The Holidays Are Coming…Is Your Team Ready?

We’ve been talking about the holiday season on a regular basis at the Unbound blog and for a good reason: the holiday season is upon us! In a matter of weeks, we’ll be in the midst of the busiest shopping season of 2017.

If you have not yet started preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, now is the time to get the ball rolling, as those holidays will be followed by Christmas. Proper preparation is key to a successful (and profitable) holiday season.

Some teams start brainstorming marketing strategies by Labor Day, and by now, they are well on track. But how do you know whether your team is ready to tackle the holidays?

Here are 6 simple ways to tell if your team is ready to handle the holidays:

1. Your Marketing Department is In Sync

By now, you have brainstormed with your marketing department to discuss your overall strategy and agreed on the messaging that will be used to relay your offers to your target audience.  

2.  You Have Outlined Agreed-Upon Goals

The best way to improve upon your bottom line is to use last year’s marketing intelligence to set realistic goals for this year’s holiday rush. If you have already started posting teaser posts about your holiday promos, your audience is probably getting excited already. You’re off to a great start!

3.  You Have Started Investing in Holiday Marketing

By now, you probably have put in requisitions for holiday promotions, and set aside funds for your various marketing efforts.

4.  Extra Staff is on Standby

In addition to social media and pay per click marketing, you have already put out feelers for temporary staff to help handle customer service and of fulfillment.

Don’t forget to procure any prizes that might be needed for contests.

5.  You Know What the Competition is Doing

You know your team is on track to tackle the holidays when someone is keeping an eye on the competition. Keeping an ear to the ground and remaining flexible is a great way to ensure that your business is competitive throughout the season.

Use social listening software to set up holiday shopping keyword searches (Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, winter solstice, Kwanzaa, and Christmas) to help you gather intel as to how many of your customers are celebrating. This might give you great ideas to provide just the right content at the right time, thus boosting your sales for the entire season.

6. Online Marketing is Scheduled

When it comes to connecting with your audience, a serialized approach works best. You will know that you are ready for the season if your team has created a killer social campaign, and scheduled it in a cohesive manner. You should have a global campaign that ties together a range of elements, all scheduled and ready to go.

So, based on the factors above, is your team ready to tackle the holiday season?