The 2002 holiday sales are critical for many Internet retailers. The majority of e-tailers question which ad buys are profitable. Leadership in search engine market reach continues to fluctuate between AOL, MSN and Yahoo. However, campaigns in second tier search engines are frequently more cost-effective and listings co-brand into these larger properties.
The top performers in Interactive Advertising have proven to be search engine marketing, affiliate programs and email campaigns. Requirements for effective online holiday sales campaigns are: Determine effective search terms that convert sales. Relevancy of search terms is vital to convert visitors into customers. Based on industry analysis, search engine companies often recommend keywords that are not qualified for the clients’ best-seller products lines. For example, two major search engines sent proposals for a Fortune 500 retailer campaign with phrases like “Scooby Doo toys” and “rice cooker”. These phrases have extremely low traffic, and conversion rates are minor compared to other terms. To design effective campaigns, develop around your company’s primary product lines. To determine effective keywords, experience and intensive testing are required. Recognize that an expanded list of search terms is more effective only during the holidays.
Manage ad buys to achieve metrics within direct controllable profit (DCP).
Your internal staff may not have the resources or time allocated to manage at this level. However, outsourcing to a reputable, experienced agency for daily management may significantly increase your ROI, especially during the peak holiday sales quarter.
Email Customers – it’s better to receive than to give.
Use opt-in email campaigns which allow the customer to proactively subscribe to your list. In brick-and-mortar shopping malls, your staff are generally prohibited from walking in the mall and handing out coupons. The same analogy applies to email campaigns. Drive customers to your online properties via search engines, then allow customers to freely subscribe to “special offers” or sales. Develop niche email lists for your product categories and allow multiple sign up selections. If you have an effective business model, the subscriber base will increase and customers will expect your emails. Once you receive a customer, deliver timely specials. Some companies only deliver specials monthly when customers would gladly accept weekly promotions, especially during the holidays.
