“People shop and learn in a whole new way compared to just a few years ago, so marketer need to adapt or risk extinction.” – Brian Halligan
Customers love the attention bestowed on them by companies. This is especially true during the holiday season. Gaining customers through festive promotions requires planning and managing and would include putting to good use every marketing and customer service strategy available. In order to attract more customers through festive promotions, it would behove a company to build a marketing plan around such special events and the holiday season. With this happy time just around the corner, the companies that have their inventory, schemes, festive packages and special offers in place would find customers lining up to buy from them. Festivals have an emotional effect on people and in order to make the most of these emotional needs, companies must think ahead and plan to gain more customers through festive promotions.
Gaining customers through festive promotions is one of the most important ‘weapons’ a company would have and when planned meticulously can drive large numbers of customer traffic to the company, resulting in good sales and huge profits. It is no secret that the economy across the globe has taken a beating over the past years driving customer mind-set towards buying more only during sales and promotional events. Going by this premise, companies that plan well and in line with customer needs would be able to gain customers through festive promotions and sales. During this time, if customers can perceive value and benefit by being associated with the company, they would be more likely to stay with the company and influence their friends and associates to buy.
Festivals are perhaps the most important selling time of the year and companies must take advantage of this period to drive sales and customer satisfaction. Gaining customers through festive promotions means that companies inform about the products available and the ‘discounted’ prices to their existing customers and prospective audience, well in advance. Customers too need time to plan their budgets and finances and giving them a heads up is a great way to build excitement and hype for a company’s products and festive promotions. Gaining customers through festive promotions is not only about getting more people to buy but also to ensure that their ‘baskets’ are bigger and spends are sizeable. It is also about grabbing the largest chunk of market share and providing a major boost to their profitability during this time.
Gaining customers through festive promotions is not a new marketing tactic but the planning around these events has changed. The fact is that customers are smarter and much more attuned to what they want and knows how to get it. They are not likely to believe what companies promote through traditional means such as print and media advertisements, flyers, discount coupons and such. They are more likely to conduct their own research on possible deals and promotions related to the products they need and want. On-line searches and social media ‘discussions’ provide them with the necessary information and companies that use these channels are able to gain attention and customers for their festival offers. Companies find it a lot simpler to target the right audience for the products and services they offer through these contemporary channels. Relying on traditional methods alone would hamper the company’s effort to gain more customers through festive promotions and companies must focus on integrating such promotions in their overall strategic planning process. It is advisable to remember that customers are smart enough to know whether the sale is only a stock clearance one or is one that seeks to cater to the needs of the customers during the festival season.
What does your company do to ensure that it gains customers through festive promotions? Ideally, it would be beneficial to be aware of the holidays at national and regional levels and then identify for which of these holidays they should have promotions. It would be possible to gain more customers through festive promotions if a company understood the demographics of the target customers. Understanding the customers would help to fashion the most appropriate and customized promotions leading to enhanced sales and a saving of time and effort in incorrect ‘targeting’. Send out the information of the festive promotions to the customers based on their preferred channel to gain information.
Every holiday season has a different significance for people. Creating the most appropriate festive promotions and providing information to the target audience via in-store and on-line store ‘banners’, emails, advertising, company website and most definitely via social media, is indispensable to the success of a company’s efforts. Putting together, a festival and promotional events calendar too make for great planning. The marketing formats on each of these channels must boldly display the benefits and features of the promotion. Remember to use enticing typography, vibrant colours and engaging content that will serve to educate the customer about the event. Keep it simple and free from jargon – focus on using words that the target audience would be most familiar with and would be able to feel connected.
With proper planning and a genuine interest to give customers what they want especially during the special time of festivals would ensure that your company is able to capture their minds and hearts for the future too. Gaining customers through festive promotions would be simpler if they actually receive special and preferential treatment and exceptional value. These promotions are also a great time to educate more people about your company, its brand and customer service offered.
For companies that only have an on-line presence, gaining customers through festive promotions is crucial too. With the ever-increasing number of people at in-store locations, many customers prefer to avoid these crowds and queues and shop from the comfort of wherever they are and whenever they want. Technology has made this possible through various apps and smart hand-held devices that customers are increasingly using to shop. Customers now shop on-line a lot more and during any time of the year but the festive season statistics show a sharp increase in on-line spends, making it a great time for on-line retailers.
As discussed, technology has made multi-channel marketing and buying a reality and report revealed in 2014 showed that customers would buy gifts worth $89 billion for the year (an increase of 13% from the previous year). This is a rather significant share of the revenue and companies would benefit by planning well to educate customers about the festive promotions and put together strategies that would interest them to make large purchases. The report also revealed that at least 80% of on-line customers reported that enticing emails sent by companies encouraged them to buy and at least 55% of the on-line shopping portal companies used this medium to contact their customers and target audience with festive promotions and offers.
Gaining customers through festive promotions must also translate to maximized profits for the company. Providing very high discounts or too many incentives would not prove beneficial for the company and hence with judicious planning it is possible to strike a perfect balance between benefits to customers and profits for the company. Intriguing existing and prospective customers to buy more from your company especially during the festive season must the goal, as satisfying customers during this happy period is more likely to get them interested in your company for the long term.