Our Blog

Marketing effectively has the opportunity to increase sales even more this holiday season but can be tricky to do, especially when busy, so learning how different types of marketing can be effective for Christmas sales is increasingly important.  With so many purchases being carried out online – SEO and PPC marketing are extremely useful for raising awareness for your brand, and Email marketing can be a great way to retain customers and send out notifications or communications. SEO SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) marketing is an organic tool to bring in customers who will potentially love to your products/brand. SEO is completely free to do (other than your time) and will help increase traffic to your website. The only drawback for SEO is that it is not quick so it helps to have the future in mind when developing SEO tactics.  If you want to start increasing your SEO presence, the first thing you need to do is to make sure your website is structured properly. This included ensuring keywords are inline with your goals and your market, categories are relevant, and all links and backlinks are working.  To begin – you can use various keyword trackers (SEMrush, Google Ads Keyword Planner) to find out high-volume searches that relate to your brand, these can be incorporated into your website and if it is strong enough, the algorithm will pick it up and bring the ranking of your site up.  SEO planning should realistically be a few months ahead of the season you are aiming to target – so preparation is key. In this time, be sure to update update update, curate your content and start some blog posts! PPC PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing is a paid tool that will help you get your products out there quickly. Missed the holiday season preparations but still want to increase your profits? With PPC you are able to do this quickly and efficiently, and sometimes at a relatively low cost depending on what you decide to target.  Approximately 35% of all searches start on Google, so getting to the first few pages is key. With paid ads, you can bypass all of the SEO links and even sometimes appear directly below the search bar, which would increase traffic exponentially.  If you have a smaller business and run on a tight budget, make sure do to tailored research to decide where best to spend your precious coins, as PPC will add up due to the number of clicks. One way to combat the big costs of the Christmas season is to get in early. People like to make sure they’re prepared, so there’s plenty of opportunity for targeted ads. PPC is a visual sales pitch, so getting product pictures right is the first step to any campaign. You should also ensure the description is tailored, your keywords are on-brand, and the price is clearly visible. Try looking at the closest competitors product – what do they include in theirs? If you are able to master this, you will be able to rank above them and channel their sales to your website. PPC is an extremely useful option, so keep it in mind if you have the budget for it and it will likely make your investment worth the risk.  Email marketing As mentioned above, email marketing is essential for building customer relationships and ensuring that established customers and potential customers are all kept up to date with your business over the holiday season.  You can receive initial email data through sign up forms on your website, or through the option to become a member to create ease for repeat payments. A simple way to get new customers information is to run a 10% off everything with your first purchase campaign, as customers will have to enter their email to receive the reward.  Email marketing is a fabulous way to reach out to people with personal messages, newsletters, sales, new lines dropping, special deals and more.  Email marketing is also trackable – and you can look into how your customers are engaging with you in order to categorise them. Having categories such as long-term buyers, repeat buyers, one time buyers and potential buyers will help you to develop different marketing strategies to best reach them.  Understanding all of these processes can be intimidating when first looking into the holiday season – but are needed to increase sales. You don’t need to do everything – just try incorporating a few of these tips and tricks into your plans.  If you would like to read more blogs around business development or the wider fashion industry, Chanodil has you covered. You can check out our blog posts here. 

With the holidays being such a competitive time of year, it is important to gain an understanding of what customers want out of their shopping experiences in order to grow and make more sales. In this part of our holiday sales series we will be going through how you can add a unique twist to your brand so that you can stand out from the crowd! How do you get ahead of the shopping curve? In 2021 – the initial hunt usually means going straight online and searching something related to ‘gifts for…’ and browsing the endless supply of items. So how are you supposed to be their first choice (especially if your focus is on bricks and mortar)?  Well, before a customer will make a final purchase, they will usually shop around. To start increasing your sales, you need to increase interest. Your brand will need something to stand out with to get them to click on your website or enter your store in the initial decision-making process.  But how do you do this successfully? The key to this is to create an experience that will engage people in the shortest-time possible!  Increase physical and mental engagement quickly The holidays are usually a bit of a ‘rush’ so combatting this in the best way is important to keep sales increased. Make sure that your website and shops are updated and ready to go, with all the information, demos and reviews you might need. Don’t allow for disjointedness – have everything located in one place and make it visually pleasing, allowing the customer to find exactly what they want without wading through everything they don’t want like on competitors sites. Ensure that your offering the best possible options – make sure to price check competitors, look at their packaging and make yours better. Constantly review which areas you can be improving on and make the changes – your customers will reward your dedication with purchases. Add fun experiental aspects You could also look into creating a unique experience through event or activities people can get involved in. Experiential shopping has become the new thing for getting customers in-store post Covid-19, and it can be transferred online as well, so if you have the means then try it out! The festive spirit is so important for customers around Christmas, with people prioritising spending time with loved-ones and focusing on self-care. There are a multitude of ways to use this to create unforgettable experiences. Examples to try out include holiday pop-ups, livestream shopping, augmented reality, make-overs, personal styling sessions, and picture trails. You could also try offering prizes for engaging with your brand – such as posting a photo of your product with a hashtag on social media for the chance to win a free product hamper.   The most important thing to remember is to think outside of the box, and to make sure you’re thinking of your customer first! Check out the other posts in this series over on our blog.

It is always important for brands and businesses to look towards the season of trading and make adjustments and grow ideas for how they can best increase sales and brand reputation.  The importance of ensuring the biggest number of sales for the Christmas period is huge, with the possibility to turn around the rest of the year and grow for the future seasons.  How to engage customers Engaging with your customers in the right way is key to capturing their attention for the holiday season. Every company on the map will be trying to make the most of this time of year, so you have to make sure that everything you do is centred around them and their needs. Your customers want one thing – and that’s ease. They want the best products to gift their loved ones (and themselves) at Christmas for the best prices, and they want to find them easily.  One potential way to become more readily accessible is to make customers aware of anything that will be happening over the holiday period through a newsletter or a subscription notification that they can keep track of.  Having an update will direct people to your products as they are reminded of the necessity of planning purchases for the upcoming season. Sending out regular reminders of the Christmas period (even if not sales focused) will make them associate it with your brand. Build genuine relationships You should also make sure that your attempts to reach out are personalised and have meaning. People connect better with things they relate to – so try to form an understanding with your potential customers. Creating relationships with your customers is not something that will happen overnight, so be patient and keep attempting different ways to connect. You will be able to see their interaction with emails/posts, so adapt and respond accordingly. Do not just accept defeat – if a customer has added something to their basket but hasn’t checked out, it’s not a lost purchase. This is simply a new opportunity to grow a relationship with them.  Launching an abandoned cart rescue campaign is great way to increase your sales this holiday season. Maybe the customer had forgotten about their cart, or another present idea fell through last minute, or they suddenly need a new gift.  Reminding them of their basket contents and suggesting other options could change their mind and make them go through with the purchase as this would ensure an easy process. Become their go-to for loyalty Another way to invoke ease of purchase is to inspire loyalty – customers who put their loyalty in a brand will likely want to repurchase with them time and time again because they know that they can trust you and it is easier than trying a new brand that they aren’t 100% sure about.  Some simple ways to create loyalty for the coming months include a percentage off their next order, a complimentary product, or a 2 for 1 deal when they next shop, all of which would inspire a repeat purchase.