Start Off The Year Prepared!
You’ve just put the busiest and most lucrative time of the year for eCommerce retailers behind you. Now that Christmas is over and your clearance sales have gotten rid of any excess inventory, you finally have room for this year’s stock. It’s a perfect opportunity to look at the timing of your own online activities — which strategies can get you out of a rut, or help you sell more? Get ready for holiday and seasonal campaigns!
Nowadays, the calendar year is full of business occasions, so it’s a great idea to get a jump on upcoming opportunities by doing your homework so you can act accordingly and take advantage of rising demands. Practice makes perfect, so let’s go over the three key elements of a successful campaign everybody keeps talking about.
1. THOROUGH ADVANCE PREPARATION
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin
2. TIMING OF LAUNCHING CAMPAIGNS
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk.” Mark Zuckerberg
3. BREAKTHROUGH KNOWLEDGE OF THE MARKET
“Whatever you do, do it well.” Walt Disney
These three factors enable a company to gain a significant edge over competitors who may be able to invest much more into their advertising. Remember this takeaway: always aim to spend less, target and attract the right customers, and be in the right place at the right time.
Let’s go through a quick summary of four key sales dates and holidays that you should be aware of at the beginning of the year. Identify which ones align with your brand and your marketing schedule so you can be more effective with your seasonal marketing strategy and promotions.
Valentine’s Day
Not a public holiday, yet recognized as a significant cultural and commercial celebration. Heavily commercialized by English speaking countries, the popularity around the Feast of Saint Valentine has accumulated a global following. Every year on February 14th.
- Preparation: a month in advance
- Anticipated growth in sales: first two weeks of February
- Total sales last year in the US: $19.5 billion
- People mostly buy: sweets, jewelry, decorations, flowers, cards
St. Patrick’s Day
Originated in Christian countries, the celebration has gained considerable attraction throughout the majority of Europe, the US, Canada, and has slowly spread to the rest of the world. Every year on March 17th.
- Preparation: a month in advance
- Anticipated growth in sales: March
- Total sales last year in the US: $4.5 billion
- People mostly buy: clothes, decorations, beer, food
Easter
This celebration is a public holiday in many Christian countries, and notable for occurring on Resurrection Sunday. No fixed date, this year it falls on April 1st.
- Preparation: two weeks in advance
- Anticipated growth in sales: “Holy week”
- Total sales last year in the US: $16.4 billion
- People mostly buy: cards, decorations, sweets, food, small gifts
Mother’s Day
Celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, heavily commercialized. This year on May 13th in the US.
- Preparation: a week in advance
- Anticipated growth in sales: most commonly in the months of March/May
- Total sales last year in the US: $23.5 billion
- People mostly buy: flowers, jewelry, cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, clothes, decorations
Special days, bank holidays, and various regular events provide a great template for timing the marketing strategies of your online business. Apart from those listed in this article, you can also benefit from campaigns related to lesser known holidays and other smaller or regional occasions (President’s Day, Spring break, April Fool’s Day, Tax Day, Earth Day, Memorial Day, etc.). Or take the initiative and make up your own traditions based on spring themes!
Now that you know when and what to be prepared for, what are the most important things to help you get ready before the holiday season? Let’s go through it step by step.
#1 DO THE RESEARCH
Check out the calendar and select which holidays and dates you want to focus on this spring. Identify your next promotional opportunity and determine what your goals are for this promotion based on priority (drive sales, build an email list, notify visitors of sales / announcements, etc.). Once you get a clear picture of what you want to accomplish, you can move forward.
#2 PLAN CAREFULLY
Now that you have your goals, select a type of promotion based on what you decided on. Decide which methods for driving traffic you’d like to use, schedule newsletters, optimize your SEO, consider PPC ads, and look for other ways to build anticipation among your customer base. This could involve planning an email campaign, sending out discount and promo codes, including cart abandonment offers, messaging pop up / bars, CTA pop ups, and whatever else is appropriate to your business model. You know the routine — plan what’s necessary to boost your online marketing according to what makes sense. Don’t forget to design your promotion to fit the season or holiday. It can make a huge impact on your brand perception and can increase conversions.
#3 GET PREPARED
Before launching your campaign, ensure you have the bandwidth for traffic spikes, make sure your inventory is ready, and complement your staff to handle increased orders. Also, don’t underestimate offline marketing, as this can make a significant difference.
#4 FIRE UP!
Good luck ❤
