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Holiday Marketing Ideas for Sales Promotion

Details: Published: Wednesday, 07 April 2021 06:33

Holidays. They bring joy and happiness to every corner of the world. It is a time when families and friends share excitement and exchange gifts showing how much they love and care about each other.

Besides all the festivities and holiday rush, businesses have the most significant opportunities to increase their sales during the holiday periods. However, competition is high here, so to stand out, you have to create strategies, campaigns, and content that would ensure your success during the holiday season.

Do not worry; we got you covered! Let’s look into some ideas on boosting your business and increasing sales for the upcoming holidays.

Promotional Holiday Campaign Ideas

Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Black Friday, St Patrick's Day, Mother's Day – you name it. Countless opportunities lay here and are waiting for you.

Depending on your strengths and weaknesses, you might want to run holiday campaigns on social media, emails, or any other marketing channels.

Here are a few ideas on how you can market your business during this year's holidays.

Arrange a giveaway on your chosen social media platform.

Who doesn’t like gifts, right? By running a holiday-themed giveaway, you will gain new followers and increase your brand awareness. If you are a new business, this is your chance to grow and introduce yourself to your audience. For the already existing businesses, it will not only help to gain potential clients but also will help to build up customer loyalty and create interest.

Before arranging a giveaway campaign, make sure you plan it well: identify the final aims and goals, clearly establish the rules and regulations for the competition and finally, ensure that your giveaway product fits well with the holiday theme!

Launch a new product or service

If you are looking to release a new product or service, there is no better time to do it than a holiday. Besides all the awareness you will get on your new addition, you will increase the chances of this product or service being purchased during that holiday.

People like to try new things, and with your launch, you might be able to ease their headache while looking for something to surprise their loved ones with. It might be precisely the thing your customers were looking for.

Arrange a Google Ads or Social Media Ads Campaign.

As people will be searching for gifts, being visible on social media platforms and Google search is vital if you want to get the sales going.

You might want to create a seasonal campaign with the products your business is offering and select the keywords to make sure your target audience can see you.

For example, if you are promoting your brand on Valentine’s Day, you might want to include keywords such as love, boyfriend, girlfriend, couple, husband, wife, etc.

To make sure that the potential clients select your business to purchase their holiday gifts, add a little extra incentive such as free shipping, discount for first-time buyers, or a special offer if the customers purchase for more than a specified amount.

Use email marketing to offer your best deals

Emails have become one of the most effective marketing strategies, especially during the pandemic. They are one of the best ways to approach your clients directly.

Besides that, you are able to personalize the content of your email for the segmented groups and increase your chances when boosting your sales. Add your holiday campaign into emails and showcase your offers and deals.

Ensure you attract your recipients with eye-catching, funny, engaging subject lines and appealing content that would be useful and valuable. You can also use email marketing if you are launching a new product or service for the holiday season. It will inform your audience and create interest. To send your holiday season emails we recommend to use Sender email marketing platform.

Holiday Content Ideas

Creating an effective campaign can only be achieved with valuable and engaging content. Let’s look at some content ideas you might want to implement when establishing your holiday campaign.

Offer LAST MINUTE delivery

It will help to convince the customers who are looking for gifts with very little time left. FREE shipping might also be an option if you are willing to persuade your buyers even more.

Create a to-do list

People are busy with their lives, and sometimes they need effective planning and guidance. With a to-do list, your audience will be able to keep up with all the things they must complete before the holiday.

Arrange special offers

To attract the customers, you might want to provide them with discounts and deals, making them purchase from your brand. People are looking to save money and still surprise their loved ones, so use this chance to increase your customer base.

Suggest holiday gifts

Customers are overwhelmed with the variety of products and services brands are offering. Ease their pain and provide them with a list of top gifts they can purchase for different segmented groups (Top gifts for kids, him/her, mother/father, etc.).

Let’s Recap The Best Holiday Marketing Practises

We have now provided you with ways to boost your holiday sales by using strategic marketing campaigns and content.

Remember, with excellent planning and preparation, you will be able to deliver stunning holiday ads, deals, and offers to your potential and existing clients.

