It’s true; the holiday shopping season creeps a little earlier every year. But the 2021 shopping season has good reason: supply chain issues and shipping delays have shoppers panic buying pre-Halloween this year. Holiday travel is up, and with it, gift-buying, too. Online shopping continues to skyrocket, even without a pandemic. Add it all up and 2021 holiday prep is here! Is your marketing plan ready? Check this list twice and ensure your elves are ready to go.
Clean Up Your Email Marketing List
Before your holiday marketing campaign can begin, you need to know who you’re marketing to. Check your list for old, outdated or unengaged subscribers. They are dragging down your email engagement and could be hurting your overall deliverability. Chances are, if they haven’t opened an email from you in more than a year, they are not going to start now.
But keep those unengaged email addresses handy, there’s another use for them. (And unsubscribers, too!) You may also want to look at any email subscribers who were highly engaged or made a purchase last holiday season.
Diversify Your Marketing Campaigns
The holiday shopping season is also the end of the year, and a chance to finish your sales strong. So while we don’t recommend turning off any tried and true marketing tactics, it can also be a great time to try a few new things. Expand your targeting, develop new and engaging creative or test a new platform or partner.
If opt-in advertising or co-registration campaigns are not part of your current marketing mix, now is the time to add them. Both allow you to generate new leads without landing pages and grow your email list practically risk-free. You only pay for validated and confirmed opt-in leads that are added to your email list and ready for marketing messaging.
Re-engage and Retarget Unsubscribers
Targeting unsubscribers is not something you often hear recommended. But when executed correctly and in line with privacy guidance, it can be an effective strategy to refill and re-engage your email list. By taking your unsubscribed and inactive email lists and retargeting outside of the email inbox with a winback campaign utilizing co-registration ads, you ensure total email compliance while rebuilding your list with qualified leads who joined once before. And, of course, you only pay for the confirmed, opt-in leads.
Ready to get started on your holiday marketing campaign? A free evaluation is just a click away.