For social media marketers in industries like retail, travel and food, the holiday season can be the busiest time of the year—and also a critical one, if you’re serving on the front lines of communication for your brand. Preparation for this onslaught of traffic can help mitigate crises and convert a challenge into an opportunity. PRNEWS looks at ways brands can capitalize on this time of the year, from proactive coverage strategies to crafting customer-care plans to preparing pinned posts.

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Ocean Spray is crafting cross-channel campaigns this holiday season on TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube using social content creators and promotions tailored to each platform. And then there are the shoppable recipe videos it’s producing to run on various publisher sites. The result? A whole lot of fragmentation. Read how Ocean Spray views this complexity as both a challenge and an opportunity, according to a piece in AdExchanger.

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While Halloween is typically celebrated as an in-person, trick-or-treat affair, several consumer brands are going the digital route with experiential activations and crafting spooky metaverse experiences this year–from Cheetos’ Chesterville to Urban Decay’s Cryptoween to Hot Topic’s gamified collection drop. Sister pub Event Marketer has the roundup.

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When it comes to engaging consumers through holiday emails, research shows that they respond to subject lines, CTAs, content and discounts differently during the busiest season of the year. But there is in fact some common ground between those that are successful. Marketers can focus on a variety of factors, including writing catchy, brief subject lines, mentioning the actual holiday, creating a sense of urgency, emphasizing savings, and more. Check out these tips for writing engaging holiday emails, according to a piece in Multichannel Merchant.

The post Email Marketing: Crafting the Perfect Holiday Message appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Here is how how brands approached holiday-themed experiential activations this season, according to a roundup in Event Marketer—from Amazon’s first smart holiday window to KFC’s Firelog Cabin pop-up hotel to Walmart’s larger-than-life snow globe installations.

The post Roundup: How Brands Approached In-Person Experiences This Holiday Season appeared first on Chief Marketer.

The effects of supply chain disruption—an issue dominating headlines recently and also changing consumer expectations— will likely play out during the holiday shopping season. In fact, according to an Oracle Retail survey, 52 percent of respondents say they’ve already begun to shop or plan to do so earlier than usual. And some retailers, including Best Buy and Target, have begun holiday promotions to meet the demand. Following are findings, consumer expectations and concerns detailed in the survey, according to reporting from Multichannel Merchant.

*One fifth of all U.S. respondents said they plan to order more gifts to hedge against orders that don’t arrive. That number rises to 44 percent when considering just millennials.

*34 percent said they plan to buy gift cards, with 58 percent of baby boomers planning to go the gift card route.

*28 percent of respondents are worried the products they want will be more expensive due to scarcity.

*27 percent worry they won’t be available, and 17 percent are concerned that this will disappoint family and friends.

*36 percent said fast delivery determines which companies they order from.

*9 percent expect same-day delivery, 28 percent 1–2-day delivery and 41 percent 3–5-day delivery.

*30 percent of people say they will be outraged if shipments are delayed.

*38 percent worry gifts will arrive later than anticipated.

*25 percent are concerned gifts won’t arrive at all.

*18 percent are willing to pay more to ensure faster or guaranteed delivery.

*55 percent said they’re considering on-demand delivery service like DoorDash to order last-minute gifts.

For more details about the survey, read more in Multichannel Merchant.

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Alison Levin, VP of Global Marketing Solutions at Roku, writes that these evolving shopping patterns create a larger playing field for brand marketers and point to several new trends. First, consumers are shopping earlier and researching their purchase decisions with more sophistication. Moreover, preferences born out of limitations imposed upon them from the pandemic, such as curbside pickup, are likely to be here to stay even after the pandemic subsides. An example of retailer success: Best Buy has reported that in the second quarter of 2020, four out of every 10 dollars spent originated from curbside or in-store pickup.

Another trend that follows from these retail shifts, Levin writes, is the need for marketers to adjust their holiday promotional programs—and their budgets—to fit a 10-week timeframe instead of only a few days. And since the holiday season has expanded, brands must create fresh creative during this time so that messages remain relevant. That also translates to marketers needing to pivot quickly and maintain a more agile approach to audience targeting.

For more on holiday shopper behaviors and the resulting marketing trends, read more in AdExchanger.

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Deal Day Spending

Many U.S. consumers have experienced economic hardship due to the pandemic. According to the report, 27 percent of U.S. shoppers surveyed indicated a slight or significant income reduction this year. But 73 percent will spend the same or more during blockbuster holiday events, like Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day and Cyber Monday. Overall, ecommerce holiday sales will grow by at least 19 percent.

Channels for Research

However, in terms of the channels consumers will use to research purchases, 43 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed said they will still browse in stores. The top channel for research was retailer websites (54 percent), with brand websites at 37 percent, catalog browsing at 31 percent, social media at 28 percent, TV commercials at 21 percent and personalized campaigns at 18 percent.

