Maximising your Q4 Marketing Strategy

We’re in Q4 (can you believe it), and this quarter may be your busiest and most chaotic quarter yet, so it is so important you feel prepared. Why is Q4 for important? It is the pivotal period for many businesses, as there are so many key events coming up (Black Friday, Christmas, Boxing Day sales), and is the perfect opportunity to set a starting point for a successful new year.

Maximising your marketing strategy for Q4 is key for substantial growth and ending the year as successfully as possible for your brand. Creating festive campaigns, lots of promotions, pushing dead stock and building relationships with customers are all going to be so important this quarter. So lets dive into the best ways to maximise your strategy.

PLAN PLAN PLAN

Creating a marketing calendar to plan your campaigns, content and promotions is VITAL for staying on top of things this quarter. Being aware of all the holidays and key social events coming up this quarter will be extremely helpful, as you can plan your content around these key dates. Have set dates for content and follow a clear plan for the whole quarter to ensure you’re ahead of your game.

Campaigns

This is a time to create the most fun campaigns, and even have new product releases just in time for the holiday season. Your new products may be Christmas or Halloween themed or potentially even collaboration products with other brands. We see this a lot with huge brands like Coca Cola and Heinz, who have already begun their seasonal campaigns. Your Christmas campaign can start as early as possible to push for as many sales as you can, and it is a common theme in customers over the past few years to start their Christmas shopping as early as they can.

Creating Engaging Content

This time of year is one of the easiest times to be creative with your content as you can make it as seasonal as you like. If you have new seasonal product ranges coming out, you can base your campaigns around this (really getting your customers in the holiday spirit). We have Halloween, Christmas and New Year coming up, meaning there is so much opportunity for content to be created. Videos (reels and TikTok’s) are huge at the moment and may be something your brand wants to jump on this quarter, as short-form videos are getting brands the most engagement online.

Be sure to post content on the social media channels that resonate most with your audience and create unique content for each channel you post on. For example, you may want to post more entertaining videos on TikTok and Instagram, but more product and informative based content on Facebook. A great tip for engagement is diving into EGC (employee generated content) this quarter, as the engagement is so high on content like this and is a great way to show off your brands personality.

Collabs and Competitions

A great way to get into the holiday spirit is by collaborating with influencers and also holding seasonal competitions. Both of these are great marketing techniques to get your audience engaging with your products and brands.

Hold a social media competition across platforms, for customers to win free products, discounts or presents. By having them like, follow and share, you’re getting your brands name out there and creating fun and engaging content across your platforms (it’s also a great way to gain followers).

Collaborating with influencers who align with your brand is another keyway to gain following, engagement and create brilliant content. Let your influencers get s creative as they like with campaigns, showing off new products and maybe even doing reviews.

Promotions and Discounts

You should be offering promotions and discounts to customers this Q4, whether it be for Black Friday, Boxing Day or even end of summer sales. A great way to get your customers engaged is by offering special discounts to loyal customers, and even offering loyal customer schemes (e.g. discounts for email subscribers).

Black Friday is a huge day for all eCommerce brands, and it is a great opportunity to get rid of dead and slow-moving stock. You need to keep up with your competitors by offering good discounts just in time for Christmas. Customers love discounts and will be more likely to shop with you if you’re offering promotions, or even free and fast delivery.

Optimise your Website

For all eCommerce brands, your website is going to be one of the biggest factors to your sales. You must ensure it is running smoothly, and your site speed, graphics and layout are all optimised. Customers may leave your website without converting if it is slow, confusing and hard to navigate, so it is important it is optimised for a seamless buying experience. You want to be sure your website is running perfectly for days such as Black Friday and Boxing Day, when you may have large amounts of traffic on the site.

Ensuring your technical SEO is up to scratch is also key, as you want to be ranking as high as possible on search engines this quarter.

Have you Considered 3PL?

This quarter is going to be extremely busy for your brand, and your marketing efforts may take up a huge amount of time. Due to this, your warehousing, logistics and returns may feel extremely hard to balance. Having so many things to juggle this time of year may seem impossible, but this is where 3PL (third-party logistics) comes in. 3PL is the process of outsourcing your fulfilment and allowing a third-party company to handle your stock in their warehouse, then pick, pack and ship your items to your customers. Partnering with a 3PL can save your business huge warehousing and staffing costs, but most importantly will free you up so much time to focus on other areas of your business (such as marketing and product development).

Everything you need to know about 3PL can be found here, but in a nutshell it is the easiest way to get your orders to your customers fast and efficiently, keeping your customers as happy as possible. With 3PL you can offer free and fast shipping and even have your 3PL sort your returns for you. Don’t let Q4 and the Christmas rush scare you, 3PL is here to help.

Enquire with GNOC today and lets discuss exactly how we can help your business thrive and grow this quarter. Contact us now or fill out this short form today and one of our helpful team will be in touch.