Cyber Monday is closer than you think. In just a couple weeks, millions of online shoppers will line up online to find the best possible deals and get a head start on their holiday shopping. Are you prepared for the onslaught?
If not, keep reading. Now is the perfect time to start planning your digital marketing strategy in advance of November 27. Here are 5 steps you can take right now to make sure that when Cyber Monday comes around, you can leverage the attention into plenty of online sales.
1. Implement Your Strategy Now!
First things first: if you want to take advantage of Cyber Monday, you need to get it in gear. It's not too late to develop and implement your digital marketing strategy, but I don't suggest waiting any longer. Research shows more than half of online shoppers in 2016 began their holiday shopping in October or earlier. The shopping bonanza may still be two weeks away, but consumer attention is already starting to shift your way.
2. Optimize Your Website's SEO
Surveys continually reveal that search engine optimization remains the top inbound-related priority for most digital marketers. Of course, search engines like Google and Bing are also where most online shoppers start their research into online shopping.
If you haven't already, make optimizing your website (or at least a subsection of it) for Cyber Monday-related keywords your top priority. There are a number of steps you can take to get your website and its offers in front of your audience, and maximize your chances for conversions when the big day comes.
3. Gate Your Offers
Are you looking to connect your Cyber Monday strategy to a larger, inbound marketing-focused strategy? If so, it may make sense to leverage your individual offers and discounts through landing pages.
In other words, gate individual offers behind a landing page. Offer easy sign ups, requiring little more than name and email address, to receive discount coupons and overviews. If the offers are good enough, you will see an influx in new leads while growing your email list. And as an added bonus, you can optimize your landing page for SEO and further enhance step 2 mentioned above.
4. Create Specialized Email Lists
Email can be leveraged just as easily as landing pages to enhance your marketing efforts ahead of November 27. For instance, you can use them to create ‘virtual' waiting lines, promising to send an email as soon as your deals are available.
Using this technique, you can both encourage lead sign-ups and reward your most loyal customers. For instance, you can promise to send an “early access” email with exclusive deals to your customers first, encouraging sales before the big day to get this added benefit.
5. Build Your Follow-Up Plan
Finally, don't stop your efforts at conversion. Especially if you convert new leads as a result of your event-specific offers, use effective nurturing emails to broaden their horizons about your regular products and services available that might not be part of the offer.
In addition, it also makes sense to build a follow-up plan that kicks in after November 27. At that point, your biggest sales may be over, but the holidays are still a month away - and plenty of shopping opportunities remain for your audience. Via follow-up emails and offers, make sure they know how they can partner with you to complete their wishlist.
Over the past few years, Cyber Monday has grown to become one of the biggest online shopping events around the globe. Do you know how to leverage it in order to grow your sales? The above tips can help get you started. If you need a reliable partner to work with on implementing any of them, contact us. Our experience in helping companies prepare for the holidays will be invaluable as you seek to grow your business and increase online sales.
