The holiday season is the most lucrative time of year for businesses.
Data from the National Retail Federation shows that holiday sales make up 19% of annual sales across all industries.
And this period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the most profitable time of year due to the significant increase in sales volume without a substantial increase in fixed costs.
So work smarter, not harder, this holiday season.
Focus your attention on building a digital marketing strategy that gets your brand in front of your target audience while locking in sales during the season of peak profitability.
In this post, we’ll share eight of the most popular types of digital media that you can use to boost your sales and spread holiday cheer.
Can you hear the sleigh bells ringing?
Let’s dive in.
1. Select the best images
In the digital age, images are more important than ever before.
The internet is a sea of text. Yet, 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual. A picture is literally worth a thousand words.
There’s no doubt that humans are visual creatures, as we often choose to engage with an image before reading the supporting text. We also crave an image or video when learning something new.
Images have a higher potential to make a lasting impact. So don’t underestimate the power of using high-quality images to capture the attention of your target audience.
If you’re selling physical goods, invest in a professional photographer to take pictures of your products for your ecommerce website. Keep your images clutter-free and make them easy to find.
Take pictures from all angles, from the front, back, and sides. It also helps to include a picture of the product in action. For example, show an image of a watch on a wrist instead of just in the box.
Don’t forget to add alt text to improve your on-page SEO and ensure that search engines and screen readers can understand your images.
If you need inspiration from a brand on how to stage your product photos, take a page out of Rolex’s book. They do an excellent job organizing and showcasing their watches online.
You can’t order watches through their website, but it’s the perfect place for interested buyers to look through various images and configure the luxury watch of their dreams. After a stellar online experience, they’ll walk away knowing which watch they want to purchase in the store as the perfect holiday treat.
The key takeaway is that images are valuable at every touchpoint along your customer’s path to purchase. Here are some additional examples:
- Add vector graphics to your blog posts to improve readability and keep users engaged at the top off-the-funnel
- Turn surveys and studies into digestible infographics and establish yourself as an expert in your niche
- Leverage user-generated content for email marketing and social media campaigns to add a personal touch
Images are a foundational element of your digital media. So make sure all your bases are covered, and don’t leave any stone unturned.
2. Create Videos
Videos are another powerful type of digital media that can help boost your sales during the holiday season.
People love watching videos — they’re an excellent way to showcase your products or services above and beyond images or text. 84% of consumers agree that they are more likely to purchase a product after watching a video.
You can create videos that show your products in use or tell your brand’s backstory.
For instance, this YouTube video about the origin of the Harley Quinn Fortnite skin has amassed 1.6 million views. You don’t want to miss out on that massive reach, especially with the Gen Zers.
In the B2B space, 95% of buyers agree that videos have a crucial influence on their purchase process.
So if you are in the SaaS space, it’s worthwhile to invest in SaaS SEO and create educational videos that show your target customers how to use your products or how it solves their problems.
For example, Wordable includes a demo video on the homepage to show visitors how simple it is to save time and money publishing blog posts with the help of their SaaS tool.
Increase customer engagement this holiday season by adding videos to your landing pages, tweets, and LinkedIn posts. You might even want to give TikTok a try. The dynamic nature of TikTok’s platform not only increases your customer engagement but also significantly boosts your brand’s visibility, capturing the attention of a diverse audience and generating higher tiktok views.
Text-to-speech software can be used in video production to convert written scripts into spoken audio, enhancing accessibility and efficiency in content creation.
3. Blog posts
Your blog is a great platform to share helpful tips, product recommendations, gift guides, or anything else that might be useful to your target customers during the holiday season.
In advance of Black Friday sales, InfinityDISH published a product recommendation guide on “The 7 Best TVs for 2022”.
Since the post was published in June, it already ranks well on the search engine results page. Shoppers can easily find the guide on Google’s first page as they research which TV to purchase on Black Friday.
It also exposes potential buyers to the best TV packages for watching Christmas movies on their shiny new TV.
In short, the blog post drives traffic to InfinityDISH’s website and increases the likelihood of turning visitors into paying customers.
So time is of the essence. Start with a clearly defined content brief to plan out your holiday-themed content.
