5 Holiday Marketing Tips for Retail Centers
The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for all of us, but especially for retail businesses. Holiday spending reached $789 billion in 2020, and with customers eager to return to their normal holiday traditions, we can expect holiday shopping to increase even more this year. With the holiday season right around the corner, it’s important to prepare your strategies and find ways to create unique experiences for your shoppers. So here are our top 5 tips to maximize your retail marketing strategy for the holidays.
Start the conversation with your tenants.
This year, Black Friday and Cyber Week will be starting at different times for everyone. So get in touch with your tenants early and develop a communications strategy to support their holiday campaigns. Here are a few ways to kickstart your holiday marketing:
Email Marketing: Email marketing is a popular holiday marketing channel for a reason: it has a strong ROI. For many retailers, 20-30% of their annual sales are generated during the holiday season, so find ways to support your tenants through strategic email marketing campaigns. Share a list of your tenants’ holiday sales and promotions to encourage subscribers to shop in-store.
Instagram Stories: Stories are another way to share your tenants’ promotions, whether it’s with interactive graphics, in-store photos, and videos or resharing tenants’ and customers’ content. Pro tip: create a Highlight on your Instagram page to spotlight sales that are happening within your retail center; that way, followers never have to leave your page to get the information they need.
Public Relations: Think about how to incorporate your tenants in your upcoming PR campaigns. Be sure to share your tenants’ holiday promotions with local media, news stations, and social media influencers to encourage shoppers to visit your tenants for their holiday shopping needs.
Create your holiday content now.
Set up your holiday photoshoots now so that your content library is stocked and ready to begin promoting retail sales as soon as they begin. Bring in a few models, ask your tenants for their holiday shopping bags, grab a few holiday Starbucks cups and start creating! Don’t forget to capture video for Instagram Reels (which receive 22% more engagement than a standard Instagram video).
Spread holiday cheer with photo-worthy moments.
The holidays are about creating joyful memories with your loved ones. So why not provide that experience in your retail center? Give shoppers the opportunity to create happy and photo-worthy memories by offering hot cocoa carts, special Santa meet-and-greets, live holiday music, gift-wrapping stations, and more. “Instagrammable moments” are essential for a successful retail marketing strategy, so go BIG with holiday decor and beautiful installations to create a magical experience for shoppers. This will help drive foot traffic for your tenants and provide content that you can share on social media (or in this year’s holiday cards!).
Activate local influencers.
More and more companies are utilizing influencers to help spread holiday cheer -- and with good reason. According to Fohr, 71% of consumers are actively shopping on Instagram for holiday gifts, and 31% are searching on TikTok. So now is the time to ignite influencers in your target market! Partner with local content creators to document and share their shopping experience in your retail center for their social media audiences. They can even share their gift buying tips & tricks to encourage their followers to engage with your retail tenants. Bonus tip: partnering with an influencer to host a social media giveaway will amplify your retail center’s social media reach AND engage potential shoppers in your target market.
*Benefiting local non-profit Dallas Street Dog Advocates.
Give back by partnering with a non-profit.
After the chaos of the last two years, it’s more important than ever to give back to your community. After all, it’s the season of giving! So identify a local non-profit and use your resources for good by running a campaign with them. This could be a coat drive for a local women’s shelter, a canned food drive for the food bank, or offering mini photo sessions with proceeds donated to an animal rescue. You can invite shoppers to participate through your marketing and PR channels AND raise awareness for a good cause.
Do you need help bringing your retail marketing strategy to life? Give us a call. We are a Dallas-based retail marketing agency with national capabilities and reach.
hello@thenixcompany.co