10 Effective Ways for Successful Holiday Marketing Campaigns in 2024

The holiday season is a great opportunity for eCommerce retailers to boost sales, attract new customers, encourage repeat purchases from existing customers, and expand their eCommerce operations to meet their objectives. While the holiday season itself is largely responsible for increasing demand and consequently, sales, businesses need to take the onus on themselves to cast a wide enough net in their marketing efforts in order to capture a sizable portion of their target audience as opposed to their competitors.

While most retailers spend a significant amount of time refining their products and researching their audience, they also need to focus on improving the visibility of their offerings, which will result in more attention and ultimately, more conversions, which is the primary goal for most eCommerce companies. This increased visibility can be achieved by running online ads and tailoring marketing efforts to fit the demand for specific products during certain festive seasons. Read further as we delve deeper into the necessity of running marketing campaigns during the holiday season, frequent mistakes that businesses make in their marketing campaigns, the most-used platforms for digital advertising, and 15 impactful methods to improve your online ads during Diwali sales and Christmas sales 2024.

Why Should You Run Marketing Campaigns During Holiday Season?

To Capitalize on the Increased Demand

Holiday season is a natural catalyst that accelerates the capability, sentiment and willingness of customers to purchase products due to their perception of the ability to get better value for their money due to the vast amount of deals, discounts and offers on tap. Since the demand already exists and is bound to grow steadily, retailers need to position themselves to customers as the solution to their requirements and this can be done by running various ad campaigns during holiday season.

To Redirect Customers Away From the Competition

Since the eCommerce space is filled to the brim with various enterprising retailers whose interests often conflict and there is only a limited customer base for every product category, they are constantly squabbling to get the top spot when it comes to reeling in customers. Keeping this in mind, retailers need to employ the use of digital advertising and run online ads to try and convince customers to choose their brand instead of their nearest rivals and this can be done by highlighting their USPs, price advantages over other products, delivery timelines or any other factors that can play to their advantage.

To Enhance Brand Recognition

Online ads play a pivotal role in increasing brand recognition amongst existing and potential customers. Just like how many brand commercials are engrained in the memories of those that grew up watching them in their childhood, a well-run digital advertising campaign can increase the visibility of a brand and the ability of customers to recollect catchy slogans or entertaining images of videos and associate them with the relevant business.  

Suggested Read: Branded Shipping to Enhance your Brand Image.

To Track Conversion Rates

Running online ads can open the door to being able to track various important metrics and analyse them to identify which portions were successful and which weren’t. For instance, if a business runs a Facebook ad, they get access to statistics such as the number of people who saw the ad, the number of people of clicked on the prompt, the number of people that visited the site and the number of people that actually ended up buying the product. If a higher proportion of customers went on to perform the intended task which was to purchase a commodity or service, compared to the number of people that saw the ad, the campaign could be deemed a success.

Key Components of Successful Holiday Marketing Campaigns 2024

Refine Your Target Audience

Conduct research to determine your target audience so that you can learn more about their preferences, which income bracket they fall in, the price range of their previous purchases and more. This will help you tailor your digital advertising campaigns specifically for your customers so that you can spark more interest among them and avoid spending money on audiences that would have lower conversion rates.

Analyse the Success of Previous Ad Campaigns

By looking back at the digital advertising campaigns during the similar seasons of previous years, retailers can conclude which strategies or elements were more effective and others so they can spend more time and effort in refining those and avoid the ones that didn’t yield the anticipated results. This can lower costs associated with running online ads and streamline ad campaigns during holiday season. 

Determine Your Objectives

After you have determined your target audience and analysed the success of prior digital advertising campaigns, you can shortlist the key objectives and targets that you want to achieve during the current year’s campaign. Having a predetermined set of goals provides guidelines on ways they can be achieved and can also motivate employees to work towards achieving them.

Keep Track of Your KPIs

Not all KPIs are created equal and some will be more relevant to a business than others, based on the industry, objectives, product types and more. Determining which KPIs need to be measured, tracked and analysed can provide valuable insights into important metrics such as customer behaviour, purchasing patterns and marketing trends, among others. It will also help you to identify which areas of your business are performing optimally and which areas require further improvement.

Suggested Read: Mistakes you should avoid during the holiday season.

4 Most Popular Platforms for Running Online Ads During Festive Sales

Google Ads

Google Ads is one of the most comprehensive tools for digital advertising and can help you run ad campaigns during holiday season. Ads can be run on both mobile and desktop devices and can be specifically targeted toward people that use the devices you have selected such as smartphones or tablets. Since the platform is run by Google, the most popular search engine in the world, consistent results in relation to the amount of money spent are almost guaranteed. Ads can be run in many different formats such as text-based ads, static image ads and video ads.

Facebook Ads

Running online ads is Facebook’s forte. With a variety of tools to help filter your target audience based on a huge amount of aspects such as location, income, education, marriage status, most-used devices, preferred operating system and much more, in addition to being integrated with other Meta-based apps such as Whatsapp and Instagram, the Facebook business suite is extremely detailed and provides granular controls for just about any function that you can think of. Using this platform is a must if you want to garner success by running marketing campaigns during the holiday season.

Instagram Ads

In recent years, Instagram has overtaken Facebook in popularity, especially among younger generations such as Millenials and Gen Z. Instagram consistently provides a medium for brands to market their products, either through social media marketing or running ad campaigns. If your products are tailored towards a younger audience, you should definitely consider using this platform. Instagram’s engagement numbers are also a staggering 58% more than Facebook and an alarming 2000% more than Twitter. You have the choice of running online ads that can be linked to your website or landing page and also boosting posts and stories so they can gain more visibility.

