Our Panelists – 

Can you divulge on some age-trusted sales tactics that can give brands that special edge within their audiences, during the Holiday season?

Matt –  Seasonal selling is difficult. Some businesses thrive in the summer, while others thrive in the winter. There are 11 federal holidays every year just in the United States. Plus you have big online events like Prime Day’s and Black Friday’s. As a business owner or marketer, it can be difficult to stay ahead of every holiday. That’s why I’ve always deployed reverse calendars with my clients. The goal of a reverse calendar is to plan backwards for the year, ensuring that you’re prepared for every sale.

Emily –  The best strategy you can implement to attract your audience during the holidays is guaranteed two-day shipping. At this point in time, almost every eCommerce brand is directly competing with Amazon (whether they are aware of it or not). Millions of online users do their shopping last minute and know they can count on that two-day shipping. In order to stay competitive and draw in customers, offering express shipping options and two-day guarantees is a must.

Jeff – Leveraging coupon codes during sales is huge for e-commerce retailers. Not only do they give a consumer a reason to click through to a sale, they are also easily track-able and can be shared (customers sharing through social media channels and/or email). Discounts should be attractive enough that a customer will use the coupon code, but not too deep that it would cut into profit margins.

Paige –  Omni-channel should be part of your holiday strategy to create a seamless experience for your customers regardless of channel or device. Consumers now engage with a company in a brick and mortar store, online or mobile app, by catalog, or via social media. They can access products and services by calling a company on the phone, by using an app on their mobile smartphone, or with a tablet, a laptop, or a desktop computer. Every piece of the consumer’s experience should be consistent and complementary. For me content and messaging are the key. If a customer has previously engaged or purchased your product or service your marketing should reflect that. If a customer has put something into a cart, but hasn’t yet purchased, use your content to reference that intent. People use multiple devices during a single transaction process. Make sure that you are able to listen and respond to these interactions.

Igor –  Retargeting: We invest in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and focus on creating ads that feature a holiday touch in the ad copy.  We also reach out to customers who abandoned their shopping cart or gave their email but didn’t check out by sending them a holiday-themed follow-up email to spike up their interest. · We show our consumers ads for products they have already expressed interest in, by viewing the product on our site. By promoting our ads to previous website visitors, we consistently see a high number of engagements and social shares as it often takes multiple views before someone engages with your offer.

In your opinion,  what would be the central reason for Seasonal Marketing to hold the kind of value as it does today, in the sphere of E-commerce industries at present?

Igor –  The last year has been unlike any other, COVID-19 forced many businesses to close while some companies flourished. This year has brought forth many changes in consumer habits, with majority preferring online shopping over in-store shopping. E-commerce sales saw a boom during the pandemic. That’s why, businesses need to ramp up their holiday marketing plans to create a seamless experience for customers that will keep them loyal.

Jeff –  Almost all digital channels see a spike during the holiday shopping season, beginning in early November and lasting until mid-December. Marketers need to take advantage of these seasonal trends and traffic spikes by showcasing products in a seasonal matter.

Emily –  It is no secret that eCommerce is quickly becoming the #1 preferred method of shopping. Because of this exponential growth and volume, we are now able to recognize seasons and patterns in buyer behavior. These seasonal characteristics help marketers customize their campaigns to current buying habits. Many eCommerce brands tend to break up their seasons by quarters, Q1 and Q4 being the busiest (due to the holidays). Bu using past experiences and anticipating market trends for each season, you can create a unique marketing plan that will gain attention from the right customers at the right time and leverage the excitement that comes with holiday shopping.

Matt –  Seasonal marketing is so critical to e-commerce because there is a huge subset of consumers who only buy goods during the holidays. They want to give gifts and thanks to their friends and family. Most consumers don’t have the disposable income to give gifts every week, which is why they budget for specific holidays and e-commerce sales soar.

