Tips to Effectively Market Your Brand This Holiday Season

The holiday shopping season is upon us, which means most retailers are about to see an influx of revenue. According to the National Retail Federation, small and midsized retailers see anywhere from 20 percent to 40 percent of their annual revenue come during the months of November and December. That said, it makes sense that nearly half of all marketers begin launching holiday-centric campaigns before we even celebrate Halloween. With your customers likely already receiving dozens of holiday advertisements each day, you'll need to stand out from the rest if you want to be successful. These quick tips will help you effectively market your brand this holiday season.

Tip No. 1: Start marketing early.

Getting a jump on your holiday marketing campaigns is beneficial for a couple different reasons. First, not everyone will be marketing in this way yet so you’ll have slightly less competition than normal. Second, cost-per-click (CPC) rates rise as we get closer to Christmas. Thus, starting your campaigns early is more cost effective for your business and helps you capture audience interest before your competitors.

Tip No. 2: Make sure your website is ready to handle an influx of visitors.

From a technology perspective, you need to ensure that your website is able to handle increased traffic during peak times. You want to make sure your site remains fast and efficient because if your site becomes extremely slow or, worse yet, crashes, it will have a negative impact on your conversions and you may end up losing customers. Take the time to prepare in advance so that you can optimize your site for the increase in traffic that naturally happens around the holidays.

Tip No. 3: Make sure you're stocked up on inventory.

Since founding Power Digital Marketing, I've seen a number of e-commerce brands enjoy massive spikes in sales around the holidays only to end up running out of inventory, leaving them unable to fulfill said sales. To avoid this disappointment, prepare by stocking up on your core products, best-sellers, and anything you plan to advertise or promote heavily. Remember, you won’t benefit from the holiday season if you run out of product to sell.

Tip No. 4: Ensure you have a solid shipping policy in place.

Shipping speed is always important, but consumers become increasingly aware of it the closer you get to the holidays. Make sure you're catering to your customers with one-day or two-day shipping options. If you don’t offer these options, customers will abandon your site to search for brands that can meet their demands.

Developing an effective holiday marketing strategy requires some extra planning and effort, but the payoff is definitely worth the time. By planning and implementing your campaigns earlier in the year, you'll be able to take advantage of lower advertising rates. Furthermore, evaluating your website, inventory and shipping practices ensures that you're prepared well in advance of the holiday shopping boom. If done correctly, you stand to make 40 percent of your annual revenue in just a few months, ending your year on a high note and carrying momentum into 2019.

Grayson Lafrenz is the CEO of Power Digital Marketing, a full-service digital marketing agency.