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2021 holiday shopping is gearing up to be a mobile-commerce explosion. But do you know how to take advantage of this holiday retail season for your online business? I have decades of experience doing holiday social media campaigns. Inside this article, I share the 7 steps you need to execute today to have a successful holiday commerce brand strategy. Don’t wait. Start now with your holiday selling preparation! (scroll down for the free holiday selling guide!)
What are the 2021 holiday shopping predictions?
2021 holiday shopping is gearing up to be a mobile-commerce explosion! According to Business Insider, mobile commerce is predicted to account for 36% of all eCommerce sales this year!!
Online U.S. holiday retail shopping will grow 10% in 2021 to $207 billion after soaring 33% a year ago (totaling $188.2 billion) during the worst of the pandemic, a new study predicts.
How do you run a holiday campaign for your small business?
So what does this mean for your small business? It means that if you want to build deeper relationships with new clients, NOW is the time to start!
While shoppers are looking for convenience, free shipping, and easy returns, they will also start their holiday shopping sooner. Mobile commerce needs to be at the heart of your holiday marketing strategy. Everything from your social media marketing to your website should be accessible and user-friendly on mobile devices.
But like I discuss – it shouldn’t be about one-off sales – it should be about putting in place the right sales process that will give you the ability to scale even after the holidays are over. So let’s get started with your Holiday Marketing plan!
7 STEPS TO EXECUTE A SUCCESSFUL HOLIDAY E-COMMERCE STRATEGY
1. Choose an irresistible offer.
2. Set your growth goals.
3. Decide where to promote.
4. Choose your campaign dates. 5. Determine your social strategy.
6. Create your campaign brand identity.
7. Schedule your content materials.
PIN THIS IMAGE!
1. CHOOSE AN IRRESISTIBLE OFFER
Just how you don’t promote your entire website and spew every collection on shoppers throughout the year – the same goes for your holiday campaign. You never want to overwhelm a customer.
Referring back to your value ladder you should know what products your niche audience needs in order.
New products aren’t usually the best to blast out during the holidays, but you can undoubtedly bundle existing products and services to create new offers.
What is your most popular product? How can you add value to that item to increase their cart price?
Ep 54: How To Add Value To Your Sales Process
2. SET YOUR GROWTH GOALS
Most small businesses have their sites set on more sales. But there are plenty of other ways to measure your success this season. These include building engagement, strengthening your community, growing your email list, improving your brand awareness, inspiring more people, generating more sales, or increasing your funnel conversions.
Sure, increased sales over the holiday months are great, but what I love more than anything is seeing an increase in my niche audience, consuming my content on the regular.
Whether I add new followers on Instagram, or better yet, more readers to my weekly emails, I would consider that growth goal a big WIN that, unfortunately, many business owners overlook.
Here’s the way I put it…
Would you rather have several one-time purchasers over two months of the year or several hundred paying attention to your content and products all year long??
So even if you have a growth goal of sales this holiday season, don’t disregard the fact that an impactful holiday campaign can also grow your email list, strengthen your community, or even improve your brand awareness.
GROWTH GOAL OPTIONS:
- Build engagement
- Strengthen your community
- Grow your email list
- Improve Brand Awareness
- Inspire People
- Generate Sales
- Up Funnel Conversions
3. DECIDE WHERE TO PROMOTE
And let me give you a little hint here… the more platforms, the better.
The holidays are a hectic marketing time for all businesses, so you don’t want to miss your chance of getting your message seen.
I recommend at the minimum planning an email marketing sequence and setting up an 8-Day Campaign for your IG and FB feeds/stories. Choose a path and stick to it!
REACH METHODS:
- Social Media Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
- Paid Media
- SEO and Search Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Blog and Content Marketing
- Events – Live or Online
- Bot or Conversational
4. CHOOSE YOUR CAMPAIGN DATES
So yes… you want to have a scheduled start and end date for your holiday promotion.
I’ve found that having an end date is a great way to encourage people to decide either way.
Make sure to communicate your dates clearly in all your messaging before and during the sale or promotion.
You don’t want your customers to feel confused about when the sale or promotion starts or miss out because they don’t know when it ends.
Whether you plan to run 1-3 promotions per month or only a few promotions during the holidays, it’s imperative to build a calendar showcasing your key promotion periods for the season.
