The holiday season is just around the corner and with Christmas vast approaching, you’ve still got plenty of time to get your online store ready for the busiest time of the year.

Let’s get started with tips to get you and your store prepared for the festive season and end 2014 as the best year yet!

TIPS

Plan Out Your Calendar

A holiday campaign calendar is a must for planning appropriately and being organised for various actions you plan to take in advance. Your calendar should be used for marking down vital dates, including the type of blog content you're going to post and when, along with a date for your initial marketing email and when it should be followed up on.

Example of planning out your calendar by digital marketing specialists - Exact Target

If you're planning to have ads, carefully decide when you want to launch them and using which platforms. If you're going to run any competitions, or adjust your online stock displays and landing pages, mark down the dates so you'll have some concrete targets to aim for - remember to be realistic and don't take on too much.

Content Preparation

Once you have your dates together and a rough idea of the kind of content you want, you can then begin to strategise in more detail. This includes:

a) Email Content

Take the time to carefully plan out the type of message you wish to send to those on your mailing list.

Will you include promotions, festive cheer and featured products? How about holiday-specific visuals?

b) Landing Pages

Your landing pages should be fairly high on your list, as these are your main accessible tool in your ecommerce platform to help you drive conversions. You'll want to create special festive copy and shop themes, and populate these pages with featured products, deals and festive graphics/photos that will best showcase your brand and get your visitors in the holiday mood.

MANKIND a style & grooming online store, grab our attention with a real punchy and bold landing page. Not only have they included Free UK Delivery, but they've also thrown in little extra with 'Our Picks For Christmas'. Two great ways to really get your customers spending more this festive season.

c) Blog Content

Don't leave your blog copy to the last minute, because as things begin to get more frantic, you won't be able to dedicate the amount of time you have now. Take your time coming up with some head-turning titles and relevant, engaging content, instead of typing up some half-baked spiel the night before.

d) Targeted Ad Copy

Planning your ads is absolutely crucial, especially if you plan to use various relevant platforms such as AdWords and social media platforms. Depending on your resources and how much you want to take on, you may require outside help.

Online fashion store ASOS, do a great job in getting vocal on Facebook by using festive colloquial copy which appeal to their target audience. Check out the 262 likes - Great job!

e) Promos/Competitions

We all love a good festival promo - if you're going to run any special deals, promos or competitions, plan them out now and come up with some great holiday-themed ideas (not too corny, mind!) to grab attention and get people filling up their shopping cart.

Remember, all good marketing campaigns should be flexible, and usually work best when you run analytics and measure your ROI accordingly, allowing you to make any necessary adjustments along the way. Google Analytics is one of the best tools for your eCommerce platform; use it wisely.

Useful Resource

Kissmetrics
A website providing you with the latests analytics, marketing and testing advice

Exact Target
Specialist in Digital Marketing