Brand Loyalty Challenged

Brand loyalty is proving to be more vulnerable this year, as consumers have tended to try new products and brands during the pandemic. McKinsey research shows that more than 60 percent of global consumers have tried a new shopping behavior since March, and 40 percent have shopped at a new retailer. When looking at the holiday shopping season specifically, just 11 percent of U.S. consumers will shop from the same retailers as they did last year.

Health and Safety

For those U.S. consumers intending to browse in-store, health and safety measures are top of mind. The most important measures are masks and barriers (40 percent), cleaning and sanitizing supplies (18 percent), one-way store aisles and special hours (13 percent), physical distancing (12 percent) and health checks upon entry (11 percent).

Early Shopping

In the face of limited availability, shipping delays and curbside pickup trends experienced in the spring, many U.S. shoppers are intending to make purchases earlier than last year, with 42 percent of U.S. consumers getting started in October or earlier.

Setting up for Success 

The reports suggests that there are four ways in which retail marketers can respond to the above trends and meet new consumer demands. First, motivate shoppers to buy early by creating early Black Friday events and sending consumers personalized communications to inspire purchases. Second, offer a higher level of convenience by providing multiple options to fulfill orders, from traditional home delivery to online to curbside. Offer digital support for growing ecommerce operations through enhancing digital storefronts and prioritizing the customer experience with online support, live chat and warehouse fulfillment. Finally, use consumer data to personalize and enhance the browsing experience online with product information, reviews and shopper preferences.

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Following is a conversation about the report with Brian Ruwadi, Global Leader, Periscope by McKinsey and Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company, and Tamara Charm, Senior Expert, McKinsey & Company.

Chief Marketer: Was anything surprising to you about the trends outlined in the report?

Brian Ruwadi: There are a handful of things that are certainly different than they were in the past. The first is—and we saw this with our retail re-imagined COVID research—that consumers have tried a bunch of new CPG brands and also retail brands. We continue to see in our holiday research that folks are much less loyal than they were in the past to particular brands and plan to be through the holidays. One major theme here is how do retailers re-achieve this loyalty, and for consumers that have tried them for the first time or second time, how do they lock them in?

The second is this notion of retailers and consumers being worried about ensuring availability and trying to spread the consumer demand out through longer holiday events, Black Friday, et cetera, which appear to be even more important this year as consumers move to value. That has a two-point side to it. One is from an operational standpoint. If they’re going to move more product online before over the holiday season, how do they smooth out demand? And then, how do they work with their marketing partners to make sure they’re getting the demand from the consumer and getting it early?

Tamara Charm: I’m looking back to the start of COVID and what happened in terms of the digital surge, the shock to loyalty and the shift to value in essentials. We’re going to see the same thing play out in the holiday season. One note on the shock to loyalty: All folks’ routines have been disrupted and they are looking at online shopping more and to spend less and differently on value events. There’s going to be more and more of their spend up for grabs, and those who can give consumers what they want, when they want it and how they want it will win.

Chief Marketer: Following up on that, because brand loyalty is a clear issue, do you have suggestions on how marketers can either win back consumers or keep them as customers during this time?

Brian Ruwadi: Three thoughts are critical right now. First and foremost is personalization, particularly churn analytics, to understand who’s tried you for the first or second time and who has left you, and making sure you’re capitalizing on the new customers but also reaching out and pulling back in the customers that have left you and wandered to other brands over time. Second, we’ve seen a big rise in the importance of the omni-channel experience. The folks that have started with great omni-channel experiences or have invested heavily in building that experience are better set up for success and should be focused there.

The third is we’re seeing a big focus on the efficiency of the shopping experience. So, if you’re a consumer worried about COVID, you wouldn’t be able to get into the store, find what you need and get out quickly. Marketers should be thinking about how they create that in-store experience that allows them and the consumer to get in and out efficiently.

Tamara Charm: Folks are telling us that they’re not going to travel as much this holiday season and spend time with a smaller group of folks. So, what they want is likely to change. [It’s about] understanding what that will be, offering the right product to the right folks, upping the communication with them and being able to connect with consumers in all sorts of ways—not only in the store, but catalogs and social media.

Chief Marketer: It’s evident in the report that big deal shopping days are going to be more significant for consumers this year. Do you have any thoughts on how brands can balance those deal days with other avenues to purchase, such as in-store, in order to remain profitable?

Brian Ruwadi: The trick of all of this is going to be how you build a basket in an omni-channel environment. When you’re in the store, marketers and retailers know how to get people to buy. Not just the Black Friday sales, but also the rest of the basket and build it out to be something that’s actually meaningful and profitable. The ones that are going to win over the holiday season are the folks that are able to replicate to some degree that basket-building experience in the omni-channel and online shopping environment.

