This is the buying season, and many shoppers are turning to online businesses to avoid the hustle and bustle of not-so-joyous crowds. Even black Friday had online shoppers clicking away rather than swiping credit cards. It’s not too late to nab some of those online customers this year and make your business ready for next year’s holiday rush. Take a look at these top 5 holiday tips for online marketing.
Tip #1 – Ensure that your company has a valid web presence.
Online shopping is becoming quite popular during the holiday season. Most small business owners need to recognize the potential of online marketing. If you do not have a web presence, your company is missing valuable opportunities to connect with customers (Devon, 2008). Online marketing does not have to be the most expensive facet of your marketing plan. Website design does not have to be expensive and adding online features can also be inexpensive and still create significant opportunities to connect with your clients.
For instance, WebRecept provides your company with information about how effective your website is. You’ll receive information about which of your web pages are receiving the most hits, how long the average customer views a page, where your online customer base is originating, and with the chat features, you’ll also be kept abreast of the questions your customers are asking most frequently. The website monitoring is only one facet of the services that WebRecept provides. The most prominent feature that WebRecept will add to a website is a live Web Receptionist, who will chat with your customers as they desire and be able to answer questions about your business, just as you would. The additional features that the Web Receptionist will be able to offer your clients are cutting-edge features such as click-to-call, click-to-chat, page push, and active assist co-browsing.
This type of web presence can draw customers and increase your sales.
Tip #2 – Know your customer and what they need.
Clixo Search Marketing Solutions notes that online customers are looking for one thing and one thing only: information that will help them make a purchase (Clixo, 2009). At the height of the holiday season, shoppers are on the hunt. Do you know what your customer needs? Have you provided the information they seek on your website?
If you are not sure of what type of information your customers are seeking, perhaps you should ask them. It’s not as hard as it may seem. By adding WebRecept services to your company’s website, you create the opportunity to chat live with customers and find out exactly what they need, quickly.
Tip #3 – Create fresh marketing ideas.
When is the last time you took a hard look at your marketing campaign? Are you making the most out of the money you are spending? The percentage of money spent on marketing campaigns can be from 1% to 30% of the money made on sales. New companies can spend up to 50% of their income on marketing schemes (Paul, n.d.). Therefore, the important item to remember is to make sure that these marketing schemes are working.
One new marketing idea that many online businesses are embracing is the concept of adding live chat services to their websites. This may seem like a feature that only large corporations can afford to add (especially considering the percentages shown above). However, WebRecept offers online chat services with live Web Receptionists for reasonable prices. In fact, with the lowest pricing plan ($299/month), the services provided by WebRecept would be similar to employing a live Web Receptionist from 8:00 – 5:00, Monday through Friday. However, the cost equals about $1.78 dollars per hour. This equals a significant savings for small businesses that also do not have to be concerned about paying for the other benefits of the employee.
Tip #4 – Build relationships with potential clients.
This may seem like a tedious task. It can be difficult to create relationships with customers that you are sure you can serve, and it is even more difficult to create relationships with people you can only potentially help. However, it is important for all business owners to create actual relationships with all types of people. Even if your company can not serve an immediate need of someone you consider a potential customer, a relationship with that person can lead to future sales or to recommendations to other potential customers.
Helen Dowling offers the suggestion that at the next event you attend, to ask for the list of attendees and contact all of the ones that you do not yet know and see if they are interested in learning more about your business (Dowling, n.d.). This can be a great idea during the holiday season since you’re likely to attend many holiday parties. Since many people use these events to promote business, this is just another idea you could implement. If you’re concerned that this will create a heady amount of calls for your organization, consider using Web Receptionists. The live chat features offered by WebRecept provide a way for your company to communicate one-on-one with customers without consuming the valuable time of your already busy employees.
Tip #5 – Send out a holiday card to your clients.
Networking is the most important facet of any marketing scheme (Devon, 2008 and Dowling, n.d.). During the busy holiday season, it’s important to connect with your loyal clients. Sending a holiday card is an act of goodwill during the height of the season. You might consider an online greeting or you could be traditional and work through the mail. Either way, this type of connection with your clients demonstrates appreciation, which highlights your relationship with customers. When you are good to them, they will be good to you, both through purchasing your goods and by offering advertisement via word of mouth.
When you have customers looking to avoid the not-so-joyous holiday hustle and bustle, offer them a reprieve through online shopping and by providing a friendly appreciation reminder. Help them remember the true joy and reason for this holiday season.
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Clixo Search Marketing Solutions. (2009). Our Philosophy. Retrieved December 8, 2009 from http://www.clixosearch.com/search-engine-marketing-philosophy.html
Devon, M. (2008). Top Ten Marketing Tips for a Small Business Owner. Retrieved December 8, 2009 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/669319/top_ten_marketing_tips_for_a_small.html?cat=3
Dowling, H. (n.d.). Top Ten Marketing Tips. Retrieved December 8, 2009 from http://www.evancarmichael.com/Marketing/627/Top-10-Marketing-Tips.html
Paul, S. (n.d.). Cost of Marketing: What is the Average Budget? Retrieved December 8, 2009 from http://www.legalzoom.com/legal-articles/Cost-of-Marketing-What-Is.html
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