Holiday Marketing - Page 2 of 4

November 27, 2017 By Erika Castorena 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.

November 20, 2017 By Erika Castorena Leave a Comment

Social Edge Live, Episode 29: Your Ultimate Holiday Survival Guide

As you’re gearing up for the holiday season, and the busiest shopping weekend of the year, there’s so much to think about! To help ease your stress we came up with the Ultimate Holiday Survival Guide so you can get through Thanksgiving weekend without a hitch plus the rest of the 2017 holiday season.

Check out our 5 tips below:

Schedule Ahead

You still have time to get everything planned out and on the calendar. This goes for both email blasts and social media posts. You can schedule your Facebook posts directly through your business page under Publishing Tools. We recommend scheduling your Instagram posts using the Later app or Hootsuite. Reminder – both of these tools send you a notification when it’s time to post so make sure you have your mobile device handy. Give yourself the piece of mind knowing your posts and emails are ready and set to go.

Delegate

It’s easy to have things get overlooked when things get busy especially when it comes to social media. Assign tasks to members of your staff to ensure your social media is covered. If you’re not going to make the time to go live, take pictures, post to your social platforms, or respond to comments and questions online pass it off to others who will. Have a line out the door or at the register? Snap a picture. Have a few items left in-stock of a certain product? Announce it on social. This all makes for great content, great customer service and can generate buzz for your store.

Lead Generation

Always be prepared to collect customer information, like email addresses and phone numbers, while they’re in your store now. It’s the best time to collect information from them, and you’re doing a disservice to them and your business if you don’t. People who shop with you want to know what’s going on in-store, so make it a priority to ask every customer for their information. If your staff is reluctant to ask, remind them of why it’s important to get this information. We suggested making it mandatory for the associate working the register. Set yourself up for success and use these new leads to make a strong 2018 marketing plan.

Fuel Up

You’re going to want to load up on caffeine and snacks to keep the energy going! Don’t forget to take breaks, drink water, and eat throughout the day to avoid getting hangry. You don’t want to involuntarily snap at your team and create an uncomfortable environment. Energy is contagious, so if you want your team to have high energy make sure you’re able to maintain yours.

Don’t forget to smile 🙂

We’ve all heard about the science behind a smile. Studies have shown that if you smile it can help improve your mood naturally. So if you find yourself overwhelmed and in a stressful situation, take a moment to breathe, put a smile on and go back out there and rock it!

Now it’s time to put our Ultimate Holiday Survival Guide to the test. This might be the busiest time of your for you and the people around you, but enjoy it and make this a holiday season to never forget – you got this!

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.

November 13, 2017 By Erika Castorena Leave a Comment

Social Edge Live, Episode 28: Plant Your Seeds of Gratitude this Thanksgiving

As the days grow closer to the busiest shopping weekend of the year, it seems like the majority of the content out there is promotional. Then you see an ad or a post from a business or brand you follow that’s sole purpose is to capture your heart and attention. For many, content like this is a welcomed break from all the sales-heavy material out there this time of year. Also, we naturally associate the month of November with feelings of gratitude, thankfulness, and appreciation. And with that in mind, use this same kind of strategy to capture your audience’s attention.

Yes, you’ll want to have your promotional content seen by your audience as well, but take this as a challenge to humanize your business and to separate yourself from the competition. With everyone being bombarded with constant streams of sales and promotions this time of year, be the brand that does more. Make your audience feel like they’re connecting with one of their close friends.

This can be a video-based campaign that runs in throughout the days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday. We suggest having a timeline of either 3 days, 5 days, or 7 days. Creating a countdown style campaign can help build excitement and keep your audience engaged since they’re expecting a new video each day. Video posts statistically receive more views and higher engagement which is why going live each day or having a pre-recorded video post is going to get you the best results. If you’re not comfortable being on camera, get your staff involved and have a few of them share what they’re gratitude is or what they’re thankful for using video. If everyone on your staff is camera shy, try and create a photo slideshow that includes some text to share on your page. The biggest thing is that as long as it as some sort of movement, it’ll perform better than just an image or written post.

