How Non-Retail Brands Can Build Holiday Marketing Strategies

Think holiday marketing strategies don’t apply to you? See how non-retail brands can get their piece of the holiday pie this shopping season. The holiday shopping season is about to kick off, one that traditionally belongs to retailers. Thus, some non-retail brands have no holiday marketing strategies in place. But even if you’re not pushing electronics or toys or sparkly decorations, you can still influence and convert shoppers as they go on their merry way.

Let’s take a look at where you can expect consumers to spend their time over the next few months, so you can be with them in those valuable moments.

Mobile

If you’re a frequent reader of this blog, then you’ve heard us talking about the growth in mobile for the past few years. Recent data leaves no doubt that mobile is where shoppers are doing the overwhelming majority of their learning, researching, and purchasing:

• 96 percent use smartphones to answer a question or fill a need

• 70 percent of in-store shoppers first turned to their devices for information related to the purchase

• 92 percent of those who searched on their phone made a related purchase

To reach these consumers with a holiday marketing plan of your own, first you’ll need to consider how mobile impacts the way you do business online. For example, do you write blog posts or create video content? Are you active on social media, and do you invest in any pay-per-click advertising? You’ll want all of this to be supported by a website that is mobile-friendly, so you can freely link to pages and make it easy for consumers to learn, research, and convert.

Search

We know consumers are big on mobile, but what are they doing on mobile to find the information they need? According to Think with Google, 87 percent of people turn to search first – and they are twice as likely to use search than other online or offline sources such as store visits or social media.

Obviously, search is the party you want to be at this holiday season. Your marketing strategies should include paid search, which can get your ads in front of shoppers who are most likely to buy from you. Then, you can beef up your local search by confirming your address is correct (for users of Google maps or other apps) and increasing user reviews, so that users who click on your paid ads can do their own research if they so choose.

Social Media

Aside from search, mobile users also spend a lot of their time on social media. Non-retail brands can capitalize on these consumer habits by posting frequent updates as well as considering advertising on social media. Facebook’s ad targeting is especially granular, so you can use your own combination of filters to make sure your specific audience sees the post in their feeds. You can do Instagram advertising right from your Facebook account, and even Snapchat (or Snap, Inc. as it’s now called) has some advanced technology for advertisers. As you build up your community, consider how future posts can help you turn those new followers into buyers and, eventually, brand advocates.

Email Marketing

If you haven’t spent much time on email marketing in the past, you might want to consider that more email is read on mobile than on desktop devices. This correlates to the massive amounts of time that people spend on mobile, in general, but especially during the holidays. Whether your audience is riding the train to work, waiting in line at the store, or browsing social media in the parking lot, you can get your messages to them on the devices they’re most likely to check. Just remember to make your email campaigns mobile-friendly, too.

Building a holiday marketing strategy might seem overwhelming at first. But if you start with a strong mobile-friendly website and build from there, then you can position your non-retail brand in front of shoppers eager to be in charge of their searching and spending.