5 Reasons to Start Christmas Marketing Early
October 2, 2020
Christmas is one of the biggest shopping holidays of the year. While not everybody celebrates Christmas, the average U.S. citizen spends about $700 a year on gifts alone. This isn’t accounting for the money spent on décor, food, alcohol, events, and extras. This gives businesses a real incentive to ramp up the marketing efforts during the holiday season.
The internet has made the world much smaller. Someone in Amsterdam can instantly communicate with a cousin in California, while someone in France shops for perfume from a Sephora in New York. As the world gets closer together via the digital landscape, it also increases competition.
The ecommerce industry is growing in leaps and bounds, and this means higher competition for small local businesses, shopping malls, and even national retailers. It’s hard to compete with companies like Amazon and eBay who sell entirely online. So, how can you keep up during busy shopping times like Christmas? This year experts are suggesting retailers start marketing early. Here’s why.
Shoppers Want to Beat the Rush
There’s a reason so many Americans are choosing to shop online for the holidays. The malls get insane. The rush of consumers battling it out for the last Butterball turkey and can of cranberries is overwhelming. Even online, shopping starts early to grab the best deals and purchase the popular toys and clothes before they sell out. Many brick and mortar retailers and online stores ship from the same warehouses. This means whatever product is there is only there until it runs dry. Shopping early guarantees the best stuff.
Sending out those intriguing holiday sale emails early will pique interest and boost traffic by an alarming rate. Even shoppers who might wait until closer to the holidays can’t resist a good sale, and knowing there’s a reason to buy (Christmas) makes it that much easier to click your link and start filling a digital cart.
Avoid the Christmas Congestion
As Halloween passes and consumers amp up for Thanksgiving, thoughts of Christmas begin looming on every street corner and in every shop window. Long before December hits, consumers are smacks in the face with an array of greeting card commercials, candy cane scented products, and gingerbread flavored everything. Before the congestion hits and your business gets lost in the turmoil, it’s important to make yourself known.
The competition factor only increases at the holidays when demand is high. Starting your Christmas marketing early puts you one step ahead of your competitors. Lots of companies choose to market early, so you might be wondering if this will really make a difference on congestion levels. The short answer is: yes. While some businesses choose to promote their products early, not all do. This gives you the running start you need to catapult your products and services to success.
If you Want to Use a Social Media Influencer You Need to Act Fast
Social media influencers are huge, and they only get more followers during the holidays. Consumers love knowing what a product does and how well it works before they buy it. Vloggers and Instagram gurus post videos and pictures of themselves using these products and can be the reason your brand sells out or goes under.
If you want to work with a high priority influencer, you need to act quickly. These authorities in their field of products fill up review spots quickly. Whether you want to see someone test your latest eyeshadow pallet, or taste a new flavor of potato chips, send those requests our early, and make sure all your customers know to watch that particular episode before the holidays arrive.
Your Online Presence Predicts Shopping Success
Brands with a heavy presence in social media will see an influx in consumers asking questions, sending private messages, commenting, liking, and sharing your posts. Social media platforms make a splendid spot to break out the festive baubles and Christmas balls. Start posting photos of staff in elf hats, contests with Christmas themes, and memes reminding on how many shopping days remain.
Starting to promote your products and services before November hits will remind your customers that time is running out. Offer exclusive deals to social media followers and increase your likes and followers exponentially. Consumers love a good contest, and there’s nowhere better to host a holiday promotion than Facebook. Especially since Facebook offers a “shop” button which your customers can conveniently click, the minute they see you post something interesting they want to buy.
Your Marketing Efforts Could be the Reason You Sell
Whether you start marketing in October or wait until November to start with the Christmas buzz, it could be the reason you sell a product today. There are some products customers wait to buy. Whether it’s too expensive, or not an item they use every day, they might put off the buy. There’s one time of year consumers can’t resist taking a deal, and that’s Christmas.
So what if it’s still months away, if you remind shoppers that Christmas is coming, you might be surprised to see just how many extra items get sold. A little Christmas tune on your shopping page, snowflake effect on your product view, and a Santa hat on your shopping cart is often enough to remind your customers that all these products could look great under the tree.
Start referring to your smaller products as “great stocking stuffers”, and maybe provide a free wrapping service when shoppers spend more than $50. Getting to skip the wrapping paper is a great incentive for early shopping and it ticks off two boxes at once before the holidays hit.
Hopefully, this has helped you understand the importance of early holiday promotion. Best of luck this year and onward!