Fourth quarter is underway! Did you ever think we would be this close to the holiday season? 2020 has seemed interminably long. Nevertheless, here we are. Are you ready?
I've been reading a lot about consumer trends for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Conventional wisdom is that people will shop earlier this year, beginning this month. Online will be big. So will in-store, if we help our clients to prepare.
What will consumers want to know?
- What hygiene protocol is the store using to ensure the safety of shoppers?
- What hours/days are they open?
- Are there special deals to entice shoppers?
- Can you order online and pick up in store?
- Do they offer curbside pickup?
- Do they deliver?
- Do stores have a supply of in-demand merchandise?
You will notice that these need-to-know items can be addressed in the message.
Now, what about campaign schedules? If businesses wish to recover momentum, they will need to utilize effective frequency. Perhaps 21 messages a week will not be enough. November and December campaigns may need to double or triple that number. The goal: to capture as much consumer demand as possible as quickly as possible. Give consumers a reason to shop locally.
If your company also sells digital products, put together radio and digital campaigns. This may offer you a way to up sell current radio clients to add digital or digital clients to add radio. Using both is a powerful combination.
How about you? Have you researched which of your clients were advertising in fourth quarter last year? Have you already contacted them or made a plan to do so in the next week or two? Have you done a mini-CNA to assess where their business is now and where they want it to go in the next few months? Have you investigated new categories of business, those who have seen increases through this pandemic? Have you talked with current clients who may be experiencing supply problems about how their ROI has shifted? If some of their inventory is scarce, they probably have shifted sales efforts to concentrate selling other items they do have in stock. These should be advertised.
This holiday season will be what we make it. Yes, celebrations may be different, but people will still celebrate. They will exchange gifts with loved ones. Our goal should be to maximize revenue for our clients, for our local merchants, by delivering their messages to our listeners.
