YOUR Brand Storytelling During The Holy Days?

 

Brand Storytelling ideas during the holiday season

Brand storytelling is a relatively less used term. E-commerce sales have been explosively growing. There’s a reason why people prefer to shop online. Correction, there’s not one reason, there are so many reasons. Starting with convenience, people can shop whenever they want, wherever they want, however they want, in any device they want. Related Article: Should YOUR Business Advertise On Instagram? You know what I mean, right? And second, there are so many coupon codes, discount codes, special offers online, and exclusive online products. Other reasons include reviews, people can meticulously read what others think about a particular product and make an informed decision. This way customers know what they can expect. There is a free returns option also. In a world full of amazing brands, how can your brand stand out? That’s through Brand storytelling.

Brand storytelling is very different from branding. For starters, branding focuses on very materialistic things like color, theme, logo, aesthetics, and creates an image of how a particular brand should be perceived by a customer. But brand storytelling is different. Brand storytelling is how you emotionally connect to a customer by being your authentic self and what purpose you serve for the customer. The main goal of brand storytelling is an excellent relationship marketing tool. Why is Storytelling important during the holiday season? This is one question which always arises from a customer. Why should I buy from you? As an e-commerce brand, what values do you stand by? What do you provide for me other than the product, is what the customer in 2023 wants to know? Related Article: YOUR Video Content Is King? Brand storytelling plays an important role here. Brand storytelling makes you:Establish emotional connection Stand out from the crowd  Build trust and authority  Make them feel included in your community 8 Branding storytelling ideas during the holiday season 1. Website Design Your website or your social media may be the first thing that a customer sees which sets a definitive image in the customer’s mind. Make sure that you say something that truly defines what you are and what you stand for. Your website homepage or your website design doesn’t just have to be about what you represent. Even very minimalistic touches can be very influential on your customer. For example, take a look at the micro animation below which sets the holiday mood even with a very micro interaction. This contributes to one of the elements of storytelling – Attention-grabbing. 2. Streamline The Checkout Process Streamlining the checkout process is one small gesture from an e-commerce brand that you show on your site that you really want to make your customers feel convenient. Especially during the holiday season when the customers are in a rush? This not only increases conversion rates but also establishes a good customer experience. 3. Be Your Authentic Self Brand Storytelling is establishing that your brand stands for something. Don’t force your brand to be something that it’s not. Stand for what it really means, even if it means something really small. Take Patagonia, even on Black Friday, they stood by their values and boycotted the huge sale of the year opportunity. They opposed mass consumption during the holidays and their brand advocates even grew fond of what this brand did.  Related Article: Social Media For YOUR Local Business? 4. Unified Messaging On All Channels All the channels through which you communicate, be it social media, be it your website, be it your brand tracking page, be it your holiday packaging, be it your emails or SMS, be it your customer support representatives, set the tone right. All these touchpoints revert back to your emotional connection. This unified messaging not only creates consistency but also builds trust and credibility. Your brand, when it has a unified strategy, represents one thing and one thing only – your brand’s value, which is conveyed more and more to the customer once they get to experience all your touchpoints. 5. Customer Testimonial Customer testimonials are the social proof of what your brand stands for. This assures customers that you deliver what you say, leads to more conversions, and increases trust. 6. Showcase Your CSR Value If you’re doing something that’s good for the environment and the people around you and your customers, then you should definitely take the liberty of showing that off to your customers. Not to sound very salesy, but good deeds are not meant to be kept a secret. Related Article: 4 Steps To YOUR Social Media Brand? 7. Holiday Packaging Holiday packaging is one exciting touch point that you can use to further establish an emotional connection. You can customize your packaging, opt for eco-friendly gift options, add gifting options, do personalization, allow customers to add personalized notes, make interactive QR codes. This can lead to a very exciting unboxing experience. 8. Branded Tracking Page Brands often think that nothing much could be established on branded tracking pages. But we are here to say that it’s not the case. You can add a number of content to your branded tracking page. You can add videos saying what your brand does and how the product that is being shipped to the customer can be used. This promotes customer education also, which reduces the number of returns.  Bonus Tip: Build a memorable customer experience Building a memorable customer experience ties several knots to the relationship that you already have with your customer. 40% of shoppers do not come back to you after a poor delivery experience. So, in any part of the customer journey, be it pre-purchase or post-purchase, there cannot be any compromise in what you offer. If the customer is not satisfied with the experience, this creates a negative brand image which cuts all the ties that you’ve tried so hard to establish. Guest Authored By Raksna Aland. Raksna's an accentric traveller fallen into the passion of writing new and exciting content. Related Article: Instagram Tips For YOUR Small Business? We live in an economy where relationships hold the primary power. Establishing an emotional connection with your customers is very important as we state again and again and again. E-commerce is not just about convenience and variety of products anymore, it’s more than that. It’s a good strategy to include brand storytelling in your marketing in order to convert customers. This increases customer retention when a customer feels connected to the brand. Post Crafted By: Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, CO. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

YOUR Holiday E-Commerce Social Media?

Social media and e-commerce strategies for the holiday season..

It’s the most wonderful time of the year -- for finding the best deals, eating too much food and supercharging your marketing.

Related Article: YOUR Christmas Social Media?

The holiday season is generally considered to run from late November through the New Year.

