It’s almost Christmas! We don’t blame you if you munch on a mince pie whilst you read. If you are running a business this Christmas, you will know that it is a peak time for consumers to make large purchases.
Not sure how to make the most of the holiday season? We’ve got you covered. 🎄 Here’s 4 Christmas Marketing Ideas to start now that can help you make more sales and increase customer loyalty. Read to the end to check out one Christmas tip for next year! ⬇️
1. Create gift bundles
Does your business sell a product? If so, you can create gift bundles for your customers to get a selection of products at a discounted rate.
Commonly you will see gift bundles consisting of bath products, self-care items, and food and drink products, however, you can create a bundle of almost anything!
Top Tip: Try coupling a few new products with customer favourites and older stock to get it moving. Offer bundles with different price ranges to try and allow all your customer base to make a purchase.
2. Offer free shipping and returns
There is nothing worse than having to pay for shipping AND potentially paying for a return. Offering both for free is an incentive for your customers to make a purchase as they know they can return it at no expense.
Top Tip: Spread the word! Promote it using website banners and social media so that people know. Don’t wait for customers to see it at the checkout!
3. Create a holiday theme for your website
Give your website that extra sparkle this Christmas. Think Christmas banners, festive colours, and fun backgrounds.
While promotional discounts and special offers are the core of your holiday sales, it’s the look of your site that creates the emotional desire to buy. Updating your website to be up to date with the holiday period shows that your business is active, and fresh.
So rather than having a straightforward theme all year round, seasonal design elements help you to resonate with your audience on a personal level.
Want to learn how to make your branding effective all year round? Click here to read how important branding REALLY is.
Top Tip: If your website has specific branding in place, e.g. a colour scheme, try adding small decorations to banners and images such as snowflakes.
4. Spruce up your email subject lines
At this time of the year, email inboxes are being flooded with emails, I’m sure you will have noticed your own following this trend too.
When you are trying to compete with other businesses for attention, you need to ensure that you email subject lines are catchy and entice people to want to know more.
Think Christmas themed and short. We are partial to a good Christmas pun ourselves! Here’s some general Christmas themed email subject lines you could use in your marketing:
There’s still time…🎁🎅🎄
Christmas Deals Hot Enough to Warm Up Jack Frost
Have you been naughty or nice this year? 😈😇
Spoil yourself with our 2-for-1 deal this Christmas
Free Shipping Until December 25th!
Open to receive your Christmas gift from us 🎁🎄
Last Chance for Guaranteed Delivery Before Christmas!
The Ultimate Last-Minute Guide to Holiday Shopping
You Can Still Get It in Time for Christmas!
🚚 Free Delivery for Christmas
Top Tip: USE CHRISTMAS THEMED EMOJIS. Using emojis in your email subject lines can be an effective and attention-generating technique to increase your email open rates and get more people engaging with your campaigns.
5. Run a “12 Days of Christmas” promotion
It’s never too early to start thinking about next year! Whilst it’s too late to implement this now, running this promotion is a sure-fire way to reel in the customers.
Large businesses are usually the most likely to implement this however any size business can make it their own.
A “12 Days of Christmas” promotion is when a business promotes a different offer on each day for 12 days. This could be a sitewide discount, a specific item on offer, 3 for 2 on selected lines or even a free small gift on orders over a certain amount.
These offers do not have to be ground-breaking or cause detriment to your business. These promotions should be used to entice customers to check back for the next offer.
Promoting it on social media can also cause your follower count to rise and improve engagement as people want to stay up to date for the next deal. Don’t underestimate the power of referral marketing. People will tell their friends and family about good deals and therefore spread word of your business without you doing anything!
Top Tip: It’s never too early to start a PLAN for next year’s Christmas Marketing. Planning early can ensure your marketing is in tip top shape.
Spread some CHEER this Christmas…
This year has been difficult for us all but has hit some people harder than others. Donating to a food bank or charity this Christmas can help someone have a magical Christmas! One of our wonderful clients, National Safety Inspections, has been collecting food to donate to food banks across Leeds.
We would encourage everyone who can to donate to a food bank this year, however big or small, by dropping off food or donating online! Click here to donate online.
