Did you know, the global holiday ecommerce spending in 2019 will rise up to 13.2% which is more than three times the rate of total retail spending? These days, omnichannel marketing ideas has been adopted by a vast majority of successful brands/ retailers. Why? Because the customer is omnichannel.

It’s more of a necessity than a choice.

Let’s check out a few successful omnichannel marketing ideas.

Have you started your holiday promotions yet?

Skyrocket your holiday sales with a little more planning and effort.

Here are a few ideas to become an omnichannel marketing champ this holiday season.

1. Think like a customer.

A successful omnichannel strategy looks at the customer and his/ her journey for guidance. Everything revolves around him/ her.

The customer is right in the centre of a well-designed omnichannel marketing strategy.

How well do you know your customer?

Research indicates that about 86% of shoppers regularly channel-hop across two channels!

What?

People move through the purchase journey on their own whim, seamlessly shifting between search and video, according to Google.

                                        Image courtesy: Google

And, there’s more.

In addition to jumping from one shop to another; they also hop across multiple channels while shopping.

Oftentimes your dream customers make an online purchase even as they wait in the billing queue or after having checked out a product at your brick and mortar store. Small wonder then 87% of the retailers care to have a robust omnichannel holiday marketing strategy.

According to Google’s research, on average, marketers who run YouTube video ads, as well as Google Search ads, report 3% higher search conversion rates and a 4% lower search CPA vis a vis marketers who run only Google Search ads.

What does this mean for your own holiday marketing plans?

Your customers don’t see search, video, email or social media marketing in silos. So, you shouldn’t either. Approach your channels holistically to make sure you’re reaching your customers wherever they are in their journey.

Want to be at the top of your omnichannel holiday marketing game? Think like a customer and offer a consistent experience to your customers across different touchpoints.

How ready is your brand for holiday omnichannel marketing?

 

2. Make it mobile-friendly.

Today, mobile shopping is the new normal.

Mobile brand engagement is here to stay.

Shoppers are taking to mobile shopping like a fish takes to water— especially for impulse purchases and to inform their in-store trips.

Thanks to the depth and variety of online resources, more and more customers are becoming comfortable discovering and purchasing in the moment.

During the holiday season, you have more travel shoppers than ever. And, what is travel shoppers known for?

For hopping between devices. For experiencing entire customer journeys on a mobile device.

Google observes that with the number of mobile phone users growing every year, a 10% year-on-year increase of customer journeys were either on mobile only or across multiple devices.

However, data also indicate several glitches as the on-the-go customer meanders from one channel to the other. In some instances, it’s due to the lack of a thought-through mobile engagement strategy.

Help your customers find answers before they get to the store.

Once they are in the store, what do they do? Most often, engage with your brand and/or competitor brands- from their mobile.

Once a customer or prospect has decided to visit your store, they use mobile to plan the trip.

They look for brand recommendations, check product availability, look up store hours.

In short, a customer arrives at the store armed with more knowledge than ever before.

What is the least a marketer can do? Make these details easy to find across online experiences, especially mobile devices.

 

3. SEO for holidays

The internet has changed how people shop. People are doing more research before purchasing.

Image courtesy: Google

It’s possible that you could be missing out on a large chunk of internet sales if your website is not optimized for search.

As a starting point for SEO, find out what people want.

Zoom into the purchase journey.

At what stage do customers seek assistance?

Are there any information gaps?

What information are they seeking and when?

Analyze search data to gain insights into how customers expect brands to assist them before, during, and after a purchase.

Today, before purchase, shoppers arm themselves with all the necessary information.

All the information that they need, they expect it to be right at their fingertips.

Given this scenario, how can brands differentiate themselves? By designing these moments to be seamless and assistive.

In stores, more customers are resorting to their smartphones to help them make a product decision.

The information that they find online can influence their decisions right up to the very last minute before they make a purchase.

Google research indicates that around 40% of shoppers from all over the world say they use the search engine to find the best deals.

Holidays are a time of breakneck competition.

How will your potential customers know that you can serve them with better offerings?

Or, how will you stand out and identify your leads from a sea of competitors?

Here comes the role of SEO.

• Provide updated and accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone) for your business so prospects and customers don’t have trouble finding your store or its hours.  This will also help to get your brand/ store into a prime organic-search position.
• Employ holiday-specific seasonal SEO to optimize your on-page content for holiday keyword. Stay current on seasonal keywords from year to year.
• Tap into Google trends to identify the top trending keywords and that’ll help you rank better.
• Update your keywords, page titles, meta description, and images according to current trends.

 

Conclusion

Design a dependable, smooth, and consistent shopping experience across channels to ensure that your customers can search, find, access, and purchase what they need.

Don’t overlook the power of a great mobile experience and look at improving site speed before the holiday season.

Create a seamless experience across touchpoints – mobile, online, and in-store – and review and analyze if it meets all their information needs and inspire a purchase. Here are the top

With a plethora of brands and businesses competing for a plum slice of the holiday season pie, it’s more critical than ever for marketers to reach and engage shoppers in key decision-making moments.

As your customer is present across channels and devices, there’s probably no better way than omnichannel marketing automation to establish yourself as the brand or business of choice. Whether it’s holiday season or not.

Make the most of these simple, yet doable holiday omnichannel marketing ideas and let us know how you fared!

Research inputs from:

https://www.emarketer.com/
www.thinkwithgoogle.com