Top eCommerce Brands’ Holiday Marketing Strategies: How Do You Measure Up?

BLOG Oct 6 2021

It’s no secret that top brands spend millions of dollars on eCommerce holiday marketing campaigns to cash in on the year’s busiest shopping season. Yes, having deep pockets will always put the big players at an advantage over others with smaller marketing budgets, but even if your holiday marketing budget is tight, there’s no reason why you can’t apply similar strategies! Click here to get your hands on the only Amazon A+ Content strategy you’ll ever need.

With messages around the holiday season often being focused around big savings, family and holiday cheer, it’s easy to fall into the same routine year after year with regards to tactics and messaging. It’s important to consider changes to the buyer landscape since it’s been rapidly evolving and how that can influence your campaigns. Stop relying on the same old marketing strategies, and embrace new, fresh ideas! When it comes to holiday marketing, advice and general best practices are everywhere. The right strategy is at times hard to figure out until you test it, but our eComm gurus have laid out some of the best strategies from the top players in the space. Keep reading to see how your brand measures up…

Rule #1: If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail

You have to start somewhere, so first and foremost, define your goals. Once your goals are set, it’s important to understand possible pain points that can prevent you from achieving them. Having a solid plan in place to help combat possible roadblocks will help set you up for eCommerce holiday marketing success!

Given that rising eCommerce ad spend was the number one concern amongst top brands in playing in the space, how can you be sure you’re getting the most out of the money you put in?

• Make sure you’re driving brand awareness, email signups and traffic to your eCommerce site well in advance of the holidays. When it comes time to retarget your audience, you’ll have built a larger user pool to pull from!
• Run pre-Boxing Day sales to create excitement around your brand and offers. Running ads ahead of Boxing Day will also help in terms of keeping ad cost lower rather than spend the bulk of your ad budget on this specific, highly competitive day.
• Focus on using high-intent keywords that will also help drive traffic and conversions. Think about specific phrases your audience may be using to find deals that are most relevant to them.

Do you have a solid grasp on your company’s roadblocks during this time of year? How have you planned to combat these potential issues? If you have a plan already laid out, then that’s just jolly! You’re on the right track. If not, start by laying out your main goals and potential roadblocks that could prevent you from achieving them.

Rule #2: Utilize Best Performing Channels

It’s no surprise that the top platforms have become “pay to play”. According to most big eCommerce players, they’ve found that their top-performing channel for social advertising is Facebook. The second top-performing channel was Instagram, because of their new shoppable posts. And, don’t forget about Pinterest! Pinners are planners and up to 70% start thinking about holiday planning as early as October.

With these, brands are better able to move their consumers from path to purchase with ease and at scale! Understanding your top performing digital channels ahead of committing to eCommerce holiday marketing budgets is helpful to ensure you’re spending efficiently and wisely.

Rule #3: Determine Your Best Possible Holiday Offers

Go big or go home! That’s the general consensus when it comes to offering holiday shoppers deals and discounts. 74.5% of brands with eCommerce have found that offering site-wide discounts is the most effective strategy to drive sales. 58.8% stated that having specific product discounts also proved to be effective followed by 52.9% stating that coupon codes were also successful. The top “will not use” promotional strategy was gift wrapping, with 84.5% of brands saying they won’t use this tactic, followed by 62.7% saying they also will not use product bundles. 60.8% also stated they would not use a BOGO offer based on poor past performance.

Now that you know the strategies from the top players in the eCommerce space, how do you stack up for the holiday rush?