Let’s recap the best holiday marketing practices which will help you stand out from your competitors and achieve your business goals:

Use giveaways to attract a new audience and increase brand awareness.
Use the holiday to introduce your audience to a new product or service.
Create Google and Social Media Ads and add the keywords to be visible to your target market.
Consider email marketing to present your offers and create valuable content with catchy subject lines to stand out.
Offer free shipping or last-minute delivery to get the buyers who have limited time to purchase the gifts.
Provide your clients with a to-do list and help them prepare for the holiday.
Include special offers, deals, and discounts for each celebration to encourage purchases.
Suggest gifts to be purchased by showing your clients what you offer based on different segmented groups.
Last but not least - make sure the campaigns, content, and products/services you offer are relatable to that specific holiday.

How Small Businesses Can Protect Customers’ Data and Their Own Profits

Details: Published: Monday, 29 March 2021 12:02

Keeping your customers’ information safe is more than a security concern. A data breach can mean lost productivity, embarrassment, reduced faith, expensive recovery, and it can even lead to a company’s failure. Here’s how to make sure your small business is following best practices so you can protect customer data, as well as your bottom line.

Notable numbers

While data-related mishaps by big companies tend to catch the most media attention, USA Today notes that it’s small businesses that are targets of cyber crime. In fact, two thirds of cyber attacks are aimed at small businesses, and 60 percent of small businesses that fall victim are unable to recover, shutting down permanently within six months of an attack.

Developing policies

As cyber crime advances, more states are requiring businesses of various types and sizes to follow strict guidelines to protect customers’ information. As an example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires companies to protect private health information. Or New York now requires financial institutions to comply with NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation. In order to comply, businesses must evaluate their own weak spots and proactively address concerns. You can find out the requirements for various states by exploring data security laws in different areas. Even if you live in a state with softer guidelines, businesses must notify customers of a data breach based on the customers’ locations. In other words, if you have customers in Kentucky and your business is set in California, you must follow Kentucky’s notification rules for customers in that state should a data breach occur.

Putting up defenses

It doesn’t take long to realize it’s in your best interests to make every attempt to avoid data breaches. A data breach can come in many forms, so one place to start is to examine what you have that criminals would want to steal. Evaluate your practices for handling sensitive data like credit card information and bank account numbers. Note PCI compliance is required of all businesses that handle credit cards, so it’s important to assess related practices carefully.

Installing appropriate hardware and software is another key to avoiding trouble. Firewall protection is a crucial tool to have. Additionally, antivirus software protects your data from malware, ransomware, and the like. Keep your software up-to-date with the latest security patches as well, and if your company hasn’t moved to cloud storage, consider doing so. Not only does saving data in the cloud provide better security, there are other advantages, such as improved sharing, easy restoration, and reduced overhead.

Training your troops

It’s important to ensure your staff isn’t a weak link in your company’s defenses. Make sure your team knows to avoid opening suspicious emails from unfamiliar sources, and not to divulge sensitive information. Also, develop a solid password protocol. Train everyone to avoid using actual words, to make passwords reasonably complex, and to keep passwords strictly confidential. Your staff can use certain “tricks” for their passwords which help with memorization. For instance, they can use acronyms for memorable phrases, such as “TIMNPFW,” which could stand for “this is my new password for work.” If you elect to incorporate numbers, they can exchange “for” with a 4, and so forth.

If you want to take matters further, you could encourage your employees to further their education by taking online IT courses. The best part of this approach is that they can complete the courses in their free time, which shouldn’t interfere with their regular work schedules.

Make plans for trouble

No system is foolproof, so having a plan in place in the event a data breach occurs ensures the best possible chance of coming through on the other side with a healthy company. Develop a sound incident response plan, and train your staff how to proceed in the event of a breach. If you have an IT team, they will likely be integral to recovery. If your business doesn’t have IT staff, you’ll likely have to hire a data recovery professional to help minimize the damage. Another resource would be a digital forensics specialist, which can potentially trace where a breach occurred, help restore data, and gather evidence against the criminal.

