The holiday season is the single biggest revenue generator for brands every year. Starting from October up until December, the calendar is packed with Mega Sale Days for businesses.
Last year’s holiday sales were expected to take a hit, but there were huge eCommerce gains to offset the holiday revenues despite the pandemic.
Despite the global pandemic, holiday sales rose by 8.3% in 2020, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the world’s largest retail trade association. This includes a 23.9% increase in online and non-store sales.
This year it is estimated that the total US holiday retail sales will grow by 2.7%, and 18.9% of those sales will occur online.
The NRF expects this year’s holiday season to be no different from last year as they revise their annual forecast to see a significant boost as 2021 retail sales are expected to exceed $4.44 trillion this year.
This is why brands need to reach consumers and amplify their video ads strategy just in time for the holiday season. This article will discuss how brands can make a mark for the holidays with video ads that will drive awareness for their products and services.
Importance of Video for Brand Awareness for the 2021 Holidays
Potential holiday shoppers look for inspiration and gift guides online. This is a golden opportunity for brands to make their products the top-of-mind gift-giving items for the holidays.
Holiday shoppers have already shifted their purchasing habits. As such, online shopping for the holidays is already becoming the norm.
In a world where information is at every shopper’s fingertips, video is a powerful tool to spread brand awareness.
There’s a reason why video content is one of the most popular marketing strategies for brands during the holidays. As the most anticipated time of the year approaches, video is, quite simply, more for brands – more engaging, more memorable, and more popular among consumers than any other type of online content.
Adding video to the holiday marketing strategy is a great way to engage holiday shoppers. Here are several reasons to keep in mind:
· Website pages with videos have increased their conversion rates by up to 80%, a direct correlation that shows that video sales.
· There are 74% of users who purchased a product or service right after watching an explainer video.
· 92% of mobile video consumers watch videos with their network of friends on social media, a good indication to spread brand awareness in a short amount of time.
· There are a lot of mobile consumers that love videos since 51% of all videos are played on mobile devices, and that number continues to grow.
· Uploading videos on YouTube are great for SEO purposes, and putting a video on the landing page is also 53% more likely to rank on Google’s first page.
Benefits of Video Ads for the Holiday Season
BENEFIT 1: Video Ads Keep the Brands Top-of-Mind
In order to catch the attention of holiday shoppers, brands need to create a well-placed video that will hook them just in time for the holidays. Leveraging video content will create memorable interactions with brands and holiday shoppers. Video will also help brands hype their holiday promotions, making holiday shoppers more excited to launch their holiday products and sales.
Best Practices:
· Keep it short.
Keep the holiday video hype short and sweet. Holiday shoppers don’t want to waste their time watching long-winding sales promotions. A good rule of thumb is to keep video promotions no longer than one minute; 30 to 45 seconds is the sweet spot.
· Know your audience.
Different holiday messages will resonate with a diverse audience. Therefore, brands need to optimize their tone and messaging depending on their target audience. A good tactic is to use video localization to customize holiday messages for the local audience.
· Include CTA often.
Since the attention span of holiday shoppers tends to be short, brands only have a limited opportunity to relay their holiday message. Therefore, it’s essential to keep the CTAs short and straightforward. Shoppers need to know the benefit they can get upon completing an action.
BENEFIT 2: Video Ads Boost Conversion Rates
Just like in any marketing endeavor, content is indeed king. Following that belief when it comes to creating video content for the holidays, it’s essential for brands to clearly define their desired results for the holiday shoppers. Now is the best time to get started with video campaigns for the holidays.
Best Practices:
· Target the right audience.
Brands need to know who exactly they are talking to when it comes to creating video ads. Create a localized campaign that targets a specific audience from the local community to increase the potential conversion rates.
· Measure the impact.
Brand awareness for the holiday season cannot be measured by video ads alone. Instead, a holistic view of the holiday campaign is needed to measure the impact of the increased site visitors, video shares, pages per visit, and bounce rates. All these are good indicators of holiday shopping engagement.
