No matter what business you're in, it's never too soon to look ahead to the holiday season. While integrated marketing is an effective strategy throughout the year, crafting a marketing campaign that uses both TV and digital channels during the holidays is especially beneficial. You're able to reach shoppers in a cohesive way that allows screen-to-screen flexibility and, most importantly, more opportunities to convert.
Making the Leap From Screen to Screen
While you may find it challenging to reach consumers during that busy time from Thanksgiving through Christmas, an integrated marketing campaign can help you follow them from screen to screen and drive them from the TV to their computer, where they will ultimately purchase. You can craft broadcast ads that advertise limited-time deals, special offers like shipping discounts and event shopping days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Green Monday. Forbes points out that sales are now strong across the entire holiday shopping weekend, from Thanksgiving night itself through Cyber Monday, rather than the frenzy traditionally reserved mainly for Black Friday, so make sure you highlight your sales for the entire weekend. Even if all these things don't automatically make customers navigate to your business' website when they log on, digital ads on social networking sites, shopping apps and even on popular deal aggregate sites can help increase ad recall and ultimately drive conversions.
Smartphones, Tablets and Desktops
Reviewing the 2014 holiday shopping season, IBM reports that consumers are increasingly using multiple devices to conduct their holiday shopping research. That makes having an integrated marketing campaign that much more crucial for marketers. The study shows that while consumers are most apt to do their shopping research on a smartphone, they are more likely to make their actual purchases on a tablet or desktop computer. By driving traffic to mobile, tablet and desktop locations in addition to having a strategic TV campaign in place, you can capitalize on this trend and drive conversions.
Personalizing a Message
The nature of broadcast TV ads ensures that they reach the largest possible audience, which makes them ideal for connecting with large demographics tuned in to a particular program, such as a holiday special. But when you pair the broad message with the personalization that digital ads can provide, you have a potent combination that can both pique consumers' interest and continue to keep them engaged. This is especially true for marketers who use social networking services like Facebook for digital display advertising, where they can tailor their messages to specific consumers based on individual user likes and browsing history.
Although integrated marketing can help boost sales year round, a cohesive strategy is essential during the busy holiday season. Consumer attention may be harder to capture at this time, thanks to increased competition (and of course, the holidays themselves). However, an integrated marketing plan that includes both TV and digital display can keep your brand on the minds of consumers and lead to increased sales for your business.
