Ecommerce Promotions for the Holidays
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The document discusses various ecommerce promotion strategies that can be used during the holiday season. It provides details on multi-merchant cards, single merchant cards, 12 days of deals promotions, and seasonal stores. For each promotion type, it offers recommendations on timeline, targeting, packaging, and best practices. The presentation aims to help affiliates succeed with holiday ecommerce promotions.
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Ecommerce Promotions for the Holidays
- 1. Ecommerce Promotions FOR THE HOLIDAYS #PromotionsLab
- 2. HOW TO INTERACT WITH US #PromotionsLab GoToWebinar™ Questions Panel Follow us on Twitter @secondstreetlab Want to win an exclusive prize? Be the one who tweets the most with our hashtag #PromotionsLab Note: We are recording this webinar and you will receive an email with links to the recording and slide deck.
- 3. WHO WE ARE #PromotionsLab
- 4. SPEAKERS #PromotionsLab Matt Chaney Director of Affiliate Success @mattchaney Liz Crider Director of Affiliate Success @emcrider
- 5. AGENDA • Industry Trends • Ecommerce Promotions • Marketing Ecommerce Promotions • Tools for Success • Takeaways • QA #PromotionsLab
- 7. TOP ONLINE SHOPPING DAYS #PromotionsLab
- 8. #PromotionsLab 48% of Online Traffic from Mobile 29% of Online Holiday Sales
- 10. WHAT ARE E-COMMERCE PROMOTIONS? What are Ecommerce Promotions? #PromotionsLab
- 13. DEAL QUALITY CHECKLIST Evergreen category Few restrictions Appropriate price point Popular merchant Seasonally relevant Unique & fresh #PromotionsLab
- 15. MULTI – MERCHANT CARDS $81K+ $112K+ $37K+ $71K+ #PromotionsLab
- 16. MULTI – MERCHANT CARDS $81K+ $112K+ $37K+ $71K+ #PromotionsLab
- 17. MULTI-MERCHANT CARDS: PLANNING TIPS #PromotionsLab
- 18. Timeline When to Sell #PromotionsLab Create target list by 10/10 Start selling by 10/15
- 19. #PromotionsLab When to Launch Timeline Launch on 12/1, Cyber Monday
- 20. #PromotionsLab How to Schedule Timeline Run entire season Refeature at strategic times
- 21. #PromotionsLab Package q Leverage all assets q Shared promotion q Ad credits q Give everything a value
- 22. MULTI-MERCHANT CARDS: SELLING TIPS #PromotionsLab
- 23. SELLING " MULTI-MERCHANT CARDS Top Prospects q Golf q Ski q Dining #PromotionsLab
- 24. SELLING " MULTI-MERCHANT CARDS Top Prospects Key Benefits q Golf q Ski q Dining #PromotionsLab q Foot Traffic q Upsell q New Customers
- 25. SELLING " MULTI-MERCHANT CARDS Top Prospects Key Benefits Best Practices q Golf q Ski q Dining #PromotionsLab q Foot Traffic q Upsell q New Customers q Cart q Timing q Same offer
- 26. MULTI-MERCHANT CARD RECAP When to Sell Start selling by 10/15. When to Launch Launch on 12/1. How to Schedule Golf cards can run all season. How to Package Leverage all assets. #PromotionsLab Look for unique promotional opportunities. Top Prospects Golf, ski, dining Key Benefits Foot traffic Upsell New customers
- 27. SINGLE MERCHANT CARDS #PromotionsLab
- 28. SINGLE – MERCHANT CARDS $10K+ $12K+ #PromotionsLab $16K
- 29. SINGLE – MERCHANT CARDS $10K+ $12K+ #PromotionsLab $16K
- 30. SINGLE MERCHANT CARDS: PLANNING TIPS #PromotionsLab
- 31. Timeline When to Sell #PromotionsLab Create target list by 10/17 Start selling by 10/22
- 32. #PromotionsLab When to Launch Timeline Launch on 11/24
- 33. #PromotionsLab How to Schedule Timeline Run for 3-4 weeks
- 34. #PromotionsLab Package q Spotlight advertiser q Ad credits q Give everything a value
- 35. SINGLE MERCHANT CARDS: SELLING TIPS #PromotionsLab
