Top Three Marketing Tactics for A Profitable Holiday Season
For most people, the holiday season is filled with a disproportionate amount of spending: shopping for presents, decorating homes and overall planning for a jolly holiday season. Part of that planning includes travel. The winter travel season is second in spending only to summertime vacations. According to ClickZ, 51% of travelers book their travel, during the holidays or otherwise, at least 30 days in advance of travel.
Businesses that fail to maximize the holiday shopping season miss a huge revenue opportunity. Brands that invest only a small portion of their budget on timely, seasonal ads flounder while competitors with bigger budgets win the wallets of consumers.
During the holidays, businesses have a wonderful opportunity to capture new clients. Ad impressions get a 50 percent boost, direct traffic grows 150 percent, average order values rise 30 percent and conversion rates increase 60 percent. Below are three effective marketing secrets you need to know to lead you to holiday sales success.
- Have a Promotional Plan in Place
Develop a marketing campaign that includes different messaging for all of your audiences. The holiday traveler that wants to spend the new year with their toes in the sand instead of shoveling snow, the diaspora returning home for the holidays that do not want to sleep on their mom’s couch, and the recurring traveler that wants to book their family vacation with you. Create thoughtful ads that target all markets and spread them out through different channels according to audience. Remember, Christmas is not the only holiday people celebrate. Research different holidays and incorporate them into your campaign. Don’t forget about having a social media plan that includes engagement as well as ads. Talk to your potential guests online, answer their questions and concerns, and remind them how special their holidays can be at your property.
- Create a Holiday Focused Landing Page
Have a dedicated section of your website to holiday events, promotions and activities. Not only will this help improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) for holiday related phrases, but it will also serve to provide useful information to your guests. Post images of guests enjoying the holidays at your hotel, experiencing your destination, it’s holiday customs, holiday meals and celebrations. Let your current and past guests tell your story for you. Show future guests that they will be able to experience a unique holiday celebration unlike they have ever had before.
- Promote More and Earlier
According to Entrepreneur magazine, you get a headstart on the holidays, promote ads weeks in advance. Doing so gives you ample opportunity to try new copy and images to learn how consumers react. With enough lead time, you can optimize your creatives to guarantee profitable performance when it’s go-time. By promoting your holiday sale early, you get first-mover advantage. This helps your prime buyers to choose you as their default shopping destination for the holidays. It is also highly recommended to double your regular ad spend once you identify the creatives that engage customers. When audiences are ready-to-buy, brands should go out of their way to be everywhere their customers are. Channels to invest in include: paid search, display ads, email marketing, and sponsored social media posts. An active holiday marketing strategy allows you to capture eager shoppers’ attention and drive significant revenue.