While most Americans are preparing for Thanksgiving this week, many are also looking for great deals over the long weekend as the holiday shopping season begins in earnest. This gives businesses a terrific opportunity. Three of the biggest shopping days of the year are quickly approaching, including Nov. 26, known as Black Friday, Small Business Saturday on Nov. 27, and Cyber Monday on Nov. 29.
It’s time for your business to seize the shopping days ahead with the right digital marketing tactics for your target audience. IntoClicks offers some great ways to market your business during the upcoming shopping weekend to help get your business back in the black.
Determine Your Deals
Shoppers are always looking for the best deals on services and products, and this is especially true during the long Thanksgiving weekend. Your business needs to determine what kinds of unique deals you plan to offer shoppers online and/or in your store. The better the deals you offer, the more spenders you are going to attract.
Consider offering an across-the-board deal such as 25 percent off all products and/or services during the extended weekend. You can also offer up extra deals each day. For example, if your business offers outdoor and sporting equipment for hunting, camping, biking, etc., you might wish to consider offering 40 percent off all camping gear on Friday, 40 percent savings on Saturday for hunting equipment, 40 percent off everything for sports paraphernalia, and 40 percent off everything technology-based on Cyber Monday. You can even choose to offer deep discounts on items and services you really want to move, through special deals that vary each hour your business is open.
You could also provide a free gift with each purchase, such as a coupon for a future purchase, free shipping for online orders, or something small (such as mini hand sanitizers) with your business name on the label. It can even be as simple as offering a cookie as people leave the store.
Use Your Website
Digital marketing has become a major tool for businesses. Even before the coronavirus pandemic kicked in, digital marketing and sales were climbing year after year. According to WordStream, a whopping 80 percent of shoppers are influenced by online marketing before they make a purchase. This may mean seeing an ad on Google, seeing a post on social media, or even visiting a business’s website while looking to a specific item or service.
Your business website should be used to market your sales, especially during this time of year. You may opt to add a banner across your homepage or at the top of all your web pages for the weekend to grab attention. You can post your list of deals on a special page of your site or use the existing pages you already have.
If you don’t already have a business website, now is the time to get one up and running. IntoClicks offers both website design and web management services for small business owners that is affordable on nearly any budget. IntoClicks even ensures that your site is mobile-friendly and has a design that your target audience will love. After all, more than 75 percent of consumers admit to making judgements about a company’s credibility based solely on the business’s website design and 57 percent of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly-designed mobile site.
Sell It on Social Media
The next step is to ensure that you are on the social media platforms that your current customers and potential clients are using. Is your target audience on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok or LinkedIn? Are they on multiple platforms? Ensure that your business has a profile on each platform and use them to market your deals for holiday shoppers.
Remember the deals of the day and deals of the hour we mentioned above? Those should be advertised on your social media platforms! After you outline your deals, you can immediately start marketing them to grow interest in your specials and sales. As each day or deal launches, ensure you have scheduled posts at those times to announce your deals online to your followers. You can even purchase online ads through platforms like Facebook to boost your marketing on the days leading up to your sales.
If you need help with building your presence on social media, making posts, or even producing digital ads on these platforms, IntoClicks can help. You can learn more about our social media marketing services including development of Facebook and Instagram campaigns with multiple ad sets, audience interest research, conversion tracking, and much more!
Blog About It
Make sure that you put together a great blog or two that serve as great gift-giving guides for your shoppers. For example, you may wish to do a blog on gifts for her and another on gift giving for him. These blogs highlight gift ideas for various target shoppers that enter your store online or in person. Giving shoppers an idea of what products and services you have to offer for that hard-to-buy-for person on their list will help draw shoppers into your business!
Not much of a writer? Too busy to blog? As marketing specialists, IntoClicks can assist you with blogs to bolster your business using the right key terms and phrases, ensuring they are search engine optimized (SEO) so they get picked up by search engines such as Google, Firefox, and Bing. These blogs allow you to really highlight your products, services, and expertise in your industry. When people read a great blog on your website, they will come back for more and share it with their friends. You’ll also want to share these blogs on your social media platforms to direct people back to your website.
Target Your Target Audience Online
Pay-Per-Click advertising gives you the ability to have an instant presence online. When you search something on Google, the top four ads at the top of the first page are Pay-Per-Click ads. You don’t pay to appear there, but you do pay when someone clicks the ad. This type of advertising allows you to reach your target audience and create more traffic to your website.
IntoClicks can assist your business with lead generation, shopping ads, remarketing ads, and much more. This means we can assist your small business with digital marketing on your budget to give you the highest return on investment possible. Pay-Per-Click ads are a great way to market your sales throughout the year, but especially as the holidays approach. In fact, 49 percent of shoppers have reported using Google to find new services or products making Google Ads one of the best methods for reaching your target audience.
Post and Ask for Reviews
Be sure to ask shoppers to give your business, products, and services reviews online to help build consumer confidence about your company. Research shows that 90 percent of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. Another 80 percent of consumers say the start ratings they trust for businesses most are 4, 4.5, and 5 stars. That means posting your reviews, responding quickly to negative reviews, and asking for more reviews from happy customers really does matter.
As people shop online, you should have an automated request for reviews. In your store, ask for reviews on the receipt or hand shoppers a card asking them to write a quick review for your business. You can even offer a discount for a future purchase for those who write you a review after shopping with you.
Online reputation management (ORM) services is another thing IntoClicks can assist you with. Our marketing professionals can support your business in gathering more reviews, quickly addressing negative reviews, and managing your online reputation to get more consumers into your store and buying from you online.
Email Your Following
Use that list of customer emails to send your holiday shopping blogs, discounts, products and services, holiday store hours, and ways to shop to your target audience. You can use platforms such as MailChimp and Constant Contact cheaply or even free. Simply make your account, build your email list, and then use one of the templates to build your message. You can send everything from letters and sales flyers to monthly newsletters letting people know about your holiday sales and then use it the rest of the year to keep your business front of mind.
For more information about digital marketing for the holidays or any time of the year, visit IntoClicks online or call (520) 333-3374 today. The call is free, your consultation is free, and there is absolutely no obligation. Give us a call to talk about how we can help grow your business!