Post-Holiday Marketing Strategies For Q1 2015 (Pt. 1)

Whew! You survived Q4 2014.

Now, it’s time to reset your strategies.

The weeks following Christmas have traditionally been used as a way for customers to score discount deals and for retailers to experience a curtain-call for year-end revenue generation.

At the same time, retailers must push past the haze of the holidays and get ready to implement strategies for Q1 2015, especially since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.

If you’re starting to think about how you’ll approach your marketing strategies in 2015, then here’s a two-part series containing some timely tips that you should use as part of your program.

Refresh Instead Of Recycling

Your first temptation might be to recycle the same strategies that worked for you during Q4 2014. This will be especially tempting if you reached or exceeded your revenue goals.

However, you’ll need to resist the urge to stay in your comfort zone, at the risk of coming across as old or stale in the new year. After all, something can only be new and interesting the first time.

What you can (and should) do is reflect back on your best strategies and refresh them.

Research upcoming trends and figure out how you can combine them with the best of what’s already worked for you. Present your strategies with new content and try marketing them with new mediums. Create new social media campaigns and try branching out your social media to at least one new platform. Consider relevant hashtags. Think of new conversations that you can have with your prospective and current shoppers.

Remember: while steady, proven performers should not be ignored, you should always be testing. Building out from past success is a great way to start.

Implement (or Continue) Retargeting

I mentioned in a previous article why retargeting should be part of your year-round marketing strategy. If you’ve hesitated to use retargeting, then you’re missing out on creating an additional source of impressions to your site.

Many marketers balk at using retargeting strategies, because they’ve heard that shoppers don’t like advertisers “following” them around the internet. Marketers worry that shoppers will become spooked by pesky ads, and then shoppers will feel turned-off towards a brand that’s being perceived as “pushy”.

But, while retargeting can be a bit aggressive, the numbers show that it works. In fact, Practical E-Commerce recently featured a graph illustrating that shoppers are 40 percent more likely to click on an impression the first time they are introduced to a retargeted ad.

Fact is, more impressions lead to more sales. Retargeting doesn’t freak shoppers out or make them experience anger towards your brand. If you can imagine your revenue stream increasing by almost 50 percent, then you can’t afford to disregard retargeting in the new year.

Calibrate Your Data

The only way that you can learn if your strategies are working is by collecting data and then analyzing it. Calibrating your data not only shows you what’s working, but will also help you to set a new course for the new year.

For example, you can review your data to learn where your sales are coming from. You should drill down to learn:

• What platforms are driving your sales?
• Are your sales being generated by a predominant demographic?
• What type of products are your hot sellers?
• Do certain price points work better than others?
• Are your branded gift certificates generating additional spending per customer?

Think of other markers you can use to gather data. Then, use your data to continue to reach out assertively to shoppers who are generating the lion’s share of your sales. You can also use the data in order to gauge for missed opportunities, and figure out how to reverse the trend.

Go read part two now for a discussion on implementing (or revamping) email marketing. I’ll also explain how your Q4 2014 data gathering allows you to create immediate revenue opportunities, without the need to wait for Valentine’s Day to save Q1 2015.