Tamara Charm: The other important thing to think about is that the big holiday events will no longer be one day. We’ve seen that Black Friday is expanding across many retailers and we know that consumers are looking to shop earlier. [It’s about] bringing the feeling of excitement and value into multiple mini-events, or something that’s connected over the course of November, so that consumers can participate without waiting for that one day.

Chief Marketer: In light of the pandemic lockdowns that vary by each region, how do you suggest marketers approach the constantly shifting situation?

Tamara Charm: One of the things that’s becoming more and more important is getting granular data—not only on what’s happening with your consumer, but what’s happening with infection rates and what’s happening with general shopping and out-of-home activity. Being able to understand that data and be agile and change quickly is increasingly a hallmark of those who are able to succeed in this environment.

Brian Ruwadi: To build on that, this notion of becoming radically more agile than we have in the past as retailers is a big deal in this environment where so much is unpredictable. I’ve been impressed with what many retailers have done over the past six or nine months to become more agile. But if you have a region lockdown over the holiday and your inventory is sitting in a store, now need to be able to market that inventory online to consumers or ship it somewhere else to be sold to a consumer. All of those agile capabilities are going to be critical during the holiday season.

Chief Marketer: According to the report, there are four areas that retail marketers should embrace to be successful this season. We talked about personalization. Any tactics that you would suggest when it comes to digital support for consumers?

Brian Ruwadi: The traditional shopping experience in a store over the holidays is browse, look and see, and feel. That gives consumers confidence in what they want to buy, whichever channel they buy it through. There’s a meaningful chunk of consumers who are now trying to do that through a digital experience, but not all retailers had historically invested in being able to test a product online as easily as many would like. When we did our retail re-imagined research, we saw a massive increase in the number of consumers who cared about product descriptions, product reviews, those types of things, so that they could actually feel confident in their purchase.

Tamara Charm: When we ask folks who is going to shift online, we do see Boomers telling us they’re going to shift at the same rate as younger consumers. So, you will likely have a lot of older consumers going online and digital for the holidays who are not used to that experience. Making sure that you are bringing the product to life digitally will be extra important—and the navigation around that, making it simple and easy to find.

Chief Marketer: Does that translate to creating a range of experiences to accommodate multiple generations?

Tamara Charm: The product description and the reviews are places consumers consistently tell us they go and they trust. Increasingly, virtual and augmented reality capabilities will be quite helpful in categories where getting a sense of the dimension of the product and the look and feel on you, in the case of apparel or cosmetics, will be increasingly important.

Brian Ruwadi: There’s also a point of understanding the different types of journeys that consumers are taking digitally. Are they there for one product and want to get in and out fast? Are they there and they want to browse? How do we create an experience, digitally, that allows them to have the in-store browsing experience online? Those are two very different journeys and require different types of capabilities online, or apps, or whatever it might be.

The post McKinsey Report: Navigating New Shopping Behaviors for Holiday Season During Pandemic appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Promote Deals Early

According to Valassis research, 70 percent of consumers have increased their savings activity during COVID-19 and 75 percent plan to continue this behavior after the pandemic has subsided. That translates to a need to market to consumers earlier and promote deals that will motivate purchases. Consider this statistic from Valassis: 77 percent of consumers can be influenced by promotions or sales. And that number is even higher for certain demographics, including dads, millennials and parents.

Ecommerce Upgrade

Consumers are shopping online more than ever before—and that behavior is likely to continue post-pandemic. But ecommerce can also complement the in-store experience. Ensure that your website accurately reflects available in-store inventory as well as the latest deal offerings.

Multichannel Marketing

Getting deals in front of consumers requires an omnichannel approach, from discounts received through direct mail to promotions on social media to savings accessed through scanning receipts on mobile devices.

For more on these marketing strategies for holiday shopping, read on in Multichannel Merchant.

The post Producing Winning Holiday Campaigns: Three Strategies for Retail Marketers appeared first on Chief Marketer.

But let’s face it: It isn’t possible for marketers to attend every cool event or holiday pop-up or promotional stunt. But thanks to coverage from Event Marketer, you can peruse 15 different brand-led holiday experiences within the categories of beauty, automotive, luxury, alcohol, beverage, retail and tech. From a wellness-inspired “Sugar Chalet” from PopSugar to a giant snow globe from Tiffany & Co. to a… wait for it… Ugly Christmas Sweater Hall of Fame, here’s how brands are spreading holiday cheer to consumers this season with experiences.

Other articles you might enjoy:

• Chief Marketer’s Top 200 Brand Engagement and Experience Agencies
• Michelob ULTRA Becomes Beer Sponsor of Thanksgiving Turkey Trotters
• Visible’s CMO on Creating Consumer Connections Through Experiences

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