You’ve seen them for weeks. They’re impossible to avoid. They probably started before Halloween.
Holiday advertisements.
As the holiday season continues to ramp up, shopping becomes the main focus of consumers—and the brands trying to sell them something. The American economy is reliant on this boost in consumer spending—which is over $1,200 per household on average—and companies prepare all year long for the mad-dash at the end of the year. But, in recent years, marketing tactics employed during the holidays have become more reliant on one crucial asset: data—and how it can create a more personalized marketing approach. According to recent research from McKinsey & Company, companies that use data-driven personalization as the core of their marketing and sales decisions can improve their return-on-investment by 15 to 20 percent.
Whether you want to focus on a primarily digital or print-focused marketing campaign, digging into data before your launch can save money and produce a more profitable return. For example, the airline WestJet’s marketing campaigns were 40 percent less time-consuming after taking a tech-forward approach. This also included a more tailored approach to their customers, allowing them to have more a customized booking experience on their website. Oreo recently took a similar approach, allowing customers to design custom packaging for holiday orders.
Like with Oreo’s object-focused campaign, one of the most impactful custom solutions to catch your customer’s eye at a time of heightened competition is a printed object. A memorable, tactic, and undeniable asset to your marketing campaign. Using data can make a customizable printed campaign more effective and beneficial to a company’s bottom line.
With 70 percent of senior executives saying they will spend more on data-driven marketing tactics this holiday season than last year, tapping into the benefits of technology has become more crucial than ever. When technology is applied to digital marketing, a company is able to pinpoint their customer, and give them an enticing opportunity to interact with their brand. The same goes for printed assets: The more customized you’re able to be with a campaign, the more likely a customer is to become attached to it.
So, while many Americans begin to schedule their spending habits throughout the upcoming holiday season, we have to remind ourselves that they are looking to be guided towards products and experiences that are a perfect fit for their specific needs. They’ll see thousands of marketing campaigns between now and the New Year, and they’ll be sure to fall for the one that seems it was built just for them.