Crystal Media

Marketing Clarity.

By Leave a Comment

It’s Never To Early To Plan For Holiday

Already thinking about your holiday sales strategy? You should be! Why? Online shopping is flattening the spending year which means holiday shopping no longer means that crazy week before. In fact, in a 2018 Valassis Research survey found that a whopping 49% of people said that Amazon Prime Day (in July!) encouraged them to get a jump-start on their holiday shopping. 

Facebook also released its Holiday Guide*. Check out these tinsel-turning numbers:

bar graph for when holiday shopping startsstatistic graphicbar graph of different media channels

What does it all mean? That putting off your holiday marketing strategy is a big no-no. In an ideal world, retailers should start thinking about the holiday season in January, but we know that can be impractical. So ensuring that your strategy is tied up with a bow by the summer will help all the pieces of your plan fall into place as the cold weather creeps in. While there is no “right date” to begin your holiday launch, aim for November 1st.

Here are a few other quick tips to help your strategy shine:

  • “Plan” all year long. If you notice other efforts that work throughout the year, take note and include them for the holidays.
  • Spend money to make money. Now is the time to put your marketing budget to use in Facebook and Instagram ads.
  • Think about your audiences. Tap into customers from the previous season through VIP parties, holiday cards or email lists.
  • Have a merry marketing time. Holidays are a time to let creativity shine! Use those fun custom graphics and GIFs, videos or templates.

Thinking about the holidays might make you sweat, but careful planning and execution (with a healthy dose of inspiration and imagination) will help make this the best sales season yet!

*Find the Facebook Holiday Guide here.

By Leave a Comment

Stop Hitting Boost Start Seeing Results With Facebook Ad Campaigns: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 70

We had 100’s of retailers register for our Facebook and Instagram Ads Masterclass. It took place over two weeks in October and covered everything one needs to know about running social ads. Not only did students walk away with tons of valuable information, but also with confidence in their ability to run successful Facebook ad campaigns. Which is why we’ll be sharing the top three takeaways from the masterclass in this post. We absolutely believe you can benefit from them too!

Watch the full episode:

Takeaway #1

There’s so much more you can be doing than just boosting your posts. With all the ad types and tools available at your fingertips, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not utilizing them and running ad campaigns.

Takeaway #2

You should test different audiences with different ad types. You can use Facebook’s Detailed Targeting feature to find your Perfect Customer Groups, or what we call your PCGs, and advertise to them.

Takeaway #3

The holidays mean more competition from other retailers running ads in November and December. This typically means you’ll see higher ad costs and a lower reach. You may want to consider setting aside a little extra money for your ad budget these next two months.

Ads are going to be the most cost-effective way to gain exposure, engagement, and traffic (online and offline) during the holidays. Remember, you can do this! We know retailers who are seeing results from ads every single day. Click here to find out how you can get your hands on the Ads Masterclass.

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Never want to miss an episode? Click here to join our list!

By Leave a Comment

Spooktacular Content Ideas for October: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 65

Content planning is tough, especially for a small business owner. You have a million other things happening on a daily basis, and with the holidays right around the corner, you need to find a way to balance it all. So we’re sharing examples of content ideas you can find inside our Retail Content Pack.

We didn’t record a video this week but you can view the post, here. 

Idea #1: Host a #TBT picture contest and ask your audience to share pictures of themselves in their favorite childhood Halloween costume. Give away a gift certificate to your store to a few lucky winners valid starting in November. This is a great way to get people in your doors during the busy holiday months.

Idea #2: Give a discount to anyone who shares a cheesy Halloween joke at checkout. Share the best ones on social media, and give the joke teller a shoutout.

Share your fun Halloween content ideas in the comments below.

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.

By Leave a Comment

Social Edge Live, Episode 32: Facebook Ads Made Easy Plus Tips For Success

It’s not a secret that Facebook Ads can be one of the best tools small businesses can use to grow their businesses online. When done the right way they can even increase sales and engagement online and offline. But they’re time-consuming, technical, and can we hard to learn/understand which is why Social Edge can help make running ads easy for you.