Paige –   I feel it’s a very important time as consumers today want to buy from brands that make them feel comforted and supported and that make their lives better. With the surge in online shopping triggered by the pandemic, warehouses and delivery companies are already operating at capacity and having trouble meeting demand. That pressure will only accelerate as holiday orders ramp up.  Stores need to connect with shoppers online now and retailers need to think about how they engage with those online shoppers who are more likely to buy from brands that create an emotional connection with them. Brands need to think strategically that the person you’re engaging is more than an email address or a phone number or an online profile and create personalized messages.

Name one timeless strategy that you believe business owners should keep in mind to sustain within the E-commerce community?

Igor –  Make sure that your site loads well on mobile because about 63% of retail website visits are done using smartphones. This is quite a large chunk which means that it is extremely important for your website to be mobile-friendly, or else you risk losing customers. Most consumers do their product research, purchase, and payment with the use of their smartphones. Have a mobile app for your online retail store to make shopping easier for your customers. If you aren’t building your e-commerce business with mobile in mind, you may be irrelevant in around three years.

Paige –  To improve e-commerce conversions, websites must be optimized for voice search. Voice user interface allows users to interact with websites through voice commands so it adds usability and functionality to your site making it accessible to all users including those with limitations and disabilities. It is not just about complying with the ADA, responsible web design and corporate social responsibility goals but it is also good for the bottom line by reaching a broader audience especially now with the virus Inclusion is the right thing to do and it is good for business. One key trend to address and tackle to grow your audience today is that smart speakers and voice search are growing in importance so being able to optimize for voice search will be key to maximize the marketing and advertising opportunities on Siri, Alexa, Google Home, etc. Brands that perfect the “branded skill” with more customer-friendly, less invasive ads are going to win big.

Emily –  As eCommerce expands into the giant it is today, many businesses tend to focus on the more creative and glamorous aspects of product management. Activities like brand design and influencer marketing are what all up-and-coming brands seem to focus on. While these are great strategies for niche markets and products, the one timeless and universal strategy you need to stay competitive is quick and reliable shipping! Because buyers have the ability to do in-depth research at the tips of their fingers, they are finding out just how many product alternatives are out there. You can and will stand out by offering multiple shipping options, and ensuring orders are delivered accurately and efficiently. With Amazon’s two-day shipping program, many buyers are starting to expect that as a standard shipping time, even when most businesses find that hard to maintain. Generally speaking, if price and quality between two products are equal, customers choose the one product they can get the fastest. I do recommend that you verify through market research that shipping time is important to your target audience, because this may not apply to all markets.

Jeff –  Search engine marketing is a timeless marketing strategy that isn’t going anywhere. E-commerce marketers need to take advantage of all of the tools Google offers for paid advertising (at a strong return-on-ad-spend) while also utilizing SEO best practices. Although this should be the case all throughout the year, doing so during the holiday shopping season will mean tremendous revenue gains.

Matt  –  The challenge with marketing in 2021 is that there are a lot of moving pieces. From inventory needs to social media assets to copy writing to website changes and more. You need to build the road before you drive the car. A reverse calendar allows your teams to work together and plan ahead for a road map throughout the year. This will ensure you’re not launching haphazardly on a holiday with a sale that will be negative ROI. Marketing is all about ROI and growth. And the best e-commerce marketers are doing that by planning and using reverse calendars.

Today’s brands strive to rise above the ordinary, but not everyone makes it. What would be an out-of-the-box marketing tactic which you’d like to suggest to brand creators?

Emily –  Online shoppers are getting savvy and can easily read between the lines of your worn-out messaging. The one thing they do trust (sometimes more than the brand itself) are the words from fellow shoppers. More specifically, actually seeing a product in someone’s everyday life helps the customer envision it in their own. Taking it a step further, you can create a brand voice and personality that mimics your target audience. Once again, shoppers no longer respond as well to traditional, overplayed messaging. The idea is that you must remember there are real people on the other end of your campaigns, and using UGC and relatable brand personality as tactics will generate an authentic, long-lasting connection with your customers.