- 36. SELLING " SINGLE MERCHANT CARDS Top Prospects q Upscale spas q Multi-location #PromotionsLab
- 37. SELLING " SINGLE MERCHANT CARDS Top Prospects Key Benefits q Upscale spas q Multi-location #PromotionsLab q Repeat visits q Upsell q New Customers
- 38. SELLING " SINGLE MERCHANT CARDS Top Prospects Key Benefits Best Practices q Upscale spas q Multi-location #PromotionsLab q Repeat visits q Upsell q New Customers q No hair q Basic services q Popular services
- 39. SINGLE MERCHANT CARD RECAP When to Sell Start selling by 10/22. When to Launch Launch on 11/24. How to Schedule Run 3-4 weeks. How to Package #PromotionsLab Spotlight on advertiser. Ad credits. Give everything a value. Top Prospects Upscale spas, multi-location Key Benefits Repeat visits Upsell New customers
- 40. 12 DAYS OF DEALS (AKA “THEME WEEK”) #PromotionsLab
- 41. STRAIGHT UP DEALS UpperMichigansSource Negaunee, MI Straight Up Deals $13,350 Gross 952 Offers Sold #PromotionsLab
- 42. 12 DAYS OF DEALS: PLANNING TIPS #PromotionsLab
- 43. Timeline When to Sell #PromotionsLab Create target list by 10/10 Start selling by 10/15
- 44. #PromotionsLab When to Launch Timeline Launch on 12/4
- 45. #PromotionsLab How to Schedule Timeline Feature 1 per day Run through 12/24
- 46. #PromotionsLab Package q Leverage all assets q Shared campaign q Unique promotions q Give everything a value q “Trade” model
- 47. 12 DAYS OF DEALS: SELLING TIPS #PromotionsLab
- 48. SELLING " 12 DAYS OF DEALS Top Prospects q Evergreen q Spa services q Gifts #PromotionsLab
- 49. SELLING " 12 DAYS OF DEALS Top Prospects Key Benefits q Evergreen q Spa services q Gifts #PromotionsLab q Seasonal q Big exposure q New Customers
- 50. SELLING " 12 DAYS OF DEALS Top Prospects Key Benefits Best Practices q Evergreen q Spa services q Gifts #PromotionsLab q Seasonal q Big exposure q New Customers q Value for promotion q Category mix q Local offers
- 51. 12 DAYS OF DEALS RECOMMENDATIONS When to Sell Start selling by 10/15. When to Launch Launch 12/4. How to Schedule Start one deal each day – week days only. #PromotionsLab Let them run until 12/24. How to Package Leverage all assets Unique opportunities Trade model Top Prospects Evergreen categories, Spa services, gifts Key Benefits Seasonal Big exposure New customers
- 53. CYBER WEEK Post-Bulletin Rochester, MN Cyber Week Deal Store #PromotionsLab $19,086 Gross 2,192 Offers Sold
- 54. SALES: JAN. TO DEC. 2013 #PromotionsLab Cyber Week
- 55. HOLIDAY STORE The Post and Courier Charleston, SC Holiday Gift Guide $85,403 Gross 2,192 Offers Sold #PromotionsLab
- 56. ANCHOR OFFER $48,776 Children’s Museum of Lowcountry 1,214 Offers Sold #PromotionsLab
- 57. SEASONAL STORES: PLANNING TIPS #PromotionsLab
- 58. Timeline When to Sell #PromotionsLab Create target list by 10/10 Start selling by 10/15
- 59. #PromotionsLab When to Launch Timeline Cyber or Holiday Store 12/1
- 60. #PromotionsLab How to Schedule Timeline Cyber Week runs 5-7 days Holiday Store runs to 12/24
- 61. #PromotionsLab Package q Leverage all assets q Shared campaign q Unique promotions q Give everything a value
- 62. SEASONAL STORES: SELLING TIPS #PromotionsLab
- 63. SELLING " SEASONAL STORES Top Prospects q Evergreen q Spa services q Gifts #PromotionsLab
- 64. SELLING " SEASONAL STORES Top Prospects Key Benefits q Evergreen q Spa services q Gifts #PromotionsLab q Foot traffic q Big exposure q New Customers
- 65. SELLING " SEASONAL STORES Top Prospects Key Benefits Best Practices q Evergreen q Spa services q Gifts #PromotionsLab q Foot traffic q Big exposure q New Customers q 15-20 offers q Category mix q Anchor offers