Watch the full episode below:

For those of you currently running Facebook ads here are some important factors/tips to remember:

  1. During the holiday’s Facebook Ad costs are higher and overall reach is down.
    • There’s an influx of people trying to advertise this time of year. More competition means more people bidding over limited advertising space make it harder to get in front of your audience.
  2. Use video to help reduce ad costs.
    • Video is here to stay. Clients we work with see some of the best results when they use videos in their ads. It allows for more free, organic reach and more engagement across your social media platforms.
  3. Create and promote online events, like 12 Days of Christmas campaign.
    • Online events and sales can be fun to run because they create buzz and something to talk about. You create a sense of urgency for people to take part so they don’t miss out on the latest deal.

Social Edge offers Facebook and Instagram Ads management for qualifying businesses – taking all the hard work that comes with running ads off your to-do list. Below you’ll find an overview of what this service offering entails and how we can help.

  1. You need to advertise, your customers are on Facebook – but you don’t have to be the one to do it. Your focus should be on the daily operations that come with running your business and focuses on helping your customers.
  2. We become an extension of your marketing team. Your Ad Account Manager will take a look at your social media and overall business goals in order to come up with a content and ads strategy that is catered to reaching those goals. They’ll provide you with post/event ideas, tips, and inspiration in order to help jumpstart your efforts, save you time, and have it be strategic.
  3. Allows for some accountability to post on social media consistently. We provide you with the ideas, but it’s your responsibility to implement and execute them.
  4. Bringing in QUALITY LEADS versus sales. While we can’t guarantee sales, our ad clients have had record-breaking sales days within days or a few weeks of working with us. Ads help get people through your doors and then it’s your job to sell them while they’re in your store.
  5. One client said, “I really feel safe knowing you are always looking out for me.” This is true because we’re in your account daily making sure make sure everything is running smoothly, checking ad costs to make sure they’re where they should be, as well as making adjustments to your ads when needed to make sure they’re fulling optimized and performing well. It’s all about having peace of mind in knowing you’re being looked after. 
  6. Our ads management service works if you work it – you need to participate, but the results will be worth it. It’s all about teamwork because we can only do our job if you’re implementing our strategy. Your account manager will check in with you to see how everything’s going and to see how sales are. You can provide them feedback and adjustment will be made accordingly.

If you’re interested in having us run your Facebook and Instagram ads for you in 2018? You must go through our application process to be considered. Click here to learn more.

You can catch new episodes every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.

By 2 Comments

Social Edge Live, Episode 30: 12 Days of Christmas, Will You Be Participating?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and you know what that means: sale, sales, and more sales. One foolproof promotion we always recommend running as a small business is a 12 Days of Christmas Campaign. For those of you who unfamiliar with a 12 Days of Christmas Campaign, let us break it down for you.

What it is:

It’s a 12-day super sale that happens during the month of December. Each day a special deal on a new featured item is available to your customers. The featured items can be seasonal, high-ticket or items that need to sell before Christmas, like decorations and gifts. You want it to be a nice, cohesive blend of items that peak customer interest.

How to run it:

You should announce the deal of the day the night before or early that morning allowing it to be available as long as possible. Announce it across all your social platforms. We suggest going live or sharing a pre-record a video (you can’t escape using video!). You’ll then support the announcement with an email marketing blast and posts on Instagram, Instagram Stories, Snapchat, etc. Make it clear about what the deal is, include dates, exclusions, while supplies last if you don’t plan on ordering more. You want to create a sense of urgency so people come shop in-store that day! Offer to hold items for people if they comment online or call your store, but set a time limit for how long you’ll be able to hold it for.

When to run it:

Retailers run it beginning December 1st or December 12th. Many prefer starting on the 1st to avoid having it end so close to Christmas.

Best Practices:

Whether people mention the promotion or not, the deal of the day is applicable to anyone shopping in-store. It’s all about experience, and only offering the deal to some people and no others is going to create a bad experience.

You typically don’t make much profit on the featured item since it’s being discounted. It’s you and your team’s goal to upsell and get people shopping to spend more while in-store. Also, use this as a tool to collect as much new customer information as possible to help you with future marketing and sales initiatives.

Is your deal good enough to get people through the door? Do your best to stand out and catch people’s attention.

Promote each deal to get the most exposure and to fully optimize it. You don’t have to break the bank to get your pots seen. We’ve seen success in as little as a $25 budget over the full 12 Days. It’s all a numbers game, the more people that see your deal the more foot traffic you’ll be able to get. Look back at email open rates and video views to make sure people are seeing it, and make adjustments accordingly. 

You can catch new episodes every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.