Jeff –  Don’t cut corners with design, presentation and experience. If every retailer is selling a similar product, you need to utilize your product photography, website design and customer experience to grow your brand. Anyone can start a Shopify store, but the ones that thrive hone in on their products, the look and feel of the site and of course, the entire shopping experience.

Paige –  Using SEO and SEM together is ideal as main search engines are constantly changing their algorithms for rankings so stop thinking of SEO and SEM as rival forces. When used together they are complementary services that help boost your marketing strategy and increase brand exposure. The key is to build brand awareness and trust in your brand or business which begins by getting your business name to appear in prospect’s searches. Seeing your brand name appear twice, both on organic and on paid results, creates more brand awareness and intensifies your businesses’ trustworthiness. Research shows that if there are two brands that have apparently the same products, people will be more likely to choose the one they are familiar with. When a brand is shown in organic results alone it only gets 60% of clicks, whereas a brand that appeared in both organic and paid search results, attracts 92% of total clicks. When paid listings are shown beside organic, the click-through rate of paid ads increases. This means that clicks increase for both organic and paid listings when they are both featured and do not detract from each other.

Igor –  Have a contest : We host a referral contest on social media a few months before the holiday season to generate leads and to build a relationship with our potential customers. We take advantage of hashtags to spread the word about our contest. The right hashtags can help you reach new shoppers who are looking for the perfect gift. An average of over 34% of new customers is acquired through contests.

Matt –  Most brand creators try to start their promotions and advertisements the moment their sales begin. The most out-of-the-box marketing tactic that I use with high-growth companies is I begin advertising for a sale weeks or months in advance, especially if it’s a sale like Black Friday. It’s difficult to acquire new customers for any business. One advertisement in an ocean of millions is probably not enough. That’s why you start advertising early. You get cheaper rates and you have a longer timeline to convert cold audiences!

In your personal experience as a marketing expert, what would you value as the most important component of effective marketing?

Paige –  Leveraging market research to tighten the value proposition so it can be reinforced at every customer touch point. Consistency and repetition of key benefits is always an effective strategy.

Matt –  The most important component of effective marketing is without a doubt measurement. If you aren’t tracking and measuring your marketing dollars and efficacy, you are losing ground to everyone else in the industry. These days marketers are more akin to data scientists than they are the ad people of the 1960s. I’d hire a “data driven” marketer versus a “creative” marketer every day of the week.

Igor –  Establish brand consistency. The consistent presentation of a brand increases revenue by 33%.  At the core of any successful branding strategy is consistent communication. Branding, after all, is the way consumers perceive your brand. So you need to make sure that customers see your brand the way you want them to see it. And this is possible by coming up with a consistent message and visual identity for your brand and sticking to it. Next, you need to spread this message using all communication channels such as advertisements, online, and social media. Reinforce your brand’s message to create and maintain your company’s image. In short, your brand should be integrated into every aspect of customer experience.

Jeff –  The most important thing to effective marketing is integrated communications. This means carrying out consistent messaging through all marketing mediums including search, video, email, social and on-site marketing. Imagine a confused customer who receives an email about a sale, clicks through to a website and isn’t met with the same messaging. Having consistency is key to running successful marketing campaigns whether it is on the scale of a small business or a large e-commerce store.

Emily –    Looking at traditional components of effective marketing, I believe market research is crucial when selling a product. Before you can create campaigns and track KPIs, there is a lot to learn about your audience and competitive landscape. First, you need to verify there is product-market fit. It can be easy to assume your product will sell because you think it’s a great idea, but in the end that doesn’t matter… there has to be an audience willing to buy it. Once that has been verified, you must continue in-depth research on your target customer. Determining key profile components like demographics and psycho-graphics will equip you with the knowledge needed to create targeted campaigns. Using extensive market research allows you to connect with people on a deeper level and determine the solutions to their needs.

thanks for reading! 

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