- 66. BEST PRACTICES • Feature anchor deals • 15-20 deals • Divide deals among team; break it down • Variety; mix • Deal quality • Opportunity to feature more deals #PromotionsLab
- 67. SEASONAL STORE" RECOMMENDATIONS When to Sell Start selling by 10/15. When to Launch Cyber Store: 12/1 – 12/7. #PromotionsLab Holiday/Stocking Stuffer: 12/1 – 12/24. How to Schedule Launch all deals at one time. Run them for the length of the store. How to Package Leverage all assets Unique opportunities Give everything a value Top Prospects Evergreen categories, Spa services, gifts Key Benefits Foot traffic Big exposure New customers
- 68. Marketing Ecommerce Promotions #PromotionsLab
- 69. Build Your Database #PromotionsLab
- 70. PROMO CODE – INACTIVE BUYERS #PromotionsLab 970 Individual deposits $25K Purchased by depositors
- 72. LEVERAGE PROMOTIONAL ASSETS #PromotionsLab Rich Media Display Ads
- 75. TOOLS FOR SUCCESS #PromotionsLab
- 76. #PromotionsLab
- 78. Your Name Here SecondStreet.com/University
- 79. CARD TEMPLATES #PromotionsLab SPA CARD
- 80. #PromotionsLab
- 83. #PromotionsLab Pick a Promotion that Works for You
- 84. Focus on Quality Offers #PromotionsLab
- 85. Leverage All of Your Media Assets #PromotionsLab
- 86. Reinforce Value of Promotional Package #PromotionsLab
- 87. Start Planning #PromotionsLab Today
- 88. SPEAKERS #PromotionsLab Matt Chaney Director of Affiliate Success @mattchaney Liz Crider Director of Affiliate Success @emcrider
- 90. HOW TO GET STARTED 3 Months Plan #PromotionsLab 2 Months Sell 1 Month Promote Launch
- 91. #PromotionsLab When to Prospect When to Run Timeline Prospecting Create target list by 10/10 Start selling by 10/15 Launch on 12/1, Cyber Monday
- 92. #PromotionsLab Schedule Runs Throughout Season Feature at Strategic Times
- 93. #PromotionsLab Test Test Test
- 94. Package Shared promo5on #PromotionsLab Individual course credit bank Use unique assets Leverage all assets Always include value of included items
- 95. #PromotionsLab
- 96. #PromotionsLab When to Sell When to Launch How to Schedule Timeline Create target list by 10/10 Start selling by 10/15 Launch on 12/1, Cyber Monday Run entire season Refeature at strategic times
- 97. SELLING SINGLE MERCHANT CARDS q Golf q Ski q Dining #PromotionsLab q Foot Traffic q Upsell q New Customers q Cart q Timing q Same offer Top Prospects Key Benefits Best Practices
- 98. SINGLE MERCHANT CARDS Prospects Key Benefits Best Practices q Golf q Ski q Dining #PromotionsLab q Foot Traffic q Upsell q New Customers q Cart q Timing q Same offer Top
- 99. SINGLE MERCHANT CARDS Prospects Key Benefits Best Practices q Golf q Ski q Dining #PromotionsLab q Foot Traffic q Upsell q New Customers q Cart q Timing q Same offer Top
- 100. MULTI-MERCHANT CARD RECAP Why it Works #PromotionsLab Focuses on mass appeal categories. High price point. Works as a standalone promotion. When to Sell Start selling by 10/15. When to Launch Launch on 12/2. How to Schedule Golf cards can run all season. How to Package Leverage all assets. Look for unique promotional opportunities. Top Prospects Golf, ski, dining. Key Benefits Upsell New customers Perishable inventory
- 101. ADVERTISER BENEFITS • Upsell • Traffic to business • New customers • Perishable inventory #PromotionsLab
- 104. Package Big promo5on all about the #PromotionsLab adver5ser Adver5ser owns the card Targeted ads based on theme Op5on for ad credits or revsplit
Editor's Notes
- Liz Comment & questions on Twitter Questions Recording Survey at the end – your feedback is welcomed Whomever tweets the most using the hashtag will get a killer prize!