Developing appropriate defenses is not only a smart solution, it’s a chance to ensure your company doesn’t become just another statistic. Follow best practices and ensure compliance on all levels of your organization. Protecting data is crucial to your small business’s success.

Social Media for Business: 12 Simple Ways to Use Social Media to Market Your Online Store

Details: Published: Thursday, 18 March 2021 11:09

During the past decade, social media has become a go-to platform for many entrepreneurs to promote their business.

For one, it is a free marketing platform. Second, social media enables two-way communication between you and your customers. Social media is also an excellent way to encourage your customers to spread the word about your business.

However, we understand if you find social media marketing overwhelming. As such, we have listed down 12 different ways you can use this platform to promote your business.

Choose the Most Effective Platforms

Every brand is different. Therefore, they need to find which is the best platform that will work best with them.

If your brand is more on the visual aspect, tapping into Instagram or Pinterest is a great idea. But how about other platforms out there?

At Voy Media Marketing Agency NYC, we always advise our clients to start with one or two channels first. This helps reduce the overwhelming feeling they get. It also prevents them from spreading themselves too thin.

After all, a business owner should focus on making his business grow instead of promoting his products on social media.

When determining the proper channels to use, you need to consider your customers and your business's needs.

You need to create social media accounts on the platforms that your target audience use. That way, they can easily connect with you.

It would help if you also did some research on sites that best fit your products. Let's say you're a video production company. Then, Youtube here is perhaps the most obvious choice.

Provide Value

The most successful marketers out there didn't build an engaged following on social media by simply posting links to product pages.

Users on social media want more value from the pages that they follow. Therefore, sellers need to come up with content offerings that provide value to their followers. What's in it for them?

You can accomplish this goal by figuring out which topics people often care about. Think of how your products and services can help solve everyday issues. And then publish relevant content regularly.

But you also beware brands also have to be careful not to act in a very promotional way. Although promotion is vital, this shouldn't be tempered with various other posts that don't make any sales pitch.

So, highlight your brand's offerings. It's also essential that you focus on your company's more unique aspects or products. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to create long-form content.

Create a Calendar

Scrambling to post at the very last minute eventually leads you to produce low-quality content.

A lack of organization in this area will eventually cause you to create repeated posts or a dull social media presence.

Coming up with your own social media calendar is one of the excellent ways to achieve your marketing goals. It also allows you to monitor your progress.

Create a regular content calendar for every social media platform, planning out your posts in advance. Include links, hashtags, images, and other social media content forms.

Build Relationships with Influencers

When people think about influencers, the first thing that usually comes into mind is celebrities and athletes. However, partnering with these people won't probably fit your marketing budget if you're starting.

But influencer marketing is one of the fastest ways you can acquire more customers in a digital world. How can you implement a strategy like this? Well, you can partner with micro-influencers instead.

Although these kinds of people may not have millions of followers, you can still get them to post your content for a couple of hundreds of dollars.

Offer them a free product instead in exchange for a post about your brand. You can effectively use this strategy because micro-influencers tend to have higher engagement metrics with their followers. And that is despite the fact they are not celebrities.

You might also consider working with local influencers in your area if you're a small business. It's also likely that your followers will be interested in supporting your brand.

Share Product Videos

Visual content also works exceptionally well with social media.

Video content, for instance, is a great way to grab the attention of your audience. It also lets you showcase your personality while excitingly conveying your marketing message.

It stands out as users scroll through their feeds on social media, and they're likely to view and engage with it. This also allows you to say more than an average post without coming off as too overwhelming.

For the best results, come up with interesting, narrative-driven video content.

Share User-Generated Content

Sharing user-generated content online helps you drive brand awareness.

Let's say you regularly publish posts on Instagram. Consider posting images of people wearing or using your products. And then tag the people in your photo.

This allows you to expand your brand's audience reach. That's because when you tag a person, it is likely that they will share it with their audience. This means that more Instagram users will notice you.

Also, do you know that 92% of consumers will trust a referral even if it comes from people they know?

