Effective Strategies for Holiday Marketing: Web, E-mail and Social Media Houston's Internet Marketing Clinic

Fall is upon us, which means the holidays are soon to follow. For business owners, this time of the year is filled with opportunity - opportunities to develop your brand and capture a new wave of customers in the process.

Of course, the competition is fierce during the holidays, especially as we near Black Friday and Christmas. That means SMB owners and online retailers must be ready to optimize their web presence to the extent they can. By strengthening your website, ad marketing, e-mail marketing and social media marketing channels, you’ll give your business a fighting chance to rise above the holiday noise this year.

Here, we’ll address how to do just that.


First, start by optimizing your Google Business Profile and integrating analytics
Whether your business operates globally or locally, optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) is a strong - and simple - first step. For local SMBs, it’s unavoidable - your company needs a locally optimized GBP to garner traction with Google.

Start by making sure your company’s name and address are accurate. Put up a photo of your company’s building. Fill out as much of your profile as you can - posts, reviews, events - all of these signals add up to let Google know where your business is located. And ensuring your business is properly geolocated by Google is a must-do to achieve any degree of local SEO success. Use geo-specific keywords in your company’s description and posts. Publish photos and videos (that you or someone within the company has taken) regularly. Just make sure that the company’s profile is active and frequently updated.

Take a few minutes and integrate Google Analytics (widely termed GA4) into the website, too. It’s quick and easy to do so, and it provides valuable insight into how your site is performing from a traffic and lead-capturing standpoint. Users, sessions, page views, conversions, bounce rate, engagement time - there’s a lot of data here, but you don’t need to be a digital marketing expert to extract value out of it.
Create more customer touch points through e-mail and social media
As the holiday season approaches, consumers start gearing up to buy. That means it’s time to get your brand in front of them. With so much online noise competing for our attention these days, consistent (but not obnoxious) touch points are needed to drive leads to your company.

A proven way to do this is with e-mail marketing - Mailchimp is our preferred tech for automating many e-mail marketing functions, but you’ll need to provide the content.

Ideally, this content will provide valuable information that’s designed to “hook” the user toward your website. At the least, taking a spot in their inbox will bring your brand to the front of their mind - the first step toward making a conversion.

Don’t be afraid to regularly send out these e-mail blasts - a couple times a week is considered optimal - and make an effort to capture user e-mails when they visit your site or make a purchase through your business. It’s easier to sell to current customers than new ones, and that means you’ll need an updated e-mail list.
E-mail marketing can also be used to pick up additional customer reviews
Customer reviews are weighted heavily by Google for SEO purposes. They are, therefore, a high-value target for brands. E-mail marketing can also support this goal by (politely) reminding users to leave a review. Many buyers have no problem doing this, they just need to be asked.

Don’t overthink it. A week after a customer buys something from your site, automate your e-mail marketing platform to send out a review request/reminder. It’s a no-risk, high-reward approach to building your brand’s reputation.
The Google Display Network provides a brand awareness boost for pennies on the dollar
Chances are, you’ve seen plenty of small ads served through Google’s Display Network (GDN). The GDN is one of Google’s many, and often confusing,