8 Ways to Communicate your Christmas Offer Online
Since 2002, Christmas bookings have increase by an incredible 200% . With 72% of firms now throwing a Christmas party, at an average amount per person of £56.49 (in London).
Finding the key to communicating your offer effectively online is paramount to the success of your business over this crucial time of year. And whilst planning your Christmas strategy well in advance is the most effective way to maximise your Christmas reach, there are still a lot of things you can do to make Christmas a success at your venue.
Whether you’re looking to make a big statement or a subtle nod, we’ve rounded up the eight best ways to communicate your Christmas message.
Top four tips for simple changes
1. Let imagery lead the way
People are visual by nature, and research shows that using colourful imagery makes users 80% more likely to read content and 65% more likely to remember it later. Remember to replace summery outdoor imagery with cosy fireplaces and mulled wine. Encourage customers to take interest by make sure your imagery reflects and communicates your festive offerings.
There’s no second chance to make an impression, your content needs to be punchy and to the point. Less is more when it comes to copy, communicate key offers but don’t over embellish. Customers know what they’re looking for and if they like what they see they’ll come directly to you to. You can make it even easier for them by adding a clear call to action to navigate your customers across the site.
Tapping into your database by sending out mailers is one of the most powerful ways of communicating your offer. Event related emails can generate open rates of between 25% – 40%, according to Event Bright, meaning you could receive interest from more than a third of your database. This could be the difference between being half full or fully booked.
4. Be seen on Social Media
92% of marketers agree that social media is imperative to the success of a business, according to Forbes, with 80% advising it was instrumental to increasing their website traffic. Social Media is a great opportunity to up-sell your offer, communicate on a personal level with your customers, as well as reaching out to, and being seen by new ones. Used in the right way, it’s a huge opportunity to convert social media users into customers who can in turn become loyal advocates who actively promote and recommend your business through WOM (word-of-mouth) recommendations.
Top four tips for big changes
1. Animate to entertain
Page animations are eye catching, engaging and leave a lasting impression on users 7. It’s one of the best ways to captivate and communicate with your audience, as customers are much more likely to engage with multimedia than read copy heavy information. Use animation to encourage users to be interested in the offers you’re selling.
Stay one step ahead with one of the biggest digital trends of 2016. After reading your website content the next place a customer bounces to is YouTube and Google images (eventbrite) to make sure it looks as good as it sounds. Using video is visually stimulating way to satisfy customers curiosity and make sure that they’re seeing the best of what you have to offer.
Having a dedicated Christmas page specifically designed to host your offers is a great way to keep all your content in one place. A specific URL gives you a simple and creative way to channel customers directly to the offers you want them to look at and allows you to have seasonally tailored SEO to really help spread the word.
If you have multiple venues with great Christmas offers than microsite could be the brilliant solution you need to condense all your information into one place. Having a single destination makes communicating offers with customers much easier, especially for bigger businesses. It’s easy and efficient for customers to find and use and allows you to optimise SEO to make sure you’re high up the list of search results 8.
READ MORE: Christmas in August.. huh?: How to drive traffic and bookings to your venue
- http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Business/christmas-dinner-booking
- http://www.hospitalityandcateringnews.com/2016/01/record-christmas-trading-oakman-inns/
- http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/visual-content-marketing-strategy#sm.001inc8tu1chhf6succ2lyap1dtpf
- http://bit.ly/2fZOWTR
- http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/#207842162a4d
- http://www.franchising.com/articles/5_reasons_to_use_cartoon_animation_in_online_marketing.html
- http://threemotion.co.uk/5-reasons-to-use-animation/
- http://www.intechnic.com/blog/top-ten-benefits-of-having-a-microsite/