There's No Such Thing as Business as Usual This Holiday Season

November
6, 2020

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

We know the economy is shrinking, unemployment is up and the future of retail will remain digital during this seemingly endless pandemic. On top of that, we’ve just started the holiday season, which accounts for 40 percent of brands’ annual revenue.

As a brand management expert, with experience working at L’Oréal and Nike, and as a founder of a boutique digital marketing agency, I know that consumer product brands have been planning their holiday strategy for months — photographing new value sets, fine-tuning promotions, honing hero product assortments and re-negotiating revenue targets. For them, the holiday season starts now and gradually ramps up to Cyber Week. By the time Black Friday comes around, brand marketers are already planning for their spring launches.

But this holiday season won’t be business as usual.

Let’s assume that most brands will continue to advertise their Black Friday deals. What happens if consumers don’t respond? To succeed in today’s competitive and highly promotional landscape, it’s more important than ever for companies to optimize their online presence to drive incremental revenue.

Check out my three tips on how you can stand out from the competition this holiday season, whether you’re a global consumer products brand, a solo entrepreneur or a small business owner.

Related: 5 Ways to Build Killer Relationships With Customers

1. Further personalize your product recommendations

Given that you might have a lot of excess inventory burning through your profit and loss statement, continue to discount the product you need to move, but also add more personalization to your product recommendation engine. Take the “you may also like” website functionality to the next level by tying it together with email and paid media.

Delve deeper into your algorithms. Are you targeting browsers in the last seven days or 30 days? How does your messaging differ for past purchasers and cart abandoners?

Based on my experience in helping to build Converse’s first custom global CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database, it’s critical to hone in on your consumer’s multi-channel digital experience. I recommend putting together a one-pager that lists your algorithms, recommended products, frequency caps and messaging by channel.

For example, if someone abandoned an item in their shopping cart, gently remind them two-three hours later with a Facebook ad. Did you forget something? If they haven’t clicked on the ad, you could follow-up a day later with a branded email. And if they don’t open up your email, as your final attempt, try sending them an exclusive discount offer across email, Facebook ads and as a pop-up reminder once they return to your website.

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