- Liz Our newest product – Voter’s Choice
- Chaney
- Online holiday spending grew in 2013 to reach over $43 billion, 10% increase over the prior year. This number continues to climb as people spend more and more online. On average, Americans spend $740 dollars on holiday gifts.
- Here’s a list of the top ten online spending days for 2013. 9 out of 10 are in December with Black Friday being the exception. Though the shopping cycle was thrown off slightly by the fact that Cyber Monday was in December last year, and will be again this year, there continues to be growth in online spending. 2013 The reigning champ of online sales is still Cyber Monday, but the bottomline is that those first two weeks of December are when you have to strike to maximize your earnings and results for advertisers. We’re going to talk about a number of ways you can do that.
- IBM Part of that growth is happening because people are spending more via their mobile devices According to a study by IBM, during the holiday shopping period, 48% of online traffic was mobile, and in terms of sales, nearly a 1/3rd of online transactions took place on a mobile device. Many of you on the call have been hearing us talk about the new responsive designs that are coming for our deal partners, and this is one of the reasons we’re so excited about it! Those responsive sites are going to allow your customers to easily view and purchase deals and the timing couldn’t be better. Also, those sites will be equipped with guest check-out. That means new people coming to your site can complete their purchase without having to register, which quickens the overall purchase process. Mobile users in particular are really going to appreciate that! Guest check-out – 43% of all transactions happened on mobile
- Let’s start with Ecommerce Promotions. Have to also give a shout out to my two precious little girls Maggie and Julianna that you see here. Julie and I both couldn’t resist sharing a couple of holiday-themed photos our kids, so look for those throughout.
- Any campaign where the goal is an online transaction by the consumer – much like the end goal of a contest is an entry or a ballot, a vote Just one or two focused promotions a year can easily generate six figures while a more robust program can be a multimillion $ opportunity. The best part of all is that these promotions is that they can drive the results that advertisers are looking for to grow their business and help you the media company target new and existing advertisers. Also, with so much spending shifting to e-commerce these days, media companies must seek out the opportunity to put themselves in the middle of the transaction between buyers and sellers. Speaking of ecommerce, online spending is at an all-time high. And much of that money is spent around the holidays.
- Earning potential is up to you Choose your own adventure Choose your path Modular building blocks
- Earning potential is up to you Choose your own adventure Choose your path Modular building blocks
- The most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to have high quality deals. Period. There’s no way around that. And you want to run deals that will appeal to your audience. Look at your audience demographics and tailor deals to their needs and interests. Certainly with the holidays in mind, I’d add another item list is: make sure it is “Giftable”. That means “no toe fungus treatments” and “weightloss supplements”. Those just don’t send the right message to the giftee and they don’t make sense for your store. A nice massage offer or restaurant gift card, that sounds more like it.
- Up first is cards. And these are physical punch cards that get delivered to consumers via the mail, and they fall into two main buckets – multi merchant and single merchant. What I love about cards is they have a great high price point – and they can be a standalone promotion – EVERY one can do cards!
- Here are some of our successful Multi-merchant golf cards. What is great about multi merchant cards is that you can work with many advertisers in proven categories to generate a LOT of money! Golf, Ski and even dining are really bubbling up as being the top categories to focus on. It is not by coincidence that you’re only seeing golf cards on this slide because they opportunity here is huge. When we look at the recreation category, golf is #1 and among all categories, it is in the top 3. - so if you only do ONE of these cards – go with golf! The key to success here is to make sure all the merchants have the same offer – for example a round of golf at each course - and to promote the card heavily throughout the campaign which, in the case of golf, can stretch from November all the way through the summer. Just about every card that you see here launched in November or December of last year. And not only did they launch – they did a huge chunk of their revenue with snow on the ground (not exactly golfing weather) Plus – here’s a bonus – no rev split on these – so the site keeps ALL of the money!
