The most wonderful time of the year for marketing agencies in Greenville, NC, is upon us…

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, and Christmas is just around the corner. Well, aside from the cold, the holiday season comes with an atmosphere of joy and greetings. It's also a time for businesses to amass gigantic revenue from the local spending spree.

So, to get a slice of this revenue, you need to run an effective holiday digital marketing strategy. Optimizing your campaign means your marketing needs to position your brand in front of online customers looking for products you offer when they're ready to spend.

Explore some ideas for your 2023 holiday digital marketing strategy to help increase your conversions and supercharge your ROI. Let's dive right in!

What To Expect With The 2023 Holiday Season

The holidays in 2023 come with dynamic opportunities for business owners, as most people will shop online. DaVinci Payments estimates that 71 percent of US shoppers will do more than half of their holiday shopping online this year. Crazy statistics.

Of course, this offers a slew of opportunities. But it also paves the way for heavy competition as many businesses will be grappling for a piece of the online pie. If you want your brand to stand out from the lot and appeal to maximum shoppers, you need to leverage creativity and adapt to the situation.

We get it - investing in an effective marketing strategy when the world is in an uncertain state can seem a stretch too far. However, we can assure you that the results will be worth it! The 2023 holiday season may harness a 33 percent spending surge. This being said, local businesses must tweak their marketing strategies to adapt to current holiday trends.

7 Best Holiday Digital Marketing Strategies For 2023

Strategy 1: Optimize Google Ad Campaigns

Now is the best time of the year to dial up on your holiday marketing efforts. With the increasing traffic and purchasing intent, you can't go wrong by increasing your Google Ads PPC marketing campaigns.

Our Google Ads Management team optimizes for the holidays with these tactics:

• Include more ads with holiday themes.
• Add call ads to maximize calls to your business.
• Increase your current ad budget to incorporate more ads during the holidays.
• Raise the number of bids on your PPC ads so the ads are displayed more competitively and in higher ranks.
• Increase the hours when your ads run.
• Add more keywords to your PPC campaign to improve targeting.
• Increase the geographic locations where your ads are shown (if you're in Raleigh, consider adding locations such as Greenville, Wilmington, and so on).
• Add ad campaigns to target more offerings or holiday specials.
• Consider new ad extensions for holiday sales and promotions.

To reach more local customers and maximize leads, consider using the combined search marketing strategy using PPC and local SEO.

Strategy 2: Go Mobile-first

Five out of 10 Americans already use a mobile device for shopping. With more people potentially staying home due to social distancing rules, this number may increase over the holiday season.

Mobile applications are outpacing even desktop apps. To satisfy this tech wave and reach more clients through your digital marketing Greenville, NC, services, you may want to create a holiday marketing strategy that is a step closer to the innovative minds of your target audience.

• Push notifications. This is an excellent mobile-native way to drive an instant purchase. If nothing else, time-push notifications efficiently drive traffic to your app or website!
• Text messages. Use this to send crucial and timely information. The channel will help you stay in good rapport with your customers. You can even sweeten it with a personalized deal or a coupon code.
• Dump the one-size-fits-all approach. Your customers don't use the same approach with desktops to interact with mobile devices. Be sure to tailor your ads and website for a streamlined experience on mobile. Simplify your navigation, incorporate auto-sizing with auto-play, and optimize videos and checkout processes.

Strategy 3: Embrace Lead Nurture Email Marketing

Holidays are always hectic, and that means your ideal market is always on the move. Whether they're catching up on their holiday shopping or simply running errands, your target audience doesn't have endless time to dedicate to video calls, in-person meetups, or physical mail.

You can be sure, though, that your ideal shopper is frequently checking their emails.

Send emails highlighting your sales, seasonal product offerings, or special holiday offers. Pay close attention to engage your email subscribers. A simple, well-optimized lead nurture email marketing campaign can significantly impact your visibility by encouraging and informing shoppers, which helps dial up your holiday sales.

59 percent of customers say emails influence their purchase decisions, so this is an area you definitely should capitalize on!

