Content marketing is the new buzz in the online marketing world and its impact is growing rapidly. A study published this year by Content Marketing Institute in collaboration with various marketing experts showed that more than half of the respondents had plans of increasing their online marketing budgets. This is not all – these respondents were also looking to professional content writers for help. The trend is re-instated by the fact that the number of Google searches for the phrase “content marketing” has almost doubled over the past year.
Holiday season is the time when millions of people are looking to buy gifts – online and in physical stores. Clever content marketing will help attract customers, traffic and sales. As most businesses are increasing their online marketing budgets, it will be wise if they can capture the festive mood and create content marketing strategies that are geared towards each holiday season. So if yours is a company that is just starting out or if you want your company to stand-out during the festive season rush, how do you do so?
Ideas to capture festive shoppers
The most common marketing strategy during festive seasons is to offer discounts and special offers. For example – the weeks before Christmas, you can offer discounts on Christmas-related items or the year round bestsellers. Another widely used tactic is the festival competition. Businesses can put up eye-catching competition banners on their web pages with attractive prizes for the winners. Photo competitions, essay and slogan writing competitions, etc, are some of the simplest competitions that can be hosted on a company’s website. Make sure to backlink on a product category, festival related keyword or other words like “sale”.
One tactic that is bound to generate traffic and goodwill is having tie-ups with charity organizations. So if you are doing something good during the festive season, get the word out there. Have your content creators write press releases for such tie-ups and exchange backlinks with the charity. This is beneficial both for the company and the charity. Share the good news on social networks pages, company blogs, etc.
Concentrate on your niche product or the USP of the products and highlight them on the website. To attract customers that are in the festive mood, you need to dedicate a section of your website to that particular festival and stock it with relevant products. You can also create lists of last year’s top selling festive products or ask the customers to create their wishlists to engage them.
Social media marketing in the holiday season
Content marketing strategies also encompass the content that businesses put on their social networking pages. The followers that you have on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. are already invested in the company so the holiday season is the perfect time to reward them. Here are some social media marketing tips that are often overlooked by most companies.
Firstly, businesses must start early. Slowly build a buzz that peaks at the holidays on your social media pages. There are many companies that tweak their logos during the holiday season to usher in the festive spirit. For example, you can add images of mistletoe around your company logo during Christmas or create a separate logo for each festival. One of the simplest ways to attract attention is to create a beautiful Facebook photostrip. The photostrip at the top of company pages displays the last five uploaded photos. So upload appealing festival photos that will be displayed in the photostrip. You can also change the background of your Twitter page to match the holiday season.