- This card you see here is one of my favs. WISE TV in Ft. Wayne Indiana – these guys KILLED it with their card – and their advertisers were thrilled. Sold out 1000 – viewers AND courses were calling asking for more – so another 500 went up for sale and sold out again! Such a great win – big promotion – high price point – a total win – and they are already working on their 2015 card to launch this holiday season
- So let’s talk a little about planning your multi merchant card for the holidays –
- This one may take a little time as you are pulling in multiple advertisers– assign a champion
- Have fun – play toughest hole Advertorial Weather mentions
- Deal quality is still key – good offers/advertisers will drive sales – stick to top categories and make sure you have advertisers that are appealing Cart not included M-F and weekends after 1pm Same offer from all participants
- Remind your advertisers that you are driving some great foot traffic – and not just their current customers – but a lot of new custoemrs will buy the card and try them out While they are there – upsell – cart rental – concessions - dessert Cart not included M-F and weekends after 1pm Same offer from all participants
- Require cart rental for revenue opportunity Laucnh for holidays and bring it back Same offer from everyone – limited restrictions and the same thing – don’t make your customers read a novel to figure out when they can use the card
- Categories: golf, ski, spa and dining Price Point: Cards are sold for $99-$150, which helps to raise the average price point of deals on your site (which in turn means more revenue for you) Standalone: Cards are very manageable and have a set start and end date similar to a contest and they have limited space. Leverage all assets: print/onair, email, social, mobile Related content: promote in golf section of newspaper or promo ads during sports coverage Other promotions: cards are flexible and can be included with other promotions like the ones we are going to talk about or golf special sections Unique: front page mentions or have on-air talent who have a passion for golf talk about their favorite holes
- Now we’re going to talk about single merchant cards
- Single merchant cards work best with spas. As you can see here, we have three examples of spa cards being sold in small markets, but generating some significant revenue. With single merchant spa cards - you are focusing on one upscale spa. You want to work with the best of the best and with a spa that has the capacity to handle a healthy volume of business. Unlike a golf or multi-merchant card, you will likely do a rev split on these - but the price point is high and the appeal is HUGE!
- This example comes from our partner UpNorthLive, a tv station in a small market in northern michigan. What a story this was. They partnered with a very high-end spa, who at first was worried about doing the deal because they didn’t want to attract deal hunters and didn’t want to be overwhelmed. To counter that, they put together a card priced at $160 for $325 in value and limited it to 100. Included was four 60 minute massages. This deal sold out in only 11 hours! The advertiser was thrilled because they got high quality buyers who were willing to spend the money on this – not just those looking for a single $30 massage. Also, all of those buyers had to come back four times to get the full value of their purchase, which meant repeat visits for the merchant.
- There’s a little less time need to close a single merchant since you’re only dealing with one customer, but in order to get this out before the holidays, we suggest getting your target list together by mid-October and be out actively selling this by the 22nd if not sooner.
- Launch your spa card in late November to ensure it makes it to people’s holiday shopping list. This is the week of Thanksgiving, so you can get a jumpstart on the shopping frenzy happening a week later.
- We typically recommend three to four weeks for these unless of course you have a limited inventory and they sell out beforehand. Timing like this for the holidays means you can run this right up to Christmas Day. But do keep in mind that these also have to be shipped, so make that clear in your descriptions. So buyers can plan accordingly.
- Your package should be a multi-media campaign giving the advertiser exposure across all of your assets. This is really all about them, so you want to give them a great package. In some cases, we also see partners include ad credits as part of the package in place of a revsplit. I like this approach a lot as it keeps your advertiser working with you and gives them credit to advertiser other services or promotions outside of the card. And as always, everything you include has a value, so be sure that is clearly spelled out on your sales materials.
- You want to work with the high-end spas in your market who have the capacity and bandwidth to handle enough sales to make it work for everyone.
- The big selling points here for the merchant are the fact that these cards come with repeat business build right in. One card means at least 4-6 visits depending on the number of services included. And getting the consumer back again and again means more opportunities for upsell. Spa Cards and all are a great solution for advertisers looking to drum up new business. Discounts are one of the best ways to get new people in the door.