LinkedIn Ads

With LinkedIn’s burgeoning reputation as the go-to app for working professionals, running ads on its platform can open the door to a vast number of users and is especially useful if your products are targeted toward corporates, people that work in a variety of other industries and the B2B segment of the market. Because of the nature of the audience that primarily uses LinkedIn, users tend to have significantly higher rates of disposable income compared to other platforms.

There are 3 types of ads that can be run on LinkedIn – sponsored content which includes images and videos that are displayed in the newsfeed; sponsored messaging which is similar to other email marketing tools; and text and dynamic ads which are only visible to desktop users.

10 Effective Ways to Enhance Your Online Marketing Campaigns During Holiday Season 2024

Customise Your Website for the Holidays

The sales that take place during holiday season generally comprise at least 30% of a company’s annual sales so capitalizing on the holiday sentiment of customers is a must. Giving your website a small makeover to capture the interest of customers and enhance the festive spirit can go a long way in improving their user experience and can be the difference between them choosing to purchase their products from your website or another company that makes them feel more special. Additionally, your website would be receiving significantly more traffic as a result of online ads so it pays to revamp it to fit the holiday mood.

Offer Additional Benefits to Existing or Early Customers

You can enhance the experience of customers that have patronised your business in the past and increase your chances of getting repeat purchases by offering them additional benefits such as free delivery or a specified discount. Additionally, you can mention that the first 50 or 100 customers that respond to the ad, fill out a form or purchase a product will be eligible for various benefits. This will help increase engagement and will result in more conversions.

Promote Your Products and Festive Offers on Social Media

Running ad campaigns during the holiday season is only one part of the puzzle as it generally targets people that may not have heard of your brand before. You can use social media marketing in tandem with your online ads to capture attention from customers in every corner that you can. Specify the offers and deals that customers can avail of on your social media to increase the possibility of directing them to your website or landing page and generating more sales.

Focus Your Efforts on Mobile Devices

We live in a mobile-centric society where everything is accessible at the click of a button on a device that we can carry around wherever we go. Most customers are more inclined to browse and purchase products on their phones or tablet because it is portable and convenient. Thus, you should run online ads that are specifically targeted at people who use smartphones as their primary communication and leisure devices while also tailoring your ads to work best with mobile screen sizes so they look more appealing.

Use Dynamic Content

In keeping with the theme of offering users a mobile-friendly experience when it comes to digital advertising, making sure that you run video ads or animated content in your online ads is a must. We live in a world where people are accustomed to looking at reels on Instagram, Shorts on Youtube and stories on Snapchat. Appealing to this already existing trend of short videos and gifs can massively increase the chances of your ads resonating with customers.

Collaborate With Social Media Influencers

Partnering with well-known social media influencers can be the gateway your business needs to appeal to a wide range of people. These influencers often have large followings on different apps and some focus on creating content and growing their audience on specific platforms, which can be helpful if you want to target a certain group of people on Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook or other social media apps. This can generate hype and create buzz around your product which is something that comes with the territory of being an internet personality.

Offer Deals and Discounts

Don’t just run ads for your company or products without giving people a reason to click on them in the first place. Highlighting offers and discounts in online ads is a sure-fire way to get customers interested and can lead them down the rabbit hole of clicking on it and eventually purchasing a product. Make sure not to give away too much information so that they will need to fill out a form or get redirected to your website or landing page to get all the details.

Provide Incentives to Increase Clicks

Customers are used to online ads as every app is filled to the brim with them. Unless something really catches their eye, customers will generally ignore ads and scroll through them. You can have app-specific offers so that customers who initially saw your ad on Youtube can be eligible for a discount or offer a 10% cashback if a customer completes the sales funnel in less than an hour. Make sure you get them interested enough to click on it because that is the first step towards a purchase.

Utilise Up-Selling and Cross-Selling

Upselling and cross-selling strategies enable retailers to sell more products to customers and increase the cart value of each order by recommending complementary products or substitutes in case customers are looking for a cheaper alternative or another option. You can have product suggestions on your website or landing page that your customer gets redirected to or even run parallel ads of other products you are offering simultaneously.

Include Testimonials in Your Online Ads

The reviews and customer feedback provided carry a lot of weightage when customers are contemplating making a purchase. Positive reviews can provide the extra jolt that is needed to propel customers to make a purchase while negative reviews can be the cause of customers leaving your site or product listing. By including testimonials from prior customers in your online ads, customers will become more willing to give your brand a chance.

Conclusion: Why You Should Choose WareIQ as Your Fulfillment Partner During the Holiday Season?

Running marketing campaigns during holiday season is one of the most profound ways that businesses can capitalize on the added demand and convert that demand into a sale. With the rise of the internet and social media, it is important for businesses to adapt their digital advertising strategy to bolster their short-term and long-term growth and success. If you are an eCommerce retailer that needs assistance in fulfillment and shipping due to the increased demand brought about by the holiday season, WareIQ can help.

WareIQ is an eCommerce fulfillment company based in India that is experiencing rapid growth amongst eCommerce sellers due to our thoughtful and covenant offerings. We can help in a variety of different ways from storing your inventory to fulfilling your orders. Some of the services we provide are listed below:

• A pan-India network of fulfillment centers and dark stores
• Smart inventory placement technology that determines where your goods should be stored based on customer demand and proximity to them
• A custom WMS that can monitor and update inventory levels in real-time, across multiple eCommerce selling platforms and fulfillment centers
• An app store that consists of a large number of apps to enhance productivity in different facets of eCommerce
• Ultra-fast delivery through a choice of more than 20 shipping aggregators that automatically assigns the quickest and cheapest option for every order

Holiday Marketing Campaigns: FAQs

Supercharge your fulfilment with WareIQ now, contact our team.