If you are unable to donate, there are lots of other ways to give back this Christmas. Small acts of kindness can have just as big an impact on someone’s life, tell someone that corny joke you’ve been holding in! Go on, we give you permission.
We hope these tips help. If you’re planning on running any promotions or getting creative with your marketing this Christmas, let us know down in the comments section. We’d also love to hear if you are giving back in any way this festive season!
Is blogging in your marketing strategy? If it is, perfect! Keep reading to find out some nifty tips and tricks to give your blogs an extra edge and find out how blogging makes money. If blogging isn’t in your marketing strategy, let me show you why it should be!
Did you know that 77% of people regularly read blogs online?
In 2020, the number of blogs on the internet grew to over 600 million. With such a large amount of blogs available, it may seem overwhelming to break in and succeed but trust us, it is definitely possible!
What is blogging?
Blogging is the act of posting content on a website. They are informal articles written for the purpose of showing thought leadership and expertise on a topic.
Often people will be reading a blog and they don’t even know it! Maybe you search for dinner recipes or help with your tech, more often than not the webpage you end up on will be a blog.
I’ll let you in on a secret…this is a blog! Shhh keep it quiet. Want to check out one of our other blogs on how to make your marketing cost effective? We bet you do.
Setting up your blog
Before you start making money, making a blog should be the first thing on your agenda.
Your blog needs a niche to grow, it doesn’t need to be radical, it just needs to give you a unique voice. Pick something that you enjoy, I mean why would you blog about something you don’t care about. If you aren’t passionate about your blog, then it can show in your writing and people will notice.
Once you have decided on a niche, you need to find out whether it can bring in readers, a blog can’t make you money if no one wants to read it. A quick Google search can show if people are searching for your topic or not.
Then…pick a name! Think catchy, short and memorable.
Once you have decided on your blog topic and name, you need to sign up to a web hosting service, we recommend blogging with WordPress, and choose your domain name. Once this is all set up, you have your blog!
Now, your blog will not look inviting to begin with, so you need to customise it to suit your style. If you are using WordPress as we suggested, you can click on ‘appearance’ in the sidebar and select ‘themes’. Click ‘add new’ and then select one of the many WordPress themes to add!
Optimise your blogs for SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is vital for making money from your blog. SEO is the way in which you optimise your website to rank higher in search engines through keywords and phrases.
If you are blogging with WordPress, you can install a plugin called Yoast SEO which gives you tips and suggestions to improve your SEO.
Improving your blogging SEO will make your blog more visible so it is imperative to pay attention to it.
If SEO confuses you or you would like to learn more then you click here for our beginner’s guide to SEO. Alternatively, we can do this for you too! Book a call nowto find out how we can help with your SEO.
How blogging makes money
Using ads is one of the best ways to monetise your blog. When incorporating ads onto your blog, you should try to use targeted ads that will appeal to your readers instead of bombarding your readers with unnecessary and unrelated ads.
Keep track of your analytics and monitor if your bounce rate changes when you add ads, if you notice a higher bounce rate then you may need to consider repositioning your ads or reducing the amount.
If you have a product or service to sell, using your blog to do this is a great way to make money through your blog and direct traffic towards your business.
How else does blogging benefit your business?
Blogging has other benefits for your business other than making money such as helping your websites SEO.
Do you want the good news or the bad news? Bad news…you now need 3 layers to go outside without feeling like Frosty the Snowman. Good news…festivities are in full swing!
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, the world of marketing might pause long enough for you to scoff a mince pie but make sure to check out our latest monthly roundup of marketing news and updates whilst they’re hot and fresh. If you missed out our October monthly roundup of marketing news and want to catch up just click here.
There is always something changing, whether it is social media or Google, and you need to stay on top of it! When you’re trying to feel festive you may not want to keep up to date with news but if you are offering a product or service, Christmas is your time to shine!
Let’s get started;
Fendi’s Time Square Takeover: Is Creativity Dead?
Last week famous fashion brand Fendi took over New York’s Times Square by covering it in their signature yellow.
