Marketers, we know the struggle. We know that taking into account the holiday seasons are vital to your retail strategy and it's not just having an idea of what you will do, it's having a plan, a system and a course of action. Without these things, you’ll be left in the marketing dust. Timing is everything.
At Fathomdelivers.com, we have created this infographic and content, to give you a framework that you could work to for the year. If you are looking for management buy-in, it can help to have a visual calendar to show your plans - whether it's for a quarter, a six month period of the year ahead and also a great way to show your results if you don't have an analytics dashboard.
Here are some ideas of how we have used it to plan from October - January, for a retailerr.
SEO: Your holiday pages should deal with content. There is a lot of value in the idea behind sooner rather than later. It is important to focus now on what will help you later. You could be missing out if your pages aren’t ready to help you land in search queries.
76% of shoppers will take advantage of free shipping. If you’re not with them, then you may be against them placing an order!
From email, SEO to PPC, all of the pieces of the digital marketing puzzle must fit together to help you make the most out of this holiday season.
PPC: Are your paid search ads up to par? Conversion rates for ecommerce visitors coming through paid search ads jumped 20% during the 2013 holidays. Including the right keywords and making the right bid are now more important than ever this holiday season.
Email marketing accounted for 16% of e-commerce orders last year. Are you ready to make the most of your email campaign? Customers want to place orders, so send emails and they will take the bait.
Have you setup 'Out-of-Stock' notifications? It’s important to plan ahead for the last-minute buying frenzy. Think about it this way, being out of stock could mean that your other preparations and plans were a success.
Are you ready for the last minute shopping rush? 41% of shoppers will not complete holiday shopping until mid-December, despite early research. So your diligence in October and November will pay off in December. Like all good plans, it takes time. (research?)
Now that the year has come to a close, it’s time to think about the New Year and new opportunities. Making sure your mobile presence is up to par this post-holiday season.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of US Customers say they will use a mobile device to research or purchase products in the 2014 holiday season with fifty-nine percent (59%) of these users planning on using their devices in making holiday online purchases. A Top500Guide.com analysis of mobile data reveals only 30 of the 500 merchants (6%) are in “very good or excellent compliance with mobile SEO standards.” These numbers show that you have to have a mobile plan of action for the days before and after the shopping season. (Information from Fathom’s 2014 CBM Marketers Playbook).
It makes you wonder, what you need to be doing during this holiday season to ensure that the following months, and hopefully the following shopping season, you are prepared.
Thanks to Joe Castro or sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Joe is the Director of Online Advertising at Fathom, a digital marketing agency outside of Cleveland, Ohio. He has over 6 years of experience in digital marketing with a concentration in PPC/paid search and display advertising. He primarily works with healthcare clients, but his experience spans across all verticals. Joe is an avid blogger. In his free time, he enjoys working out and spending time with family and friends. You can connect with him on Google+.
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