It's About That Time!

If you live in this country, you've heard of either black friday or cyber monday. There's no escaping it. It's no longer accurate to say that the holiday season is around the corner, it's already here. Whether you run an online store or are strictly brick and mortar, this is undoubtedly the busiest time of year for all businesses.

Planning Ahead

A lot of thought goes into planning ad campaigns for the holiday season. You should know your customer base pretty well by now, and if you're not planning your campaigns around them you're setting yourself up for failure. You should know your average order amount and which promotions & incentives inspire your customers to take action. This is inarguably the time of year with the fiercest competition and the lowest profit margin, yet you can make out like a bandit if you're well prepared. Below are a few tips to keep you in the black.

1 Stack 'em high.

Nothing says "cancel my order" faster than the word backorder. With so many other companies selling the same thing out there, customers want to know whether or not you have what they want. While there is a chance they may want to keep the backorder, the odds are better that they will just tell you to cancel the order and find it elsewhere. Be honest with your customers and let them know if you have it in stock. If you anticipated the demand, you should be in good shape.

2 Get it out the door.

There is nothing more frustrating than getting repeat phone calls from the same customer about an order. Regardless of whether or not you supply a tracking number, some customers will still call you for tracking information. If their order is 5 minutes late they WILL call you again. Orders should be shipped promptly and whomever answers the phone should have tracking information front of them at all times. Your customers will appreciate this.

3 Extend your promotions

The only thing customers love more than a deal is an exclusive deal. If you're willing to take a small hit on the upfront price you'll make it up in volume and your customers will rave about you. Extending your promotions until the next promotional period is a good way to keep your customers involved and thinking about you. If you're willing to extend your holiday pricing to the first of the year, customers will take advantage.

4 Watch the clock

Courier services are inundated with packages this time of year. Make sure your customers are aware of blackout dates and any possible delays in shipping to ensure that their packages arrive on time...unless you like processing returns.

5 Leverage technology

People like to brag. They can't wait to let their cronies know about the sweet deal they just got. Help them. Allow them to share their purchase with the rest of the world. While I would normally recommend social media interaction, even email will do. This is the best type of internet marketing you can get, because it's free. Turning your customers into brand ambassadors could be as easy as adding a like button to your receipt page.

I hope some of this has got your wheels turning on ways you can boost your bottom line. Did I miss anything?

Search Marketing: Evolve or DIE

If your digital marketing agency doesn't have it's finger on the pulse of the interwebs, your brand will always be the new kid in school. Kinda awkward, wearing clothes that were in fashion last year, still trying to get laughs by saying everything needs "more cowbell". Noooobody wants to be that guy. Do you think you'll get better results this year using last year's tactics? Your web marketing strategy needs to be fluid, ever-evolving and damn near perfect if you want to connect with your audience and convert them into customers.

A digital marketing agency that understands this will continually offer new services as those services develop, and discontinue tactics that won't bring MAXIMUM results. In case you haven't been following the news on planet Nerdtron, Microsoft's Bing is supposedly in talks with Facebook. The details are sketchy, but speculation from on high whispers that the two are trying to organize search results by Likeablity instead of Linkability. For digital marketing agencies that create pure awesomeness such as ourselves, this buzz is incredible.

For those thinking Google's search domination is indomitable, this news should be very sobering. The 8th immutable law of marketing states that in the long run, every market becomes a two horse race. In recent times it's often been pointed out that Google is the exception to this rule. Since as of this writing the GOOG is only 11 years old...I often wonder what long run means to these people. Regardless of the medium, the message is always the same: if you're running behind, you'll never be able to stop running. Plan accordingly people.

How Big Is Your Search Footprint?

Your site is optimized. Your ads are running on a smart rotation system to maximize visibility and minimize cost. You have all the applicable buttons and badges on your homepage, you're advertising your sales and touting your free shipping with orders over X amount. Visitors know you're PCI compliant, they see your SSL certificate and they feel comfortable shopping at your site. All in all, things are going great. Right? Maybe...

Big Picture, Long Term

If you were to compare your website to a pushpin on a map, you'd start to get an idea of how big your company's search footprint really is. As your target market shrinks, the pushpin becomes larger. If you're trying to market locally, you may be one of 3 companies competing in a market that is locked by geography. You can extend this advantage to the internet; you know who your target market is and you know your competition. You can easily monitor print and visual media for their latest promotions, and tailor your offering accordingly. Increasing your footprint involves tapping into additional channels other than Google. Changing channels is the wrong strategy, adding more channels is the only correct strategy. Choosing the right channels, though, is where you need to focus your energy.

The Consequences of Inaction

The first immutable law of marketing states that it is better to be first, than it is to be better. As a new marketing channel emerges, your competition will be planting their flag on it and no matter what you do after that, you'll just be another contender. They won't be trying to compete with you, they'll set the tone and it'll be up to you to keep up. Companies that are just getting around to utilizing YouTube are shocked at what they find; the competition not only has videos up, they've got their own YouTube channel set up. Dozens of videos, promotions,  coupons, reviews, testimonials, you name it.  YouTube, by volume, is the second largest search engine in the world. Unlike a tangible, local source of media like a newspaper, hundreds of millions of people visit YouTube daily. It's not something they read once and put out with the recycling. Acting too late in any circumstance will result in failure.  Taking advantage of these channels will only return positive results. Are you ready to take the necessary steps to get ahead?