Venturini Fendi said: “Times Square is something futuristic, something so different from Rome and peculiar of New York. It’s a landmark of the city – the lights, projection. It’s a window to the future.”
In a futuristic environment, was their takeover too lacklustre with a lack of imagination? Most brand ‘city attacks’ have heaps of creative flair and make use of the magnitude of the area and displays.
Fendi’s display was not well received with little to no traction in the fashion industry leaving many people wondering who the target audience was and what reaction was intended. A mass of bright yellow with their logo would likely be memorable, however with people attributing the work to ‘Fenty’, ‘Fenti’ and ‘Fendi’ it is unclear if people even remembered the brand name!
CREATIVE in TiME say: Marketing is essential for all businesses and creative marketing is ideal. What are your competitors doing? What do your customers want to see? Don’t be afraid to change.
Are you struggling with your marketing? If you are looking through this post and want to up your game, then click here to read about our services and what we can do for you.
Google Maps adds 3 NEW Features for Local Shopping
In the midst of the pandemic, more and more people are wanting to support local businesses and Google are introducing 3 NEW Google Maps features worldwide to help. Local businesses, it’s your time to shine! “Busyness” (yes, that is how you spell it) is one of the new features, who else didn’t know this was a word?
Area Busyess: When using Google Maps you can see how busy an area or business is currently and the estimation of busyness throughout the day.
Directory Tab: The Directory tab is most useful in shopping centres as it will display a list of all businesses, whether they are open, what floor they are on and what their star rating is.
Restaurant Information: Google Maps is now able to display more information when customers look up local restaurants. Information such as price ranges, delivery and other amenities will now be visible to customers if provided.
Is your information on Google up to date? If not, make sure that your information is detailed, succinct and useful. Including information such as disabled access, catering for dietary requirements, and COVID-19 measures can encourage customers and bring in people who otherwise may not come in.
Google Maps isn’t the only thing to keep up to date with, want to know how to use Google My Business to grow?Check it out here.
CREATIVE in TiME say: Google is KING! Whether you are a brick-and-mortar business or an online business, keeping up to date with all of Google’s updates is vital!
O2 creates Snapchat AR store for Black Friday Samsung deals
Black Friday is the biggest shopping event in the early calendar with total spending in the UK expected to have hit 9.42 BILLION pounds!
O2 has got involved with Black Friday and adopted the use of Snapchat’s augmented reality (AR) feature to create an “AR store of the future” to promote Samsung Black Friday deals.
This inventive sales idea allows prospective customers to save money without leaving their home or putting down their current phone! It transforms the four walls around them into a virtual sales area used to present 3 Samsung products and a “buy now” button.
The 3 products shown are the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3, and Samsung Galaxy Watch4.
This is a unique and engaging shopping experience for customers and may point to a new way to shop. It is unlikely to become common place but, would you use an AR shop on your phone?
CREATIVE in TiME say: This is very unique, but is Snapchat a dying platform? We’re not sure on this one but one thing is for sure – AR is not going away anytime soon.
Instagram Launches Live Test of Longer Videos in Stories
Instagram has launched a live test of 60-second videos in stories, this was first spotted in testing last month. This change means that longer videos in stories will not be split into 15 second segments and will reduce interruptions in stories.
The feature is currently being tested by a small user group in hopes it will improve creative freedom and streamline video uploads.
This test is likely influenced by TikTok, who have risen in popularity as the best place to be for video, and do not limit the length of your videos.
CREATIVE in TiME say: We likey this one! We were expecting this feature sooner or later. After all, they do like to copy EVERYTHING TikTok does.
Google Review Snippets will not show if the reviews are republished from another source!
Customers love reviews and therefore businesses want them to be as visible as possible but for Google to display a review as a snippet, the review must be directly submitted to the website.
For most businesses, you likely take reviews for your business from other places on the internet, such as Facebook, and then publish them on your website. This is effective at having reviews seen on your website but it will disqualify the page from being eligible for rich results.
Google defines reviews from other sources as “testimonials” instead of reviews. Here is what Google’s John Mueller had to say about it:
“We probably wouldn’t show that as reviews in the search results because it’s more like a testimonial. Reviews would essentially need to be something which is based on a specific product on that page and the reviews need to be things that users leave directly on that page.
