Make Q4 Marketing Strategies Bulletproof
With Q4 2022 quickly approaching, you best start planning.
Planning for the fourth quarter can feel like a scene from Top Gun… the clock running out, all your cards on the table to make one decision that could change everything.
But don’t worry! You can use the following five things to tighten up your business and be ready for Q4. Let’s get started!
1. Get Your Deals Ready Early
We recommend getting your holiday deals ready (and promoted) early. Take note of examples from Amazon Prime Day (July 12 and July 13) plus, Target And Walmart ‘Christmas In July’ Sales Events as key signals for holiday 2022.
With inflation and shipping concerns many shoppers are starting their holiday shopping early, and some shoppers have already begun. This year (more than ever) consumers want to take advantage of deals before they are gone, meaning that as soon as deals are posted, they are ready to buy.
2. Optimize for the Right Metrics
Rather than simply optimizing your content for purchases and returns on advertising spend (ROAS), focus on front-end metrics.These front-end metrics could include:
Link click-through-rate
Link cost-per-clicks
These two factors suggest intent. People may not purchase now, but that doesn’t mean they won’t purchase later once you launch a deal or promotion! Remember…there is a combined sense of urgency plus desire for savings.
3. Focus on Promoting ‘Essential’ Products
Throughout the sales funnel, test your messaging against NECESSITY rather than LEISURE.
People are becoming increasingly worried about spending their money on luxuries as a result of the economic downturn. We can see this as streaming platforms (we see you Netflix) have taken a massive hit in their subscriber numbers over the past few months.
So strategically position your goods and services to be marketed from a NEED rather than a WANT standpoint.
4. Offer more price options
Allow customers to down-sell, especially on higher-priced items. People still want to buy things; they’re just not interested in spending a lot of money right now. Give them multiple product/service options so they have more value choices.
Your price-conscious consumers are going to want those discounts and sales of yesteryear. We would be remiss to say that inflation won’t be impacting buying. The annual inflation rate is now 9.1% and even more in some categories like food (10.1%). With inflation rising and talks of a recession, consumers are looking for where they can save their money even though sellers and brands also feel the impact of inflation.
Take advantage of the shopping holidays to offer these price options, such as:
Cyber 5, also known as Turkey Five
Black Friday
Cyber Monday
Super Saturday
5. Understand your audience
Know your audience and how price levels, interest rates, and market conditions affect them.
Optimize your marketing, offers, and lead generation plans to make ads that are representative of your target audience. If your intended group is diverse, you may need to run multiple versions of the same ad.
… and that’s why it is best to think about your holiday strategy holistically.
Your pricing, inventory, and advertising strategies should all work together to meet your holiday sales goals. During the lead-in to the holidays, you need to establish the following:
Priority products
Deals
Sales targets
KPIs
Budgets
Doing so will help you create a holiday strategy that spans across pricing, inventory, and advertising. Remember that you should build out all your campaigns at least 4 weeks before launch.
That means you should have all…
October campaigns done in September.
November campaigns done in October.
December campaigns done in November.
Have you started prepping for Q4 yet?
It might be time to call in an expert team to make sure you stay strategically on track, ahead of schedule, and make the most of these next few months. Reach out to the team at Sunday Brunch Agency today. Email us at info@SundayBrunchAgency.com