- Here are a couple of helpful tips to make sure your spa card is a success. Whatever you do, DO NOT include hair services – cuts, trims, highlights. None of it. People are very loyal to whomever cuts their hair and those services just don’t perform and won’t motivate buyers like a massage, facial, etc. will. I mentioned upsells before…when structuring your card, encourage the advertiser to run their tier 1 services or basic ones like a 60 minute massage. That way, they can potentially upsell the buyer into the 90 minute massage or some other premium service. And also make sure that they’re not piling on services that aren’t popular or available to a broad audience. That will make it less attractive to consumers.
- And to recap, you want to be out selling this no later than 10/22, so that you can launch just in time for the holidays. Let it run throughout December and give the advertiser a healthy marketing campaign that puts the spotlight on them. Target those in-demand, high-end spas to make sure you get the most out of your spa card.
- These are similar to a theme weeks (and I love a theme week) in that you run a group of deals around a theme and have a limited number of spots available, so only the best of the best can participate. Let’s look at a couple of examples of markets having success with this model.
- UpperMichiganSource.com is a TV station in a very small market, DMA 180, and they run a regular deals program and added this promotion to take advantage of the holidays. This is an annual event for them and last year they generated over $13K in revenue. During the time this promotion was running, they saw a 47% increase in average sales. Ne-gan-ee They created an in house 30 second spot promoting the store that ran 2 weeks before the store started helping prime consumers for the launch of their store. That was in addition to more than 20 donut spots on both of their location stations that highlighted the store and featured the advertiser. 20 :30 SPOTS ON TV 6 AND FOX UP (PROMO FEATURED DONUT) EMAIL BLAST X2 TO OVER 50,000 REGISTERED BUYERS FEATURED ON DEALS DETAIL PAGE FOR 12 FULL DAYS FEATURED ON 12 DEALS OF CHRISTMAS STORE FOR 12 DAYS o FACEBOOK, TWITTER, UPPERMICHIGANSSOURCE.COM, MOBILE APP
- Get out NOW – before advertisers have made their holiday advertising decisions -
- 12 business days of deals – and then leave them all up through christmas
- No rev split here - Vouchers stay with you; you get specific Unique: mentions on –air each day on morning or sales friendly programming Holiday shopping guide interview with advertiser
- Evergreen with holiday twist Recreation: holiday lights Event: nutcracker Local: only have 12 spots; offer should justify the promotion
- Evergreen with holiday twist Recreation: holiday lights Event: nutcracker Local: only have 12 spots; offer should justify the promotion
- Evergreen with holiday twist Recreation: holiday lights Event: nutcracker Local: only have 12 spots; offer should justify the promotion
- Inventory: with only 12 spots you want to focus on only the top merchants. Pull a list of your top deals from November and December and prioritize those. Given the limited availability, make a contest out of it internally, see who can fill the first spot, the most spots and post the results publically. 12 Days of Deals is a great approach if you’re a site that only runs weekly deals or are a site just looking to capitalize on holiday spending. This is a manageable approach that can work as a standalone program, complement an existing program or be a great way to grow digital revenue for a core media iniative you may already have planned.
- Seasonal Stores are a way to give your site a revenue boost at key times of the year. They work best when tied to specific holidays and seasonal promotions
- The Post Bulletin and their site RochesterMN.com ran this store during Cyber Week to capitalize on all of the online shopping going on then. This is a very small market southeast of Minneapolis. They run an ongoing deals program and added a store to help boost revenue. And boy, did it! They ran 16 deals and generated over $19K. There top deals were dining and golf. They even were able to secure two franchise restaurants – Perkins and Great Harvest Bread Co – showing that there is opportunity with this segment as well, so don’t overlook it. This year, with the addition of the deal network our partners will be able to include other offers such as merchandise or products that can run alongside your local deals to give your store an even broader appeal. These might be great gift ideas like NFL shirts and memorabilia or golf gear Let me show just want an impact this store had on their program….
- For me, this speaks volume to how important cyber Monday and the holidays are for ecommerce. The spike in sales in undeniable. This is why you need to start planning your strategy today! It is this important. For many of our partners, this is the biggest revenue generator of the year! But it does take some focus and getting yourself setup for success by selling in October or even earlier. And offering merchants a great promotional package.
