2020 has been a rollercoaster. After almost a year of uncertainty, huge changes and new trends, one thing that is for sure is that Christmas is coming. The festive season will be very different this year, and therefore it is important, now more than ever, that your brand is dynamic and ready for this unique festive season.
There are more eyes than ever on brands, both online and offline, to communicate, sell and be present this Christmas. Your customers need to know your latest updates, how you are adapting to the circumstances, as well as your offers, promotions and news. Your marketing strategy may feel a bit jumbled, but it’s important to be conveying the right messages both online and offline to help prepare your brand for the next few months.
Christmas is one of the highlights of the e-commerce calendar. The question is, are you ready?
1. Be prepared
According to Forbes, e-commerce this year is set to explode. For the last 4 years, e-commerce growth has averaged between a 13-17% increase, while 2020 is set to see around 25% growth. People have spent most of this year at home, and as a result, customers are more adapted and willing to shop online. Loyal in-store shoppers have made a shift to the sofa, and your website needs to be ready to greet them with the same experience they would expect from your brand in-person.
Does your brand sell online? If not, why not? Having an e-commerce site is one of the easiest ways to adapt to the year of the Covid-Christmas. Selling online makes your brand accessible to the many shoppers who are opting out of an in-store experience this year.
Already got a site? That’s great news, now optimise it and make it the best it can be for this festive season:
- Is your user experience in tip-top condition? Make sure your site is fully working, on both mobile, desktop and tablet. Check for any 404s, page errors or blips in your UX.
- Can your site cope with more orders? Make sure your server won’t go down when your traffic is up, and your business is ready to take more orders from your online shop.
- Make sure you are giving customers the most up-to-date information. If you’re experiencing slower delivery times or longer order processing, be honest and tell your customers. Keep your website up to date and ensure they are aware of any important information when making an order – why not try a pop up or banner on your basket page?
2. Change how you communicate with your customers
Don’t let a face mask ruin the conversation. This year, find new ways to speak to your customers. Communication is key and it’s essential to tell your customers your latest Covid updates, offers and promotions. With so many ways to speak to customers, adapting a consistent brand voice and using this across your print, social and email marketing will help your target market to establish a connection with your brand.
It’s up to you to start the conversation, which will hopefully, end in a conversion.
Email marketing is a great way to speak to your customers and to take them straight to your website. It’s also a fun way to communicate your promotions and updates – it doesn’t have to be a plain and simple message. Make your customers love, not loathe your marketing emails! Have fun with new, click-worthy designs and use it as an opportunity to communicate your brand further. Personalise your subject lines to up your open rates, or try database segmentation to ensure you’re sending the best emails to the right people.
Don’t overlook your website as a tool for communication. It’s the perfect place to communicate with your customers, and you can put across a huge variety of messages in many different ways…
- Use your blog and write content people actually want to read. Your website blog doesn’t have to be a boring list of company announcements – give your customers something new! Why not make a gift guide with fun ideas for Christmas 2020 or write an interesting story about your brand.
- Switch up your home page – feature hot new products, and share your latest promotions. Putting these on your front page will share your message to your customers and encourage them to click through to the right pages
- Try and (literally) have a conversation with your users. Adding a chat feature to your website could help customers ask important questions, find advice and the best products for them.
- Send your users a gift with a site pop-up! Pop-ups can be a great way to give your customers a discount code, update them with important information or remind them to check out a page on your website. Fun graphics and animation can help to enhance your user experience and make your pop-ups really pop.
3. Get your graphic designer in the holiday spirit
Christmas is all about having fun and being merry together. Don’t leave your brand out!
Changing up your graphic design for the Christmas season is a simple way to have fun with your customers. A few snowflakes here, a bit of tinsel there and before you know it your website, social media and print marketing will add to your brand image and help customers see you as fun and dynamic.
Bring Christmas in-store with a fun poster and some visuals to remind people of your brand with a festive touch. Why not celebrate with them, and reward a gift for their loyalty to your brand? A fun freebie or discount could get you on their good list and help to improve your relationship with your customers.
Don’t forget, the Christmas fun doesn’t have to end in-store. It’s even easier to give your brand a seasonal makeover online- why not design a new Christmassy logo? Or update some of your website images to have a festive touch. Sharing an exclusive discount code via your social media or through email marketing could help to increase your engagement and conversions.
4. Be social and merry
Christmas only comes once a year, so don’t waste this opportunity to really engage with your audience. Social media is the perfect place to join in on the festive fun with exciting, unique content. Switch up your regular socials! You could give your audience exclusive promotions, or grow your numbers with a giveaway or competition.
It’s Christmas! Take off your corporate hat and write fun, engaging content to connect with your customers!
When looking to be social with your customers – don’t have a one track mind. Social media is just one way to connect. You could also try fun email campaigns, or writing an exciting PR story about your brand in the festive season. Christmas offers a huge scope of ideas for content, so get together and have a brainstorm. Crack open the mince pies and come up with out-of-the-box, creative ideas which could help push your marketing one step further ahead of your competitors.
Christmas is all about tradition- so let’s not forget about our old friend, print marketing! Sending Christmas cards is a personal way to greet your customers. If you have built a strong address book, designing a card and sending it straight to people’s homes is a unique way to deliver your marketing messages. Done right, this is a heartwarming way to remind customers of your brand offline. With more people working from home than ever, your audience may appreciate having some actual mail more than another email.
5. Try out a Christmas PPC campaign
Like the star on top of the tree, bring your website to the top of Google search results! With more people doing online shopping and searching for products and services like yours, there has never been a better time to try an Adwords campaign. If you have an idea of the type of person you want on your site, you’re halfway there.
Using Google Ads allows you to handpick keywords and search terms you want to rank for, so you can create a steady flow of targeted traffic to your site. Keyword research, budgeting and copy writing can help bring more of the right people to your website, to increase your sessions and users. Trying Adwords at one of the heights of the e-commerce calendar can help identify opportunities and ways your business could benefit from search engine marketing.
2020: A digital Christmas
It goes without saying this year has been like no other, and preparing your brand for a digital Christmas is important. People are working from home, shopping online and doing more virtually. Face to face interactions and experiences are very different this year, and every brand is affected – whether you work in retail and have high-street shops or offer b2b services.
Altering your brand strategy to fit with the constant changes can be very difficult and with so many tools and platforms available, it can feel daunting to get it all in.
We can help! Get in touch with Digital Storm today to discuss your marketing strategy, website or graphic design and find a new way to navigate the last few months of 2020. We offer an initial consultation to get to know your brand and mission, and then our designers, developers and marketers can collaborate to help your brand. We work with you to create bespoke solutions that help you reach your goals. Whether it’s a new business card design or a whole new website and marketing strategy, our team would love to work with you.
Call us today on 01202 298392 or email hello@wordpress-330549-2132940.cloudwaysapps.com.
Merry Covid-Christmas from Digital Storm