So if you’re kind of like archiving reviews from other sources and you’re posting them then we wouldn’t pick those up as reviews for the structured data side. You can keep them on the page we just wouldn’t use the review markup for that.”
If you currently don’t accept reviews on your website but want to start, the easiest way to do so is to add a review submission form on every product/service page on your site.
CREATIVE in TiME say: Reviews are so important for your business! Customers love them, Google loves them, everyone loves them!
Roundup Complete!
We hope you enjoyed our monthly roundup of marketing news, check back in next month for our December monthly roundup of marketing news! You can even have it delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter! Just send your email over to [email protected].
Whilst you do that, does your business need a hand staying up to date? Maybe you’re struggling to keep on track with all of the new marketing changes? There’s a lot after all!
Let me guess, you want your website to be easily found by customers and don’t want to spend time creating a stunning website if no one can see it, we get it! Have you heard of SEO and how to optimise it for your business?
With the seemingly infinite amount of content on the internet, it can be overwhelming knowing how to start. I mean, what is SEO anyway?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the way you can help customers to find your site through search engines. By improving and optimising your SEO you can drive more traffic to your website and therefore generate more sales.
1.Use the right keywords
Firstly, you need to know what your customers are searching for. Are your customers more likely to use formal or informal word/phrases? You need your website to use the same language as your potential searchers.
Use keyword search tools to research what keywords to use for your business (check out our favourite here). If you input one keyword, keyword tools can show you the amount the term is searched, its SEO difficulty and a list of other similar keywords.
The information you find can be used to create keywords lists. If you are promoting different products and services, then you can create a list for each to optimise each page most effectively.
Common mistakes:
Only doing keyword research once
Targeting keywords that are too competitive
Forgetting to update and expand your keyword list.
Once you have found your keywords, you need to know where to use them:
Title
URL
Throughout the page text
Image alt text
2. Link building
Link building is when you acquire hyperlinks to your website from other websites. A hyperlink is a word, image or phrase that you click on to travel to a different section of the current document or to a new document.
Increasing your link building between websites is a great way to build web authority and increase your chances of ranking higher.
Gaining links organically is ideal, you can encourage this by making your website link-worthy with useful information and interesting products/services which could be featured in a blog.
You can also build links to your site by asking website owners to carry your link on their site in exchange for you to do the same. Remember, quality over quantity. Links from reputable directories, website and educational websites will be more useful than links from untrustworthy blogs and sketchy websites.
3. Ensure your website is user-friendly
Making your website user-friendly will, of course, help your users have the best experience possible but it will also improve your SEO and Google Rankings.
Site speed is confirmed to affect your SEO, just imagine the impact it could have on your user’s experience! With the majority of websites available with no load time, if your website is slow then it can cause users to bounce out. User behaviour on your site sends signals to search engines which then can impact your ranking.
Google wants its users to be happy and understand that load speed can have a major impact on user satisfaction. Google’s method to ranking includes using Core Web Vitals; these assess your websites loading time, visual stability and interactivity and the results of this influence your ranking.
The faster your site speed, the higher your ranking. Simple.
4. Look at your content length
How long your content is can affect your SEO and your ranking. Blog posts should contain at least 300 words in order to rank well on search engines but research shows that the ideal length for a blog post is 1,600 words.
You may be wondering; how do I know how long MY content should be? An easy way to do this is to Google your main keyword and look at the top 10 results on Google. Do these contain more than 1,600 words? If they do then yours should too, if not then look at the average length of other similar high-ranking content.
Don’t forget, quality over quantity!
5. Optimise your on-page SEO
On-page SEO is the way in which you optimise your website content for search engines. Some examples of on-page SEO are headings, slugs, meta descriptions and internal links.
Here are some top tips to get you started with optimising your on-page SEO:
Meta descriptions: A meta description is the small chunk of text that appears below your page title on a search result. Make sure these are concise, accurate and relevant to your content.