- The Post and Courier’s Charleston Deals Today program approached the holidays a little different. Instead of a short burst of deals for Cyber Week, they took a longer term approach and ran deals from November through December under the banner of “Holiday Specials” and at different times highlighted deals to prepare for the holidays, to enjoy the holidays and to give as gifts from tickets to a production of A Night Before Christmas to golf lessons to carpet cleaning and mobile detailing and the big one - Membership to the local Children’s museum, which I’ll talk about a littler more on the next slide. They did the all of the regular promotion you’ve heard us talk about before: print ads, online ads, emails, but what I really loved about this case study was how they leveraged non-traditional assets as well. For example, the newspaper had a big presence at Second Sunday, a popular local holiday event in Charleston. At the booth, they had a santa posing for pictures with kids and families, which drew a large crowd, and while the crowd was waiting they handed out their holiday guide, which you see here, that had included logos from all of the participating deal store participants. This is an event that many of those small businesses couldn’t be a part of due to cost, so having the Post and Courier push their names out to attendees was a big selling point for them. Also, Their fan base on social media is over 45,000 strong, which is impressive in and of itself, but they leverage that unique asset, run by the news department, to promote certain key deals and merchants (not to mention announce winners for contests), so they offered a promotional package to the advertisers that they couldn’t even buy. That made this a very successful store and promotion. There’s one other thing they did that I believe is a really smart approach to drive more sales, and that’s where they Children’s museums comes in.
- Use an anchor deal to drive traffic to your store; biggest one at launch and include a couple of more throughout; 2-4 anchor deals The $40 for $80 Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry deal was for a half-off family membership for one year. They knew this deal was going to be a hit, so used the draw of this offer to raise awareness for their holiday store and guide. They did a huge marketing push for the advertiser – including the Half page print ad on the left and homepage takeover on the right. This promotional package, which also included several emails, other print and online ads, was what closed the deal for them. Claire, the salesperson involved, reinforced how their audience aligned with the target audience of the museum making it a win-win-win for all involved. So, when you’re prospecting and out looking considering which deals to run, think about your big advertisers and ones that would be a good fit for your store and make them an anchor deal in your store to draw even more people in.
- Like we’ve said with these other promotions, you want to get out there and be selling it in mid-October. The sooner, the better. With these seasonal stores you’re looking at 10-20 deals to close, so you want to get a headstart on that.
- Whether you run a cyber store or holiday store, you’re best bet to launch them right on 12/1 – Cyber Monday – to make sure you ride the wave of all of that online spending during the first two weeks of December.
- Depending on the store you run, your schedule will be slightly different. For Cyber Week, you to limit that to the first week of December and really make a big push then. With a seasonal store you’re launching all of the deals at once, so you want to make that week count. A holiday store can run much longer. In fact, there’s really no reason you shouldn’t run this right up to Christmas Eve for the last-minute shoppers out there. I’d suggest a last-chance email around the 19th just before it closes to make a final push.
- Seasonal stores are all about creating a big shopping event, so you want to put the assets behind it to ensure that happens. We talking about site takeovers, full page ads, donut spots about the store that feature specific deals. Also, it gets even more exciting when media companies incorporate unique assets like on-air interviews or tie-ins with a holiday gift guide to give the advertiser even more exposure and entire buyers to come to your site and make purchases.
- Evergreen with holiday twist Recreation: holiday lights Event: nutcracker Think about anything that will help a consumer enjoy the holidays or something that will make a great gift. One of my favorite examples was an offer to fly in an old WWII plane. It was an offer than ran during the holidays and that was a really unique gift!
- Redemption rates are very high on local offers, so that means guaranteed foot traffic for the advertiser. Your big promotional push will get their name and brand out to a broad audience, and in turn, a great offer from a great advertiser will attract buyers not to mention people sharing it on social media.
- Seasonal stores tend to have a higher volume of offers, but you have to keep deal quality in mind. This has to be at the forefront of your mind when you’re prospecting and closing deals. Also, strive for a good mix of categories, so that you can appeal to broad audience. This is also where you can infuse deals from the network to beef up of your store. That said, you want to make sure the majority of your deals are local offers. That’s where your biggest opportunities are. Make them your anchor deals to draw people, then while they’re there maybe they’ll pick up a few more things from your store.