But don’t worry if you are short on resources. You can also use an AI-powered blog generator to keep up with the demand for consistently publishing new content heading into the holiday season.
But make sure to include images and videos in your blog posts to make them more engaging. And don’t forget to optimize your posts for search engines by including relevant keywords in the URL, title, and meta description.
4. Interactive content
There are over 4.4 million blog posts published every day.
Try adding something more interactive to your site to stand out from the masses. It’s a great way to get people to notice you and engage with your brand.
Any digital content — quizzes, polls, surveys, and calculators — that requires the user to take action, such as clicking, hovering, or scrolling, is considered interactive. With a quiz builder or poll maker tool, you can easily create interactive content like quizzes and polls to engage more customers.
If you are looking to create an interactive quiz for your WordPress website, using a WordPress quiz plugin can save you a lot of time and effort in creating engaging and fun quizzes for your audience.
Hims offers a variety of personalized healthcare solutions through its online telehealth platform. To help keep their users engaged and provide the best customer experience, they offer an online quiz to help identify the proper solution to the visitor’s health concerns.
This particular quiz helps visitors who are concerned about hair loss. The prompt walks them through various questions and then, in the end, offers a tailored product recommendation.
Research shows that 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase when a company provides a tailored experience.
By offering interactive content such as quizzes, you are setting yourself up for an easy conversion. With a curated solution at the consumer’s fingertips, how can they say no?
One thing to remember when capturing personal information through interactive content is the importance of safeguarding customer information.
It’s wise to be proactive about your approach to identity security and protect your organization against cybersecurity threats.
The last thing you want is to throw away your stellar reputation by skimping out on data security protocols.
5. Social media posts
During the holiday season, ramp up your social media activity, post relevant content to your target customers, and spread holiday cheer.
If you are more advanced or work in a creative industry, use a remove background API to help make your work more efficient by embedding the editing experience. Change the look of a social media post instantly to help boost digital media sales during the holidays.
For example, Starbucks can change the snowy background of this Instagram post to a scene with holiday lights with the click of a button. You only have a few holiday product photos to work with, so don’t let them go to waste.
You can also use social media to run contests or giveaways, which are always popular during the holidays.
6. Email campaigns
Email newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your existing customers and keep them updated on what’s new with your business.
Costco uses its email newsletters to share information with its current members about upcoming holiday sales. They include the start and end date of the deal, plus feature the main items available for purchase.
You can also use email newsletters to promote new products, highlight popular items, or share holiday-themed content from your blog.
Make sure to include images and videos in your email newsletters to make them more engaging, and don’t forget to include a call-to-action, so people know what you want them to do.
7. Social proof
Social proof is more important than ever in today’s digital age.
With so many online choices, potential customers often look to their peers for guidance on where to spend their hard-earned money. That’s where social proof comes in.
By displaying customer reviews and testimonials on your website, you can build trust with your visitors and show them that your product or service is worth their investment this holiday season.
Social proof can also help to increase conversions by providing potential customers with the reassurance they need to finalize a purchase.
So if you’re looking to drive sales and build trust with your target audience, use social proof on your website, like how American Trucks adds product reviews on this page for truck wheels..
8. Holiday-themed landing pages
A holiday-themed landing page is a great way to promote special offers or discounts on your website.
Your landing page should always have conversion in mind, and it should be easy for visitors to understand what they need to do to take advantage of your offer.
And don’t forget to include some lead capture forms so you can collect people’s contact information to turn a one-time buyer into a loyal customer.
Wrapping up
The holiday season is quickly approaching. And you don’t want to miss out on capturing a piece of the nearly $1 trillion pie.
There’s no one-size-fits-all to the best digital media strategy this holiday season. In fact, it’s probably a combination of them all.
Using digital media like email newsletters, landing pages, and videos, you can expand your reach and convert more leads into paying customers this holiday season.
So if you’re looking to boost holiday sales, put these tips into action. You won’t regret it.
About the author
Kelly Moser is the co-founder and editor at Home & Jet, a digital magazine for the modern era. She’s also an expert in freelance writing and content marketing for SaaS, Fintech, and ecommerce startups.
