August 4th, 2006

It’s August, have you got your holiday shopping done?

I know it is hard to fathom as we swelter through triple digit weather, but NOW is the time to start putting in place your interactive marketing campaign for the upcoming holiday season. Yup, it’s August, time to put away the sunscreen and break out the parka!

The good news is that the potential sales are well worth dragging yourself in from the beach. In Q4 2005 estimated US retail online sales was over $23.5 billion. This is an increase of 23.1% over Q4 2004 [Source: US Census Bureau]

The bad news is that the holiday shopping season is a make or break time for many online companies, as a result, it can also one of the most critical times to have an effective interactive marketing campaign. Not only is the competition fierce as everybody with anything to sell is working even harder to make sales, thereby driving up advertising costs, but the sales window is also very small with only five or six weeks to make as many sales as possible!

The key to maximising the sales in the chilly months of November and December is to begin looking at your holiday marketing campaign in the heat wave of the summer. This will allow for a well thought out strategy where your advertising dollars are most effectively used getting the biggest bang for your buck.

Start figuring out now how you can be found in the huge internet mall and heard above all the other chaos. Do you have a vibrant email list that will allow you to communicate directly with your customer? Are your landing pages sharp, the ad copy appealing? When someone does find you, is your web page designed to maximise conversion?

If there are weaknesses or missed opportunities in your marketing strategy now is the time to address them so that you can hit the ground running [or sledding] in November!

By the way, I was in a big box store the other day [I am occasionally allowed to stray from my computer] and was shocked to see that they had on display those pre-lit Christmas trees. Hmmm….