Last year, the holiday season was unlike any we’ve seen. This year, it’s time for retailers to brace for returning shoppers, develop new marketing approaches, and overcome possible challenges to make the road to a successful season as accessible as possible. 

The 2020 holiday shopping season was turbulent. Supply chain complications, quarantines, and a shift in holiday travel and spending habits all affected companies' fourth quarters. This year's holiday shopping season may have fewer lockdowns and restrictions, so retailers should prepare for returning shoppers. The best way to prepare for the holiday season is with early, proactive strategies. Follow these tips as you plan out your Q4 marketing in anticipation of the holiday season. 

Assume Customer Behaviors Have Changed 

Online shopping had been growing in popularity even before the 2020 lockdowns. However, the pandemic led to a significant increase in the number of online shoppers. 69% of American shoppers did some amount of their holiday shopping online last year. Since many consumers are more comfortable with eCommerce, your business needs to be prepared for in-store and online shopping. 

A second major trend that evolved in holiday shopping behaviors is the focus on shopping locally. 66% of 2020 holiday shoppers wanted to shop more at local or small businesses, and the web traffic for "support local businesses" searches grew 200 times over. If you operate a small or local business, make sure your marketing campaigns tap into this trend. 

Start Your Marketing Campaign Early 

The sooner you start on your holiday marketing campaigns, the better. Shoppers who are nervous about potential lockdowns or who are eager to begin a festive holiday season may want to get a jump on gifts, decorations, and holiday-related experiences. If shoppers plan out their gifts and purchases, early and frequent promotional posts can capture their attention.  

Starting early means you can also test out strategies you developed in 2020, tweak your campaigns for optimal shopping and customer experience during December, and work out any complications in the user experience. 

Even if you don't publish your ads and marketing materials early, it's essential to create them early. Starting to prepare in Q3 gives your team plenty of time to develop strong messages and plenty of content. Then you can publish it in Q4 while your team is busy troubleshooting and managing real-time responses. 

You may need this extra time to create marketing assets, ads, and posts for a growing number of platforms, too. As marketing analytics technology continues to evolve, your team can create nuanced, dynamic campaigns across email newsletters, streaming television programs, mobile alerts, and more. 

Offer the Best Customer Experience 

While shoppers love deals and wide availability of product options, customer experience still reigns supreme. As you're planning out your marketing campaign strategies, include elements designed to make the shopping experience special, less stressful, and positive.  

Include features or options such as: 

• Multiple Different Pickup Options: Your shoppers may opt for pickup rather than delivery, especially if they need something immediately. This could include last-minute wrapping paper, treats for a work party, or even groceries when the holiday shopping season gets overwhelming. Offer in-store pickup for online purchases, curbside pickup, and other options consumers became accustomed to during lockdowns. 
• Educational marketing content: Online shoppers love listicles and helpful how-tos. Capitalize on this by creating marketing materials that are as helpful as they are promotional. This can include wrapping tutorials that feature your products, holiday meal tips, lists that feature the most popular toys for children or top gift ideas for different demographics, and other helpful shopping guides. 
• Intuitive online shopping processes: The sudden shift to online purchasing had many stores making do with unintuitive purchasing processes. Make sure your online store requires as few clicks as possible to get shoppers to the shopping cart. The entire process should be organized, and visitors should understand what to expect from one click to the next. 

Once you have your pickup options, content marketing, and easy online shopping processes ready, make sure to advertise them. Stressed or busy holiday shoppers will see the promise of convenience and be more likely to give your brand a try for the first time. 

Optimize Your Website to Account for Online Shoppers 

One of the most critical factors in your holiday shopping season will be online shopping. Many shoppers will want convenience; other shoppers desire the safety of shopping in their own homes. Even shoppers that prefer in-store purchases will still browse and create shopping lists online. So make sure your site is built for easy and intuitive browsing and buying. 

It's also important to focus on SEO — and any SEO-focused campaigns need to start right now to have traction during the holiday shopping season. Capitalize on local business-focused searches, constantly research trends in how searchers phrase their queries and try to push your site to the front page of Google. 

Sleigh the Competition by Working With a Media Partner for Your Holiday Marketing Needs 

Streamlined holiday marketing is essential to creating a strategy with a high ROI this season. KCTV5 can help you create a digital marketing plan to reach shoppers regardless of their buying patterns.