How NOT to Advertise During the Holidays
Now we all know that the holidays are the best time to go out there and tell people about what you are best at. So doesn’t that make holidays when most of the sales happen? Yes, we think almost any business owner can attest to the fact that most or at least a good chunk of their sales often occur between October and January.
That being said, the holidays present their own problems, chief of which is the fact that almost everyone from your neighborhood mom and pop store to the mega brands are out there trying to get the attention of your prospects – and that makes advertising during the holidays a task in its own right. Oftentimes, companies end up committing actions that can adversely affect their sales. It’s the smallest decisions that end up snowballing into gargantuan problems a few weeks or months down the road.
This winter, here are some marketing and advertising mistakes you should avoid.
#1. Not Staying Unique: We will say this is just about the biggest mistakes you can make. Small businesses are particularly affected with creativity problem and will often fall back on ye old buy one get one free routines.
The holidays are a perfect time to get creative with your messages and offers. So while every other company in your neighborhood is betting on discounts, how about running a sweepstake for an awesome giveaway?
Uniqueness also applies to your message content and presentation style. Since this is what your audience will see, it makes sense to spend some time and come up with something really interesting.
#2. Not being where the customers are: The phrase location, location, location does not just apply to real estate. Half of any strategy is properly positioning yourself at the right place and time.
If you are a restaurant, then you might find that most of your patrons are office goers. A jewelry store owner might find that most of their customers are middle aged suburban moms. Having this valuable piece of information can go a long way in helping you figure out where to spend your ad money.
Of course, this really isn’t a problem if you resort to vehicle advertising where you can make your presence be known at multiple locations!
#3. Not tying social media with your offline marketing: The time when internet marketing activities were optional is long past. Today, most companies are garnering more sales thanks to online marketing channels so you are leaving a lot of money on the table if you are not adding them to your sales efforts.
Tugging on the sweepstake example above, you can easily run a campaign on Facebook and Twitter to get more people involved and ask people to like your Page. Adding fans to your social media accounts is similar to adding subscribers to an email list – it helps you stay in touch with more people.
Graphics and interesting pictures have very high share value on social media. Since most of advertising (particularly vehicle ads) are graphics, you can post pictures on social media, especially sites like Instagram and Pinterest which are essentially picture search engines.
Since marketing and advertising is all about creating connections, the more your ads jump out from the background of day to day life, the more impactful they will be. A piece of content or message that is new, relevant and delivers value can help you get more traction than a whole lot of ads put together.
Remember one of those funny or intriguing images you liked on Facebook? Chances are you do not know where it originated from, yet you saw it. Try creating something similar, and hopefully your message just might go viral too!
