Oh, the Holidays. What a perfect time to shop!

Did you know that the average shopper spends around $ 970 during the holiday season? That’s a lot. 

And if you are a business, the holidays are the perfect opportunity to revel in huge fourth-quarter sales. 

If you want your business to get a piece of the action, you have to make sure that you are setting yourself apart from the competition.

Using creative marketing ideas that are suitable for your business and your target audience will help set you on the right track.

Every dollar counts during the holiday season. As such, every retailer needs all the advantage they can get to entice consumers to patronize their merchandise.

With the demand for shopping at its peak, a modern consumer’s shopping behavior is bombarded with a variety of choices when making purchasing decisions during the holidays.

And this heightened purchasing tendencies of consumers can also lead to increased competition among brands.

Brands want a piece of the holiday pie

Companies are continually seeking new marketing strategies to effectively influence a consumer’s decision-making process in their favor.

With all the businesses vying for consumer dollars during the holidays, staying on top of shoppers’ minds is more crucial than any other time of the year.

A report from Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) predicts that mobile will be the key in driving sales revenues for brands during the holiday season. ADI’s predictions show that 57% of this year’s retail visits will originate from smartphones and tablets.

This will account for 37% of total online purchases made during the holiday season. Taylor Schreiner, a principal analyst at ADI, remarked, “Commerce has moved beyond any storefront and into the hands of consumers.”

In addition, ADI also noted that a smartphone’s mobile app are twice more likely to convert shoppers than the traditional desktop sites. The higher conversion rate correlates to the 2.4 times higher period spent on smartphone apps, 30% better content relevance, and 25% better frequency rates.

This implies that retailers have an excellent opportunity to boost their online sales via mobile.

“If retailers could get consumers to turn shopping carts into purchases on mobile devices at the same rate they do on desktops, closing this gap equates to $9 billion in mobile sales,” Schreiner added.

Here are several messaging frameworks that will resonate well with consumers to help boost your sales for the holidays:

FRAMEWORK 1: What’s New?

Showcasing new collections, deals, and festive products for the holidays

As the holiday rush comes in, your brand needs to put a festive spin on all your existing products. Entice consumers to buy from your store by featuring your newest holiday collection, special holiday deals, and holiday promotions.

Since consumers are more likely inclined to make purchasing decisions over the holidays, highlighting your brand’s festive collection is a great way to grab their attention to your store.

British luxury apparel and accessories company Mulberry used Instagram to showcase their festive Christmas campaign last year.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mulberry (@mulberryengland)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mulberry (@mulberryengland)

By recreating the iconic Christmas tune The 12 Days of Christmas, Mulberry created a campaign that features their newest season’s holiday apparel and iconic handbags. Mulberry used the hashtags #MyTrueLoveGaveMetoMe and #MulberryGifts in a beautiful series of videos for the Christmas season.

The fresh and youthful twist of the iconic Christmas song ensures that Mulberry appealed to their target audience on Instagram. Even the beautiful product shots of the video suited their luxe image and created an engaging way to draw their consumers in a festive mood for Christmas.

You can also create your own festive Christmas video for your brand. With the help of Shakr, an online video ads creator, you can emulate this messaging framework and create your very own 12 Days of Christmas Sale. Shakr’s 12 Days of Christmas video template can feature items on your store’s holiday collection, including exclusive deals and promotions.  

FRAMEWORK 2: Share the Love

Hyping the holiday spirits by encouraging to purchase gifts for your loved ones

Get the most out of the holiday festivities by appealing to your consumer’s generous spirit during the Christmas season. Since the holidays are a time for gift-giving, your brand also needs to get in on the action by creating holiday wish lists, gift guides, and gift packs with special deals from your store.

If you have the budget, you should also consider creating a customized Christmas packaging from your store. Whether they are buying the products for themselves or as a gift for other people, Christmas-themed packaging and loot bags will surely put your consumers on a more festive mood.

Best Buy took the Christmas Gift Guide to another level this year.

By creating a comprehensive gift guide for the holidays, Best Buy has successfully highlighted their holiday products. They also made it so much easier for holiday shoppers to choose from a range of gift ideas for their loved ones.

Need some help finding that perfect gift for the little ones on your list? Tweet us your questions and we’ll be there to help. pic.twitter.com/JLdehKSNwd

— Best Buy (@BestBuy) November 28, 2018

This gift guide is especially useful for working moms and dads who are busy during the holiday season. They can just pick out gifts that would suit their loved ones from this comprehensive list and have them delivered just in time for Christmas.

Best Buy also made gift-giving more personal by going to Twitter to encourage a conversation with their audience regarding gift ideas. By replying to their queries and redirecting them to the Best Buy website, the holiday shoppers who are canvassing for gifts will have more incentive to purchase items that were recommended by Best Buy’s Twitter handle.

FRAMEWORK 3: The Time is Now

Creating a sense of urgency on the limited holiday deals and promotions

Posting deals regarding limited time offerings will build a sense of urgency for the consumer to buy your products. Similarly, a product line of seasonal holiday collections with limited stocks will also create a sense of exclusivity for your holiday shoppers.

By emphasizing that these holiday collections are only available for a limited time,  you are essentially tapping on their fear of missing out from exclusive deals and discounts.

Let’s take a look at Walmart’s 20 Days of Deals this year.  

The holiday season is here, so we’re kicking off 20 Days of Deals—yep, new deals every day through Dec. 20! Like something? Act fast. Get today’s hottest deals while they last. https://t.co/er8U1u21yZ pic.twitter.com/vBpU2nCMC7

— Walmart (@Walmart) December 1, 2018

Both their website banner and Twitter post are using The Time is Now messaging framework to emphasize that their 20 Days of Deals are not going to last forever. This will compel holiday shoppers to watch out for their daily deals and look for items they might want to purchase for themselves or for holiday gifts to their loved ones.  

Shakr can also help you create online videos that will highlight your brand’s holiday deals. Using Shakr’s Winter Blocks video template, you can highlight your store’s limited holiday collection and exclusive discounts.

FRAMEWORK 4: Own the Occasion

Making your brand share and be part of the joyous holiday festivities with your consumers

The holiday season is a festive occasion for your consumers. Setting aside the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, you need to make sure that your brand is part of the holiday celebration with your consumers.

Show your shoppers that you’re here for them amidst the busy holiday season. Creating holiday campaigns that will tug the heartstrings of your target audience will surely make your brand memorable among the barrage of holiday ads that they will see.

The Coca-Cola Christmas trucks have been a long-standing campaign tradition over the holidays in the UK and all over Europe.

The iconic Coca-Cola Christmas Trucks first appeared on TV in 1995, and until now the tradition is still going strong more than 20 years later. The Coca-Cola Christmas Truck is touring all over Europe this year to welcome the winter holidays.

With the hashtag #HolidaysAreComing along with their iconic Christmas jingle, Coca-Cola made sure that they “owned” the holiday season by officially marking the start of the Christmas season through the appearance of the Coca-Cola Christmas trucks.

‘Tis the season to draw holiday shoppers to your store!

Are you all set to boost your holiday sales? Like any other marketing campaign throughout the year, it will ultimately boil down to how well you know your consumers. While your competitors may want to appeal to everybody because of the holiday season, you’ll have an even more effective campaign if you zero in on your target audience. Let Shakr help you create holiday ads that your consumers will surely love!