Choosing The Right Channel For Your Holiday Digital Marketing Campaign

The growth of digital marketing channels in recent years means that there is plenty of choice for consumers, small businesses, and non-profits to interact, share, and engage. That’s a great thing, because channels that are intuitive and optimize reach and engagement will ultimately bring you closer to getting the results you want.

But the existence of so many channels does not make a marketer’s job easier. When it comes to a holiday digital marketing campaign there are many variables including objectives, metrics, SEO, web design, and content that can influence strategy and success. This post will guide you through the campaign basics, so that you understand the fundamentals of setting up a campaign, generating leads, and converting leads.

A Caveat - We Can’t Tell You Everything in This Post

There are many aspects to consider in a holiday digital marketing campaign. It’s impossible for us to cover them all or do them justice in one post. For example, your organic digital marketing is dependent on your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). If your website ranks really well for highly relevant transactional keywords, you should get plenty of leads. If your website is optimized with impactful content and striking images, leads will convert into sales. However, we won’t be covering SEO in this post, although you can read more about SEO on our blog.

One thing to note before we begin is that the channels you won’t want to use are content marketing, blogging, and new web content. While they offer immense value, these channels take time to gain traction and won’t deliver the immediate impact you want with your holiday marketing campaign.

Building on the Work You’ve Done

Your holiday digital marketing campaign will succeed if you have developed a solid website that draws in visitors and gives them the information that they need.  Your SEO should be in good shape and, if plan to use social media, you should have a strong online presence on the channels you intend to use.

What do you want to achieve with this digital marketing campaign?

Planning your holiday digital marketing campaign should begin with one question: “What do we aim to achieve with this campaign?”During special events — particularly during the holiday period — you most likely want more conversions and, ultimately, sales.

You should already know the foundational pieces of your of your campaign. They are:

1. Campaign objectives
2. Measurement criteria
3. Audience information

Next, establish and prioritize campaign objectives. What must this holiday digital marketing campaign achieve? What are potential customers interested in, in the context of your business? What would motivate them to interact with your campaign?

More Audience Research Needed?

If you are struggling to nail down some of this information, take a step back and do some more research. Moving forward without a solid audience means you could potentially launch a campaign that is too broad or off-target. Conduct an audit to determine user segments, as well as deep insight into your targeted audiences needs.

What are your metrics? What metrics do you want to track and which ones will be used to measure the success of a campaign? It’s important to assess your metrics so that you can make the best and wisest choices about the channels you use. They also mean you have a record of campaign objectives and performance and possibly, a benchmark to go on when you plan your next campaign.

Digital Channel Matrix

The next step is using a matrix of the digital marketing channels that you use regularly. If you don’t have a matrix, create one. List all the channels you use or will consider using for this holiday digital marketing campaign, and think about influence and effect on your target audience. When choosing the channels you’ll want to focus on, think about:

Which channels do your audience interact with the most? Which channels influence them? Which channels have produced the best engagement and redirects?

Doing this work means that you can align campaign objectives with your chosen digital channels.

Driving Traffic for Leads and Conversions

Here is where the art of marketing comes into play. If you’ve already optimized your website and invested in quality content and images that attract visitors, you’ve accomplished a lot towards generating leads. Next, create the landing pages specifically for your holiday campaign. One thing that sells more than anything else is great product images. Invest in these, and show your product from different angles, too. Make them zoomable. If you sell a service, use images or illustrations to portray what you offer.

Video is optional for your holiday campaign, but it will definitely play a bigger role in the future. It offers more than photos and is the next step before touching a product. If you’ve not invested in video content yet consider doing so for your campaign. See our recent post on video marketing.

Product copy is essential, too, and it must be great. The best copy understands your customer's needs and speaks to them, as well as segments within that group. It offers both the long-and short-form versions and doesn’t ramp up the hype. It’s unique and detailed, to the point where a customer will convince themselves that this is the product or service they need.

With this approach, your holiday campaign can invest in higher costs per thousand impressions (CPM) and won’t need to cast your net so wide in your search for customers. Your campaign will be able to speak to more specific audience segments and focus on their needs — this is what increases conversion rates.

Planning a holiday digital marketing campaign takes time; it’s a step-by-step process and requires detailed information throughout if it’s going to be successful

As well as campaign stats, look at website statistics, and search engine data. If you have time before your campaign, perform a social media audit and include the essentials; engagement metrics, best-performing posts, audience demographics, referrals, profile details, and any relevant channel metrics. Track at a minimum quarter on quarter, so that you can identify traffic patterns and plan future campaigns accordingly.

TechWyse is Canada’s largest internet marketing agency and has created and delivered successful digital marketing campaigns for hundreds of small businesses. We can help you succeed online. Contact us today to discuss your needs.