to handle multiple concurrent customers?
- Is your website mobile responsive? More than 80% of online shoppers use a mobile to browse and/or buy, so you’ll need to ensure your site gives them a great experience.
- Is your website content up to date, and who will be handling the promoted items section in terms of imagery, content, stock levels etc.?
- Do you have the support staff in place to handle queries?
- How are you setting up feedback loops? For example, are customers encouraged to leave reviews on your social media pages?
- Who will be handling the day-to-day marketing campaigns, updating creative assets where necessary, reporting and monitoring performance, tweaking budgets and channels to ensure the best possible result?
#3 Get creative
Now that you know what you’ll be offering, and who you’re targeting to buy your great offers, it’s time to stand out from the crowd in terms of your marketing assets. For this, you’ll need to consider:
How you communicate these great deals
- Have you got a specific theme you can pull through the entire campaign?
- How can your Christmas messaging be different to your competitor’s?
- What imagery can you use to differentiate your campaign?
- What innovative and creative formats can you use across the various channels? For example, Instagram Stories have a very high engagement rate, as do Carousel Ads on Facebook.
What creative assets you’ll need to suit the marketing channels you’ve identified.
- You’ll need to consider desktop and mobile sizes
- Will you be using video? It’s one of the highest engagement formats, so you should consider it!
- Do you have a creative designer, images, videos etc. in-house, or will you need to source a contractor?
#4 That Feel Good Factor
We’ve all been impacted in some way by the events of 2020, and it’s been really encouraging to see how communities have rallied together in support of those who most need it.
Christmas is an especially difficult time for many who don’t have family, friends or support, and may also be feeling the financial impact of Covid-19. To be part of the positive change, consider:
- How your company can contribute to a good cause
- How your marketing brings that into the mix without sounding opportunistic
- What ongoing positive impact you can have i.e. not just for Christmas period
It may seem like a lot to consider but actually, these are things you’ll likely have been doing throughout the year anyway, or at least we hope so! So, it’s just a matter of getting your ducks (or turkeys!) in a row and ramping things up as the Festive Season approaches!
But the good news is there is plenty of help and advice available to guide you – contact one of our friendly digital marketing experts today and let’s help you get your campaigns off to a flyer. Call us on 01223 550800 or email us at info@realnet.co.uk, we look forward to hearing from you.