Unlike birthdays and anniversaries, this gift-buying frenzy is spread across the whole of society at the same time. That means a lot of consumer spending.

--This year's holiday retail sales are expected to top $720 billion, an increase of about 4% over the 2017 total.

--Black Friday sales for e-commerce alone are predicted to hit around $5.8 billion, approximately a 15% boost over last year. Mobile spending should account for about $2.4 billion of that.

--U.S. consumer confidence is at its highest level since 2000.

As you might expect, all of this Black Friday buzz and holiday cheer requires its own set of strategies when it comes to marketing. It calls for more than just a “Happy Holidays” banner on your website or storefront. In this article, I’ll discuss some tips for making the most of this annual e-commerce bonanza.

Related Article: Millennial Social Media Shopping Habits?

Get Festive

Many of us like to decorate our home or office to get in the holiday spirit. It's a good idea to give your online presence a similar type of makeover by applying holiday themes to your website and social profiles.

Adding small touches to your website with holiday-themed graphics and colors helps signal to your customers that the season of giving is upon us. Bright, engaging colors and animated GIFs tend to work well.

Don’t delay; start spreading those good holiday vibes now. According to a study by Facebook, 20% of shoppers begin their annual buying spree in October or even earlier. So, start planning now (if you haven’t already) and put your product or service top of mind as soon as possible.

Keep in mind that this season encompasses not just major holidays like Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas. We also have Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday, each of which occurs during the post-Thanksgiving rush. These all provide valuable opportunities to market to your customers.

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Social Media Advertising

Why is marketing during the holidays different than marketing during other times of the year? It’s all about getting people to buy stuff, isn’t it? This is a misconception, however. While people spend most of the year buying for themselves, the holiday season is all about giving. It's easy to overlook this simple fact.

And where do gift-givers go for inspiration? Social media, of course. A recent Marketing Land survey found small to midsize business (SMB) owners intend to devote most of their holiday marketing funds to social media, especially Facebook and Instagram.

When done strategically, social media advertising can hit the sweet spot between affordability and effectiveness.

Related Article: YOUR Crucial Social Media Video Advertising?

When setting up your Facebook ads, be sure to consult the Audience Insights feature to see in-depth targeting data drawn from the site’s huge storehouse of user-generated information.

It’s a valuable tool that is specially geared toward marketers and can be your greatest gift during the holidays.

Carousel ads are a great option that we've used for our clients. They let you share multiple images, each with its own message for different products. For example, you could start with a festive image of a hand holding a red sack with a message that reads: "What's in your bag of gifts this year?" Then, each consecutive swipe could reveal a product (e.g., sneakers for your sports star) with a hand removing this item from the gift bag. Creating an ad like this lets you promote your product line for the holidays and keeps in the spirit of the holiday giving season.

Related Article: YOUR Local Business Social Media Marketing?

Instagram And Social Media Shopping

It’s no big secret that mobile shopping is becoming more commonplace, so you need to ensure that your marketing campaigns are mobile-friendly. One way to attract holiday customers through mobile is with Instagram Stories.

This feature allows users to post content that disappears after 24 hours. It’s intended to capture spontaneous, short-lived moments that can be shared with others, which makes it an ideal fit for the fleeting nature of holiday marketing.

Many marketers are already using Instagram Stories to promote, but what a lot of them don't realize is that Stories allows users (with over 10,000 Instagram followers) to add clickable links. This provides an excellent opportunity to drive additional traffic to your website.

Going Local On Social

Local businesses can compete with industry giants like Amazon by implementing a "buy online, pick up in store" (BOPIS) option. A 2017 survey found that half of shoppers use BOPIS to complete transactions. In addition, same-day shipping is another option that local businesses should seriously consider. Amazon Prime has raised the bar regarding consumer expectations for speed of delivery, so you need to be able to get people’s holiday gifts to them as soon as possible.

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Google’s Showcase Shopping Ads

The recently released Showcase Shopping ads feature from Google provides marketers with another opportunity to grab consumers during the holiday season. Rather than highlighting individual products, Google Showcase Shopping ads show multi-image collections of items from a retailer, giving several options to the customer who doesn’t know precisely what to buy.

Showcase Shopping ads appear when users search for a general term (e.g., “luxury coats”), and they’re based on cost-per-engagement (CPE) bidding. Marketers and holiday shoppers alike can benefit from this.

When it comes to Showcase Shopping, let's talk images and text. Holiday elements such as a red bow on the corner of your product image can help catch the eye of someone searching. Google also allows up to 150 characters for your product description, so adding something like "20% off until Dec. 15" after your main product description can help set your shopping ad apart.

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The Countdown Has Begun

The holiday season is hugely important for marketers, and you can’t expect to rely on your usual bag of tricks to attract customers.

Leveraging the power of social media marketing is vital for increased sales, satisfied customers and a whole lot of holiday joy.

Guest Authored By Bernard May. Bernard May is the CEO of National Positions, a 5 time Inc 500/5000 digital growth company and Google Premier Partner. Follow Bernard on Twitter.

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"The Countdown Has Begun

The holiday season is hugely important for marketers, and you can’t expect to rely on your usual bag of tricks to attract customers. Leveraging the power of social media marketing is vital for increased sales, satisfied customers and a whole lot of holiday joy.." -BernardMay

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  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at GetMoreHere.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, CO. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)