Strategy 4: Level Up Your Ecommerce Website

Over the past few years, eCommerce has become the heart and soul of retail. As traditional retail sales growth declines, experts predict eCommerce sales to climb to $1.148 trillion by the end of the holiday season.

You've probably heard this a thousand times, but we'll say it again: your website is the face of your business. It's where your target audience goes to learn more about you, familiarize themselves with your product offering, and place their orders.

Holiday marketing campaigns on every other digital channel should direct traffic to your website, especially if you run an eCommerce website.

Some important considerations:

• Make sure your website loads quickly. Most sites lose 53 percent of their traffic due to page load speed.
• Post valuable and timely blog posts frequently to drive traffic to your website. Regular posting also boosts your SEO efforts.
• Track your website performance every other week with Google Search Console and Google Analytics. Consider whether your promotions will be front and center or present on a different page other than the landing page.
• Ensure your site is optimized for search engines, secure, and mobile-friendly.
• If you're a retailer in North Carolina and have yet to set up an eCommerce website, it's never too late to consult an NC marketing agency to get started. Do it right away.
• If you already have an eCommerce site, set up automatic abandoned-cart reminders. The idea here is to streamline the entire shopping experience for your target audience.
• Recruit a Webflow agency to update your website ahead of the holidays. Remove distractions, feature seasonal products, and include some holiday drip.

Strategy 5: Promote Discounts With Facebook Advertising

Imagine every business owner in North Carolina trying to use Facebook Advertising to dial up their holiday sales… because that's what happens, and you know it.

To get ahead of the competition, get your Facebook Ads up quickly. Ensure they receive immediate approval by being compliant with Facebook ad policies. Images in your cover photos and ads should not include more than 20 percent text. Besides, ads and images with fewer texts are far more engaging.

Still, on Facebook, schedule page posts ahead of time. Utilize Page Insights for details about your target shoppers' online schedule so you can show your ads and posts at specific, exact times. Display content when your audience is online to set you up for effective follower engagement with shoppers looking for discounts and gift ideas.

Finally, consider sharing daily posts or special discounts a few days before the festivities. One way to do this is to offer free shipping.

Strategy 6: Target Local Shoppers With Programmatic Advertising

Among all the digital marketing Greenville, NC, strategies on this list, programmatic advertising is perhaps the most precise. It takes the guesswork out of the way, making it well-suited for the holiday season.

This campaign leverages user-specific data - searches they've made, pages they've visited, demographic and geographic signals- and then utilizes this data to show users the most relevant ads possible. For instance, if a customer searched for "winter coats on sale Raleigh" within the past hour, a programmatic campaign can display an ad for your Black Friday offer on winter coats.

Here's the key takeaway: Programmatic advertising can be a big win for your brand this holiday season when advertising on multiple fronts.

Strategy 7: Drill Down On Remarketing Ad Campaigns

Did you know that 96 percent of online shoppers will leave a website without completing a purchase? That means only four out of every 100 customers visiting your site will likely purchase your product or service; however, with a remarketing (aka retargeting) ad campaign, you can change the ratio.

For example, a remarketing campaign in Google Ads allows you to reconnect with audiences who previously interacted with your site. It does this by strategically positioning your business in front of these customers as they browse Google or its partner websites.

Google requires a set number of users before running a remarketing ad. However, if your site receives enough traffic, search retargeting is an excellent way to get clients back to complete a pending purchase.

Wrapping Up: Ready to grow your ROI with holiday digital marketing?

The holiday season is the best time to engage with your target audience. Positive feelings of gratitude, giving, and family are already on top of the minds of your local audience, and your holiday digital marketing strategies can efficiently capitalize on those emotions. Using the tips outlined above as impactful pointers, you can strategically position your brand for maximum success during the 2023 holiday season.

We know the holidays might be stressing you out already. We invite you to partner with the digital marketing experts at Red Shark Digital. Our team is always ready and willing to help you double down on proven digital marketing tactics that can grow your ROI.

Time is running out, and the holiday madness will soon peak, so forge ahead of the competition by reaching out to our Google Ads Management team. Let's chat. Let us help you create a powerful holiday ad strategy today!