Drive online sales this holiday season. Inspire consumer action and deliver results with an aggressive digital sales strategy.
Small-to-midsize food and beverage brands experience an amplified amount of competition surrounding the holiday season. Consumers, inundated with seemingly never-ending Black Friday shopping deals, turn to the most appealing prices and appetizing promotions.
Positioning your brand at the top of your consumer’s mind requires a knowledge of the messaging and content that speaks to them in a relevant way. In addition, value and reliable customer service not only resonate with them but translate into sales growth you can see.
The countdown to the holidays has already begun, so tap into the success of the following 4 online sales drivers and stay one step ahead this season:
1. Run a Contest
In early 2018, Facebook cracked down on organic reach for brand and business-related pages in order to prioritize content from family and friends. In other words, brands must work harder, aka spend more, to earn higher levels of reach and engagement.
Contests that offer valuable prizing with an uncomplicated method of entry blow your typical levels of engagement on social media out of the water. Give your contest breathing room to garner organic growth after first posting it and once that begins to taper off, give it a boost with a small ad spend.
Last June, we helped Country Bob’s launch a brief timeline contest related to Father’s Day with a reach of over 21,000 and over 2,300 engagements on the single post. This contributed to a 411% growth in average monthly reach and 33% increase in average monthly engaged users year over year. We included the link to the post in that week’s newsletter, which helped bring in an additional $676 in revenue. Not bad for a t-shirt and gift pack giveaway.
Learn how to create a contest marketing strategy to grow your brand
2. Offer a Promo Code
Oftentimes, the steep shipping cost associated with products on a brand’s online store becomes the underlying reason consumers abandon their carts.
If that’s the case, try offering a promo code for free shipping on orders over a certain dollar amount, or a percentage off the total sale! It can run for a limited time as the holidays approach, making it appear exclusive and time-sensitive so your consumers are more inclined to decide. From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, Grace’s Best Cookies customers received a free 6-pack of snack bags with every online order, and the special offer generated 131% ROAS.
3. Publish Relevant Content
Content, whether it’s blog or video-related, allows you to get truly creative! Post about unique recipes using your products and link back to your shop page. Update your Facebook brand profile to “shop” so that it incorporates the ability to tag individual products in your photos and videos. Don’t ever publish content just for the sake of driving awareness; give it the extra boost it needs with relevant calls-to-action!
Looking for some inspiration? Visit the Country Bob’s recipe page for all things grilling and barbecue. Every post links to back to the online store or store locator.
4. Launch a Newsletter
Launching a newsletter means you’re communicating with your most connected audience: your subscribers! You have direct access to those inboxes, so when social media only gets your products so far, send them the contests, the promo codes and the content all wrapped in one e-blast to improve traffic to your online store, drive sales and deliver results!
Consider these 4 tips your to-do list to drive online sales this holiday season. Contact us and we’ll help you knock this out before Christmas break.
