And so it begins… Businesses and consumers find themselves unwittingly invited to the ‘marketing madness party’. How is it for you? ‘Trick or Treat’?

Let’s Get The Party Started

Since the arrival of GDPR in May this year our inboxes should no longer be a cacophony of noise from thousands of uninvited guests. If you are a business, by now your mailing list should only include people that are happy to hear from you, ‘by invitation only’. As a consumer, Halloween/Black Friday/Christmas invites to buy will flood in from businesses on every medium, have you ever felt so popular?!

Halloween Horror

In the UK Halloween has never been the ‘thing’ it is in the US, ho hum, Americans, fill your boots. Unless you are in the fancy dress or confectionery market, the chance to increase revenue is limited, many retailers have their sights set on christmas. Halloween is an opportunity for some social media fun.

Friday  Blackness

Are we ‘over it’ already? Tales abound of retailers performing tricks to tempt people in who quickly discover the whole thing was an illusion. Weeks of hype. scant offers, hordes of people behaving badly and ‘Friday’ is at least a week long. If expectations are not met people will see through the smoke and mirrors. How are businesses to benefit from this odd event? Research suggests people are spending money that they would have been spent anyway but they are taking advantage of discounts on offer. Consumer 1: Retailers 0?  Sugestion: Create authentic offers, publicise them well, take every opportunity to raise your profile and develop loyalty to your brand.

Christmas Crackers

People will continue to spend at Christmas, it’s what we do. As a business, keep the focus on how you can help your customers. How will your product/service enhance their Christmas/life? Write your product descriptions well, authenticity and accuracy have always been important to your customers, but it has never been more important to Google than it is now.

Get Ready

Prepare yourselves, for many businesses Christmas is the biggest trading period. Learn the lessons from previous years, develop strategies to cope, employ (and train) temporary staff if necessary and ensure you have enough stock to meet demand. Think about your offering. What can you say that will make consumers choose you? Portray yourself well, your website is your shop window, how does it look? Ask for an honest opinion from people you trust then take steps to look and sound your best.

Have a great Christmas!