4 Ways to Improve Your Holiday Sales Strategy

The holiday season is (somehow) just around the corner. If you’re a retailer or independent seller, you’re probably already planning marketing and sales ideas for November. It’s no surprise that a huge percentage of holiday shopping is e-commerce — these days, even traditional brick-and-mortar stores make most of their holiday sales online.

Whether you’re strictly an e-commerce seller or you’re creating an omnichannel seasonal advertising campaign, you’ll begin by deciding on goals, audience, and messaging. This is arguably the easy part! For most, implementation is the real challenge: cutting through the noise to deliver your message, meaningfully, to your target audience.

Thankfully, there are easy ways to maximize your holiday marketing campaign’s reach and efficacy. Here are a few holiday marketing campaign ideas for established brands, indie retailers, and individual creators to make the most of the holiday sales season.

1. Prioritize social media in your holiday marketing campaign

I can’t overstate the importance of social media to your holiday marketing campaign. (Seriously, even the United States Chamber of Commerce is on board the TikTok-for-businesses train.) Regardless of your industry, odds are that most of your holiday e-commerce shoppers will be discovering and researching their purchases on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. So, when you’re brainstorming your seasonal advertising campaigns, think of social media first.

When advertising on social media platforms, remember your target audience and meet them where they are. You’ll have a hard time reaching an older demographic on TikTok, and most of your Gen Z shoppers aren’t going to be on Facebook. It’s great to cast a wide net, but do some research and focus your energies where your efforts are most effective.

Of course, it’s just as important that your social content is engaging and shareable once it reaches the intended viewers, which leads us to our next tip …

2. Create video content for your seasonal advertising campaigns

Video is one of the most engaging content types out there, no matter what you’re marketing. When it comes to holiday e-commerce, most shoppers watch videos online when discovering, researching, and purchasing products. This tracks for me, as I often obsess over watch lipstick swatch videos before making a purchase and then beginning the cycle anew. Consumer research shows that this behavior is normal and fine.

The point is: Video content should be central to your holiday sales strategy. If you’re new to creating video content, check out our post about best practices for e-commerce video marketing. If you simply don’t know how to add video to your seasonal advertising campaign, remember that viewers are likely in an information-gathering stage. Additionally, remember that audiences appreciate authenticity, so prioritize creating intrinsically valuable content over sales-driven content.

To that end, the most effective holiday e-commerce video topics are intended to help shoppers better understand and compare products before purchasing:

• Holiday gift guides or wish lists 🎁
• Product tutorials, including “how to wear” or “how to style” videos 👗
• Product demos, including try-ons, hauls, or unboxings 📦
• Customer testimonials and endorsements 💁

3. Partner with an influencer for authentic holiday content

Audience preference for authentic content is part of why influencer marketing is so popular. Influencers provide social proof, meaning shoppers trust influencer endorsements more than marketing directly from a company. An influencer partnership is a great sales idea for November, with content debuting as potential customers begin holiday shopping. Consumers are looking for authenticity, brands are looking for engagement, and influencers are great at both!

The good news is you don’t need to start saving now for a Kardashian partnership — many brands find success working with nano or micro-influencers. Nano-influencers typically have fewer than 10,000 followers, and micro-influencers usually have an audience between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. Despite having a comparatively small audience, nano and micro-influencers show engagement (and conversion) rates that often far surpass those of macro-influencers.

Influencer partnerships throughout the year can help foster a positive brand image, but for holiday marketing campaigns, focus on content around a specific product or line. For example, product reviews, try-on hauls, and “how to wear” videos are great for the holiday sales season. While shoppers are in the research stages, these videos answer questions like “How do I use this product?” or “How will this outfit look on different bodies?” ultimately helping viewers make informed purchases.

4. Try shoppable livestreams for engaging e-commerce

Another great sales idea for November is live shopping. Livestreaming is one of the most engaging content types marketers can incorporate into their strategy, and the popularity of shoppable livestreams is skyrocketing!

Shoppable livestreams are ideal for holiday e-commerce:

• Livestreaming is inherently authentic and engaging content

• It allows you to meet your audience where they are

• Livestreaming is video content, which you can repurpose and reuse on other channels

• Shoppable livestreams are ideal for reaching your audience in the information-gathering stage

With live shopping, you can demo products, interact with viewers, answer live questions, and more. Plus, you can get viewer feedback, allowing you to market your product and conduct market research at the same time. If you’ve never tried live selling before, make sure to check out our blog on adding live selling to your marketing strategy to get started.

Using Switcher Studio and Cartr for live shopping:

There are a growing number of platforms with built-in live selling functionality, e.g., Amazon and YouTube. However, there are also many third-party tools for creating shoppable livestreams on almost any platform.

Switcher Studio makes it simple to add live shopping to your holiday marketing campaign. Our live editing features allow you to easily add branded multimedia graphics, unique layouts, additional camera angles, and more. Our built-in interactive tools boost engagement, and our seamless integrations mean you can stream or multistream to major platforms — even to your own website.

Plus, if you’re a Shopify merchant, our Cartr integration was made for you. Cartr uncomplicates live selling by connecting your Switcher and Shopify accounts. You can sync your Shopify collections, manage inventory, and go live right from your Switcher app. During livestreams, you can display your Shopify products with just a tap, and when you’re streaming to Facebook Live, viewers can buy those items just by commenting on your video!

Start selling live today

If you want to try using Switcher Studio to create your own branded livestreams, record professional videos with no post-production editing time, and drive sales with branded shoppable livestreams, sign up for a free 14-day trial!