- Whether you do a cyber or holiday store, you want to get out and be selling those by mid-October. That will ensure you get a robust set of high quality offers to populate your store. Seasonal Stores tie in great with holiday gift guides you may be doing in core media, so be sure to look for opportunities to cross sell. Focus on those big four evergreen categories (recreation, restaurants, events, travel) and give them a holiday twist. Advertisers: But keep in mind that deal quality has to be maintained. A good number to shoot for is 10-15 at a minimum to ensure you have variety of price, category and location. Shopping events: seasonal stores work best when tied to a key holiday such as Cyber Week, mother’s day and father’s day. They make a great complement to a big internal sales initiative. Not everything makes a great store, so be choosy. Volume: the higher volumes gives your consumers more to explore and add to their carts. Look for deals that complement each other such as holiday lights festival and a nutcrakcer performance. Work with a variety of advertisers. Create a big shopping event around key holidays. Higher volume of deals to encourage shopping. Promote: Also, I would add that this combination of two stores is really best suited for deal sites that are able to close a high volume of deals. I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone, but I wanted to show you the revenue potential that these seasonal stores can have.
- Ok – let’s talk about marketing these promotions – but first – a little shout out to Julie foley on our team’s son RJ – could that kid be any cuter!!!
- Grow that list before you launch your ecommerce promotion!!! Run a simple sweepstakes to get people excited about the holidays and grow the list of names you will market your ecommerce promotions to! For prizes – this can be as simple as a visa gift card or grocery card – even the offers from your ecommerce promotions or a prize from one of your advertisers!
- Promo Code Can be unique or a shared code – like “holidays13” 30% of audience are active buyers Deposits – 970 Sent to: 24K subscribers Increased active buyers % by a couple of points But most importantly $9,700 investment results in over $25K in purchases, netting them $16K in incremental revenue Nearly 1,500 purchases made – averaging 1.5 purchases per person
- Used all available assets – print, digital display, email, social – to promote the Cyber Week Store and Holiday Theme The promotional package is a key selling point How was the Cyber Week promotional package unique or different from your standard package? The following slides show other ads we produced for the store
- Matt Middle Browser Content Areas are great places to promote your deal or cyber week store
- Chaney
- Promotions University is our newest resource. It is an on-demand training and certification program for our partners to help them be as successful with promotions as possible. We have four courses and certifications available on contest planning and sales, deal sales and admin training for national sports contests. And that is just the beginning, we have more in the pipeline including ballot planning, sweepstakes admin and ecommerce planning. Go to secondstreet.com/university to get more information and to get started.
- Chaney Use these templates to give you a guideline For tracking and redemption These all have QR codes Unique IDs
- Go to place for industry insights, case studies, and downloadable playbooks and worksheets
- Julie
- Prospects list are due next week 10/10, so time to get your materials ready. Never too early to get started
- Chaney
- Julie sponsors | malls, craft stores, theaters, restaurants, grocery stores, catering companies
- Plan - NOW Set your goals Pick your ecommerce promotion format Create the package for advertisers Getting sales materials together Sell - October Target advertisers that ran last year or if in doubt think about deals that will help you prepare for the holidays, enjoy the holidays or make great gifts; prioritize those evergreen categories Promote - November Your promotional package will be a HUGE selling point to close deals; put something together that is multi-platform, includes offerings that are unique to your company and/or your media type; leverage all of your assets Launch - December As we saw earlier, spending is happening in early December, so work backward with that date in mind.
- Upsell Traffic to business New customers Perishable inventory Cart not included M-F and weekends after 1pm Same offer from all participants
- Upsell Traffic to business New customers Perishable inventory Cart not included M-F and weekends after 1pm Same offer from all participants
- Upsell Traffic to business New customers Perishable inventory Cart not included M-F and weekends after 1pm Same offer from all participants
- Categories: golf, ski, spa and dining Price Point: Cards are sold for $99-$150, which helps to raise the average price point of deals on your site (which in turn means more revenue for you) Standalone: Cards are very manageable and have a set start and end date similar to a contest and they have limited space. Leverage all assets: print/onair, email, social, mobile Related content: promote in golf section of newspaper or promo ads during sports coverage Other promotions: cards are flexible and can be included with other promotions like the ones we are going to talk about or golf special sections Unique: front page mentions or have on-air talent who have a passion for golf talk about their favorite holes