Without a doubt, user-generated content can be one of the best ways you can gain more followers. It is up to you how you can turn these new followers into loyal customers.

Run Contests and Giveaways

Similarly, running contests and giveaways are often a no-brainer if you want to boost brand awareness.

Coming with low-barrier contests can be an immense help in spreading the word about your business, especially if the mechanics are straightforward. Thus, these are the ones that usually drive the highest engagement.

If you're starting out running contests and giveaways, we recommend that you go with this route.

Consider Paid Advertising

You can run paid advertising campaigns on almost every social media channel.

Although there's a price tag attached to this strategy, this is vital- especially in an era with organic reach is slowly declining.

Because PPC is one of the main ways retailers use to drive traffic on social media, you must know audience targeting and personalization.

Fortunately, many social media platforms give advertisers various targeting parameters. This ensures that people who can see your ad are those who are likely to transact with you.

Many targeting options of various sites these days include dimensions such as:

Age
Gender
Income
Interests
Languages
Location

Moreover, social media platforms allow sellers to target custom and lookalike audiences. These are social media users who have interacted with a brand that is similar to yours. It also refers to people who share the same demographic and psychographic as your existing customers.

With various ad formats and targeting parameters, it's almost unforgivable that you don't know the ins and outs of social media advertising.

Engage Followers

To get your posts translated to traffic and sales, you need to engage or connect with your followers as a retailer.

When people have positive interaction with your business, they'll recommend it to other people. But to form a meaningful connection with your audience, everything doesn't have to be about sales.

You can talk about general topics which are often related to your niche.

That way, if you'll post something related to sales, later on, they'll more likely engage and interact with your brand.

If you want a follower to post something about your content, then responding to them will make them feel part of that dialogue. It will also make them think that you're interested in them.

Utilize Hashtags

Hashtags have already been a staple for a lot of sites on social media.

Hashtags are commonly used on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This is to provide users the means to improve organic discovery by reaching out to people who use these terms.

However, note that hashtag etiquette is often different for every site.

Although it's okay that you post nine hashtags or more on Instagram, this doesn't often work with Facebook.

That's why you must take time learning how hashtags are used in a specific social media platform that you're using.

Use Shoppable Posts

Although linking your online store to your Instagram Page isn't always easy, there are still other ways that you can work it out.

One of the excellent ways to do that is to publish photos on your Instagram Page or stories. You can even come up with a video clip featuring those products, then linking your online store in your Instagram bio.

By doing this, you're letting your customers send you a shopping inquiry without hassle.

Build a Community

Rather than getting as many followers as possible, you can look at your potential and existing customers.

These are the people who will likely repost your content, like your posts, and eventually become paying customers.

When you build a community around your brand, people will likely engage and promote your content.

When you use social media for marketing your brand, you need to ensure that you're visible to your target audience. By taking the tips listed above into heart, you'll likely develop a system that enables you to produce engaging content constantly.

AbanteCart Named Best Shopping Cart Software Company of 2021 by Digital.com

Details: Published: Tuesday, 12 January 2021 05:55

The AbanteCart was highlighted among the most efficient solutions to help manage online stores and generate sales

Digital.com, a leading independent review website for small business online tools, products, and services, has named AbanteCart among the best shopping cart software companies of 2021. The top systems were selected based on core features and integration capabilities.

AbanteCart and all software solutions were expected to offer tools that integrate seamlessly with most websites. The study also evaluated platforms with user-friendly functions, such as order tracking and online reviews, to enhance the customers’ experience. Additional requirements include abandoned cart saver tools that automate reminder emails to customers who leave the site before finalizing a transaction.

Digital.com’s research team conducted a 40-hour assessment of over 60 solutions. To access the complete list of best shopping cart software, please visit https://digital.com/shopping-cart-software.

ABOUT DIGITAL.COM

Digital.com reviews and compares the best products, services, and software for running or growing a small business website or online shop. The platform collects twitter comments and uses sentiment analysis to score companies and their products. Digital.com was founded in 2015 and formerly known as Review Squirrel. To learn more, visit https://digital.com.