8-Day Campaign Timeline:
Day 0-3: Pre-launch hype and teasers Day 4: Promotion Launch Day
Day 4-11: Campaign Content
Day 11: Last Day of Promotion
When you can break down your campaign per day or pre/post-launch you can start getting creative in how to share your content and your products… without having a lull in your marketing dates or using too much repetitive content.
Timing is everything when it comes to holiday marketing campaigns, and you’ll want to set your timeline well in advance of your launch date.
Don’t forget to consider processing and shipping timelines when you set your deadlines. “Last Days to Ship” schedules are released in October for carriers for final shipping days for Christmas arrival.
5. DETERMINE YOUR SOCIAL STRATEGY
Now that you have your goal and timeline set you want to choose which social channels you’ll be using. But whatever social channel you use, remember, each has a different language so your promotion on Twitter will look very different than your promotion on Instagram.
- Pinterest – VERTICAL IMAGES AND HOW TO TUTORIALS
- Facebook – EXPRESS FEELINGS OR OPINIONS
- Twitter – BITE-SIZED NEWS AND CURRENT UPDATES
- LinkedIn – PROFESSIONAL INDUSTRY RELATED CONTENT
- Instagram – EXPERIENCES THROUGH PHOTOS AND VIDEO
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6. CREATE YOUR CAMPAIGN BRAND IDENTITY
Every campaign should have its own brand identity including brand colors, fonts, imagery, and visual elements.
When you know the concept behind the campaign, which products or services you will focus on, and how this campaign can help you reach your business goals… you have a better vision of how you want your campaign to ‘look and feel.”
Most of the time, this identity is cohesive to your regular everyday brand emotions.
Choose about 3 colors for your palette, 2-3 fonts, and a set of styled stock photos that match your brand but make a statement. You want to make your designs eye-catching but not tacky and too much… keep it clean, yet bold.
Some tips would include:
Keep in mind your campaign concept and define the mood board or design style guide that your campaign will follow.
To help keep your campaign on brand you will want to create design templates so you can ‘plug and play your captions and visual campaign elements for a much more streamlined design effort. This would be something you can do in Canva.
It’s important to nail down brand terms and core messages that you want to weave into your campaign assets
Gather all the assets you are going to need in order to stay on track with your timeline. What campaign assets will you use? Photos, video, gifs, graphics, etc.
7. SCHEDULE YOUR CONTENT MATERIALS
Once your holiday marketing campaign’s content is ready to go, set aside some time to thoroughly plan out your social media content calendar using a scheduling app.
But the goal is to create as little stress as possible. Knowing that all your posts, video, and stories are created, posted, and scheduled, you can ENJOY the holidays and grow your business simultaneously.
There are several planning platforms available but some I use are: Sked, Buffer, and Tailwind.
Free Social Media Holiday Selling Guide
Now I know this may sound like a lot coming at you, but I promise with the right strategy, you can execute a successful Holiday E-Commerce Strategy starting today!
I have decades of experience doing these, so what better way to help you.
So if you want to sell more this holiday and take advantage of the mobile-commerce explosion I have a free download to complement this episode. DOWNLOAD the Holiday Starter Guide at kristinkorn.com/holidayguide.
Don’t be left out of the $207B U.S. retail shopping sales this year! DOWNLOAD this Holiday Starter Guide at kristinkorn.com/holidayguide.. It’s your source for the exact steps, checklists, planners, and calendars to execute a successful e-commerce holiday campaign! ($500 value) FREE for a limited time!
And if you join The Social Note Membership you’ll also get access to holiday captions and campaign images that go along with this holiday Starter guide. Learn more about joining at jointhesocialnote.com
Recap: Inspiration for your holiday selling
My biggest regret in years past was waiting till the last minute. And then scrambling to find a photo, promotion, and write out a post that would take me too long… that left me with little or no sales.
But to be honest, my sales matched my effort.
Today I do things much differently.
For every launch, whether it’s around a promotion, holiday campaign, or new business – I take the time to lay out a strategy that I can be proud of.
And that is what I want for you this season.
So to leave you with a little inspiration because I know you may be thinking you lack the technology or creative skills or a large enough social following to pull a holiday campaign off remember this line… “Success is what comes after you stop making excuses.”
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
- Build a Continuous Flow of New Clients Using This Simple Profit Pipeline™ – HERE!
- Turn Your Chaos Into Clarity in Just 90 Minutes with this One Call – HERE!
- Obtain the Support System You Need Inside Our Coaching Group – HERE!
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