Leverage this holiday campaign and advertise it to your audience. Advertising these posts can help maximize your reach and exposure online which can only help your business in the long run. Remember, not all ads have to be sales oriented. Ads can help you build brand awareness which is crucial to the longevity of your business’s success.

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.

October 30, 2017 By Erika Castorena 1 Comment

Social Edge Live, Episode 26: Tie Your Social Media and Email Marketing Together

A common question that gets asked by retailers is “Where should I be showing up online?” and the answer is to be where your customers are. For many, the focus is on social media. And yes, showing up on the big social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat is crucial to your business, but one of the places you should be showing up outside of social (even if it’s the only place) is in your customer’s email inbox. With a majority of people checking their emails on a mobile device daily, it’s a good place for your business to be.

Your email marketing strategy is so important as a small business, and you should have a plan to be hitting your customer’s inboxes especially around the holidays. People who sign up for your email list want to hear from you.

There are many ways to integrate both your social media and email marketing strategies – one can be used to help boost the other. Here’s how:

Always include links to your social media accounts in the email footer.
- This provides a quick way for your list to connect with you across your social media platforms. If you don’t send out emails often, let them know the best place to stay up-to-date is to follow you on social.
If you’re trying to build your social media following send a dedicated “Follow Us on Social” email to your list.
- Nowadays it’s common that people who like your brand are going to want to follow you on social media, this is especially true for Millennials. It’ll also help boost your engagement, increase your expose and build a relationship with your customer base in the long run.
Make it easy for people who find you online to join your email list.
- This could be a pop-up on your website, a link on your facebook page, and can even be done in store when people are checking out. Collect as much information from people interested in your business as possible to help maintain a solid email list.
Mention you have email exclusive offers and promotions.
- Believe it or not, people want to see promotional emails in their inbox. This is also an easy way to track if a sale comes from an email because you know it’s only being talked about in one place. It’ll also entice your followers to join your list to get the latest deals.

Bonus tip! Upload your email list into Facebook to then use to create a custom audience to run ads to during the holidays.

Watch the full episode below:

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.

October 23, 2017 By Erika Castorena Leave a Comment

Social Edge Live, Episode 25: Spooky, Fun Halloween Video Ideas

It’s the end of October, but your mind is already weeks deep into November and December. With holiday planning on the brain, there’s one holiday that’s easy to forget about – Halloween. Yes, it’s not a favorite of many, but you can’t deny there’s a special magic in the air around this time of year. Halloween night is supposed to be one of fun, mischief, and imagination, so why not bring this same energy into your store?

Here’s how you can bring the Spirit of Halloween into your store and share it with your customers with one (or all) of these Halloween inspired video ideas:

If you got it, Haunt it.

This is a spin on the classic saying “If you got it, Flaunt it” which is perfect for showcasing the products you have in your store just with a fun, fall twist. If you’re a boutique, this can be good for sharing fall favorites, new product reveals, or even coming up with cute costume ideas from items you have in-store the week and weekend leading up to Halloween. If you’re a pet store, try doing a costume fashion show, or showcase festive Halloween treats people can give away when trick-or-treaters show up at your door, or even how t0’s for keeping your pet safe and calm on Halloween night. Hardware stores can share any DIY decoration ideas for those last minute folks who want to set up something fun for the kids. Lastly, if you’re a florist you can showcase and fall floral designs or Day of the Dead inspired arrangements if people celebrate in your area.

Your Scary Good Deals of the Week (or of the Day)

Let your customers know if you have any special deals happening the week or weekend of Halloween. This could be anything from a deal of the day leading up to the 31st or even doing a special sale on orange and black items hidden throughout the store. If you need to make room for more inventory this could be a great way to clear out your stockroom.

Halloween Fright Night

Throughout the day on Halloween, go live from your store or post to your Instagram story people sharing their favorite silly or spooky memory. Make sure you’re asking people watching with you live to comment and share as well. Up the anty and say you’ll pick a winner from the best submission for a prize to your store.We all have a memory or a story from Halloween night to share, so this is a great way to increase engagement and build a relationship with your customer base. Other ideas are to share videos of staff or customers in their costumes and have people enter a costume contest for a gift certificate to your store.

Let these video ideas inspire you to have a “spooktacular” time this Halloween!

Watch the full episode below:

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.