Headings: DON’T use misleading titles. Click-bait titles may give you more initial clicks but will lead to a high bounce-rate when your content is not what is expected. Use H1 headings for your main title to help Google understand your content.
Slugs: No not those slimy things in your garden! A slug is part of your URL that identifies a particular page on your website. Try to include your keywords in your slug and keep it short and sweet! People check to slug to ensure the content is what they are looking for.
Off-page SEO and technical SEO are also important to consider on your website…luckily for you, we have our very own guide to all things SEO! Check it out here.
If you wantyour SEO optimised but you are still unsure how, or maybe you simply don’t have the time, get in touch now! Here at Creative in Time we have a team of SEO experts just waiting to help you. Click here to book a discovery call now.
Do you sell a product online? If you do, then this one’s for you. Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, and with the aftermath of a global pandemic, more and more shoppers are queuing in virtual stores instead of in brick-and-mortar shops.
With potential Black Friday shoppers browsing the internet, you want to ensure you are prepared for the craziness and that you can maximise your traffic!
The expected total spending over Black Friday weekend in the UK is 9.42 BILLION pounds. Crazy right?!
We’ve put together a few simple marketing strategies you could consider in order to maximise your 2023 sales this Black Friday.
1. Create your Black Friday Email List
Our first tip is to create a Black Friday email list. Have you noticed an influx of Black Friday emails in your inbox? We bet you have. Create an email marketing list SPECIFICALLY for people who would be interested in your Black Friday deals.
Did you know that 25.1% of sales during the Black Friday promotion season has originated from email marketing? If you aren’t utilising email marketing this Black Friday then what’s even the point!?!
Tip: Create a pop-up on your website asking people to sign up for your newsletter and use an incentive such as early access to the sale. Use a punchy call-to-action to draw people in!
Once you have created your marketing list, you need to create an enticing email campaign. Use a catchy subject line to intrigue people, include clear CTA’s (call to actions), and try to send out more than one email to remind people about your sale. Don’t worry you’ve still got time!
Need some inspiration? Check out our EXAMPLE email campaign below!
2. Get creative with timing
Black Friday is capitalised by businesses big and small; this can get overwhelming for consumers who are receiving the same marketing messages constantly. Try to offset this and grab your customers attention by changing your timing.
Tip: Try starting your sale early, have you noticed anyone doing ‘Black Thursday’?
Typically, you will have less business competition for your consumers attention and a head start on sales. Many people use Black Friday to buy Christmas presents at a good value, catching people early ensures they haven’t bought anything yet therefore more chance for you to make a sale.
3. Extra offers
Pop-ups draw in consumers attention and even better if they offer an extra discount. Virtual ‘scratch cards’, spin the wheel games (see image below!) and other interactive pop-ups are sure to be an attention grabber.
Keeping customers on your site longer can help to prevent an abandoned cart and help push sales for people on the fence.
Tip: Bonus offers do NOT need to be extreme. For example, offer an extra 10% off or next day delivery for £2.
4.Loyalty programme
Do you have a loyalty programme or a VIP club for loyal customers? These people are already happy customers and have familiarity with your brand.
Target existing customers by offering an exclusive discount, existing customers are more likely to buy from your brand than new customers. This also builds a good reputation and encourages customers to continue to purchase from your business. People like to feel appreciated!
Tip: Create a campaign dedicated to loyal customers. A common offer is early access to Black Friday deals. This can also encourage users to tell their friends about your AMAZING deals!
5. Social media promotion
Don’t underestimate the power of social media! Utilise all your social media platforms to get the word out about your involvement in Black Friday. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are firm favourites but don’t fear branching out into TikTok. TikTok was the fastest growing app of 2020 and is no doubt the place to be in 2023!
Tip: Different social media platforms appeal to different demographics. TikTok and Instagram will appeal to a younger demographic whereas Facebook can appeal to an older audience. Who will your product appeal to? Who do you want to target? We recommend you finding this out in order to get the most from your marketing strategy.
We hope this information has helped you and that our tips will help make this Black Friday the most successful for your business!
Black Friday is one day a year, but you need effective marketing all year long…that’s where we come in! Get in touch with CREATIVE in TiME to get a free audit!
