November 1st is here and it’s Holiday Primetime!

The marketing actions you take in your business over the next seven weeks can make or break your sales. And remember with Thanksgiving a week later this year, we lose a week of peak holiday sales time.

With 53 days left until Christmas, it’s time to focus heavily on getting your products in front of the right buyers!

Market Your Products Not “The Store”.

Holiday shoppers don’t want to buy a store, they are looking for specific products to purchase.

For example, your marketing message shouldn’t be “Come visit our Big Cool Store full of great gifts.”

Holiday shoppers won’t take the time to click through and browse the store. They need a specific reason to visit.

Tailor your marketing messages to your specific products, and bring people to your store for a specific reason. 

A marketing message that gets sales is “Just In! The Reed & Baron Holly Bell for Christmas 2013.  Now with Free Shipping through November 10th”

You might think you’re eliminating potential buyers who aren’t interested in that particular ornament, but the reverse is true. You’ll attract more targeted, qualified buyers when you get your best products in front of them!

Make Marketing a Part of the Selling Process

If you think of marketing as separate from the selling process, chances are your marketing will never get done.

Between sourcing, listing, and shipping, it’s easy to push marketing out until “tomorrow”.

Next time you list a holiday item, immediately take ONE marketing action on that item.

For example, pin it to Pinterest, post it on Facebook, Tweet about it, post it on Instagram.

If you include marketing in your listing process, your product gets more visibility at the beginning of the sales process.

WARNING: This doesn’t mean “product bombing” a social media site!!! That’s a quick way to lose your followers or get your posts hidden.

For example, if you list ten products on Ebay, don’t post all 10 products to your Facebook newsfeed in rapid succession. When you post products on Pinterest, spread your products throughout the day.

Pin Like You’ve Never Pinned Before!

I talk about Pinterest marketing so much, I’m about to start calling this “The Pinterest Marketing Blog”. 🙂

But I continue to emphasize the importance of Pinterest marketing because it WORKS.

Recently, members of our 2013 Increase Holiday Sales Program participated in our  Pinterest Holiday Products Pinning Party!

It was a resounding success!

• During the party, 210 holiday products were pinned.

• With a primary and secondary reach of over 3700 views

• Since then, the number of products pinned to the Christmas Gift Ideas 2013 group board has more than doubled to 507 pins!

• In the last three days, those original pins have been repinned more than 4000 times.

If you need help with Pinterest holiday marketing, take a look at our Pinterest for Ecommerce 7 video series.

Grab Your Cell Phone and Create a Video Product Review

You might think that Amazon is the #1 place holiday shoppers go for product reviews. While they do go there (in droves), there’s somewhere else that MILLIONS of shoppers will go this holiday selling season to find that perfect holiday gift.

YouTube.

This year, more consumers than ever will use video to research their holiday purchases.

Do any of your holiday products have a presence on YouTube?

If you think YouTube marketing is just for “the big guys”, think again.

A simple “unboxing video” describing your products features and benefits, along with the right keyword phrases included when you upload the video, can even get you a page 1 ranking on Google for your product!

This is one of the most untapped areas of ecommerce marketing today.

In fact, this week, we’re dedicating an entire week’s worth of video training in our 2013 Increase Holiday Sales Program to this very topic!

Reconnect Via Email

With so many people selling on Amazon these days, it’s easy to forget that you should still reach out to your non-Amazon customers with email marketing.

While Amazon doesn’t allow you to contact customers to solicit sales, if you’ve built a mailing list from your Ebay store or your website, don’t forget to reach out to them this holiday season.

Even if you haven’t stayed in touch throughout the year, there’s no time like the present to send your customers an email newsletter, wishing them a happy holiday, and 20% off on their purchase with free shipping!

You will reactivate some customers!

To be in compliance with the CAN SPAM email regulations, you can only mail to customers who have purchased from you within the last 12 months, and you must include an opt-out link in your email.

All professional email service providers such as Mail Chimp, Constant Contact or Aweber will include this in the email.

NOTE: Do not email from your PERSONAL email account.

Pick One and Do It Today!

The nemesis of sales and marketing is procrastination. You don’t have to do everything on this list, just pick the one that is right for your business and take action!

Your sales will thank you!

Three Days Remain

The doors to the 2013 Increase Holiday Sales Program close forever on November 3rd!

This is your last chance to get guided training and support to make this your best holiday selling season ever!

Find out more about the program, but don’t delay! The clock is ticking.  🙂