By now it’s something of a cliché, yet it’s still worth emphasizing that the 2020 holiday shopping season was truly like no other. With a number of public health guidelines still in place, and many consumers reluctant to do much in-person shopping, we saw a big shift toward e-commerce. This year, the landscape appears significantly different, and it’s hard to predict just what the year’s seasonal trends will look like.

To help you navigate this unusual season, and to take full advantage of the opportunities before you, we recommend enlisting the services of a digital marketing consultant. There are a number of ways in which the right consultant can help you make the most of the 2021 holiday season.

A Digital Marketing Consultant Can Help You Create a Plan

The holiday season presents countless avenues for reaching customers and boosting sales, yet it can also be a particularly competitive time of the year. You probably won’t see the kind of results you want without a robust, strategic plan.

A good seasonal marketing plan may include any or all of the following:

• A clearly defined audience, based on reliable data collection.
• A set of specific, quantifiable business and marketing goals.
• A calendar of important days (for example, Cyber Monday) that may be relevant to your sales and marketing plans.

A good consultant will develop a plan that allows you to enter the holiday season feeling confident and prepared.

Consultants Can Advise You on Your Media Mix

No matter the size of your business and no matter your marketing budget, you’ll need to make careful decisions about exactly where you want to invest your ad dollars. Is programmatic digital video the right call? What about PPC ads? These are significant decisions, and they shouldn’t be made based on guesswork.

A good consultant will be able to combine data aggregation with broader consumer trends, helping you identify the places where your message has the best chance of connecting with consumers, and where your ad dollars will boast the greatest return on investment.

A Consultant Will Help You Coordinate Your Efforts

As you consider your marketing approach for the holiday shopping season, it’s important to think big picture. Yes, your ad spend is important, but even an effective ad campaign will be meritless if you don’t have a well-optimized website, complete with clear calls to action, a smooth user experience, and enticing offers and promos.

For brick-and-mortar stores, there is an added level of complexity: Ensuring that your marketing messaging is synchronized with the in-store experience, and that you’re effectively coordinating your ads with your in-store offers. For brick-and-mortars, a good marketing campaign will result in more foot traffic and a more informed clientele.

Something else that physical retailers need help with this year is making sure they have the staff to support the store. A digital hiring campaign may be just what you need right now to be ready for the holiday rush.

Digital Consultancies Can Provide Robust Technology

To ensure you’re getting the most out of your seasonal marketing, you’ll also want to take advantage of advanced marketing platforms. When you partner with an agency such as enCOMPASS, you gain access to best-in-class tools and features that allow you to personalize marketing emails, to automate and optimize the timing of your messages, to boost your online review portfolio, and track the effectiveness of it all.

Such technologies are one of the many benefits of working with an agency and can make a big difference in the efficacy of your seasonal approach.

Marketing Professionals Will Help You Keep Up with Trends

Though there are many unknowns about how the 2021 holiday season will shake out, an experienced marketing professional will be able to offer some data-driven insights, while also helping you pivot as the forecast changes.

For example, it’s hard to predict with any certainty just how much interest there will be in brick-and-mortar versus online shopping. And, with distribution channels somewhat disrupted, there is reason to think that a lot of shoppers will start their holiday purchases early this year. These and other variables can have a big impact on your strategy, and a good consultant will help you to proceed in a knowledgeable, adaptable way.

Choosing enCOMPASS as Your Digital Partner

As you consider working with a digital marketing consultant this year, we invite you to reach out to our team. We know that the holidays can be make-or-break, and we’re prepared to provide your business with every competitive advantage.

The enCOMPASS team has a proven track record in all forms of marketing, not just the digital arena. You name it and we’ve done it; our expertise includes TV, radio, print, billboards, , events, promotional items, and more. We would love to leverage our expertise on behalf of your business, and to develop a robust seasonal strategy that helps you identify and achieve your marketing goals.

Ready to get started? There’s no time to waste. Reach out to us to talk about the holidays at your next opportunity.