· Always test the ads.
A/B tests are essential for holiday campaigns. Brands need to constantly experiment and test different messaging, call-to-actions, and channels against each other. This will help them track the impact of each ad so they can have a good benchmark on the type of video content that works best with their audience.
BENEFIT 3: Video Ads Help Grow Brand Equity
Since it’s the holiday season, brands need to learn how to balance the need to communicate holiday promotions to drive sales with engaging potential consumers in a fun, heartfelt, and creative manner. Video content helps brands stand out from the barrage of holiday campaigns online. Make sure that brands create memorable content that will engage their target audience.
Best Practices:
· Share the brand’s personality.
Holiday video campaigns provide an opportunity to showcase the brand’s unique personality. Brands can provide a glimpse of the brand’s personality with videos that explore the different aspects of the brand, such as testimonials, product demos, behind-the-scenes videos, and more.
· Create a better customer experience.
The eagerness of holiday shoppers to engage with video shows that it’s not just a great tool to create brand awareness, but it can also help in improving customer experience. Utilizing video content strategically for the holidays will allow brands to spread holiday messaging and be the top-of-mind brand when customers are ready to shop for the holidays,
Tips to Harness the Power of Video Ads to Amplify Brand Awareness for the Holidays
TIP 1: Reach holiday shoppers as they browse their feed by inspiring action with video.
Video content has evolved into more than just a tool for entertainment. It has become a tool that holiday shoppers seek to learn, seek, and inspire their gift purchases. While holiday shoppers watch videos on their social feed, make sure that the brand’s video content is compelling enough to convert passive browsing to active shopping. To encourage clicks and conversions, make the brand’s video ads a holiday window shopping tool when they see your product ads.
TIP 2: Engage customers as they research holiday gifts with interactive video ads.
Holiday shoppers tend to do research first before buying products online. They compare prices, look for sales, and check out the latest reviews. Today, video ads are more than just an awareness channel for holiday promotions. Brands can make video ads more interactive by adding direct response elements in their video ads.
TIP 3: Covert holiday shoppers looking to purchase with shoppable videos for a frictionless shopping experience.
Customers value a frictionless online shopping experience for the holidays. They want to buy a product online as soon as they have decided to buy it. Reach holiday shoppers more effectively with shoppable videos. Brands can also try adding video personalization to shoppable videos. It will help holiday shoppers have a unique holiday shopping experience.
TIP 4: Embrace change with automated video creation tools such as dynamic product ads (DPA).
Offer an omnichannel experience to make holiday shopping as convenient as possible. Don’t be afraid to try something new and experiment with video creation platforms — plan for success with holiday video ads using DPA to help reach holiday shoppers and deal-seekers online.
TIP 5: Consider short and sweet holiday video tidings that show your brand’s visibility throughout the purchase journey.
The growth of video content offers an excellent opportunity for brands to play a more significant part in the holiday shopping experience. Video ads can help connect with holiday shoppers on an emotional level. Create short and sweet holiday videos that will help make an emotional connection during the hectic holiday shopping season. This is essential since every shopper’s attention is being pulled in different directions. A heartfelt message that encourages genuine connection will truly make a difference.
References:
3 trends that bring holiday video marketing into focus. (2021). Retrieved 15 October 2021, from https://www.marketingdive.com/news/3-trends-that-bring-holiday-video-marketing-into-focus/542492/
A complete guide to holiday video marketing. (2021). Retrieved 15 October 2021, from https://www.wevideo.com/blog/for-work/a-complete-guide-to-holiday-video-marketing
Be there for your customers with Google. (2021). Retrieved 15 October 2021, from https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/2021_us_retail_marketing_guide.pdf
Elliott, J. (2021). 5 October Marketing Ideas to Drive Holiday Brand Awareness – Woobox Blog. Retrieved 15 October 2021, from https://blog.woobox.com/2021/09/5-october-marketing-ideas-to-drive-holiday-brand-awareness/Pratt, M., & Pratt, M. (2019). Hit Your Angles: Make a Good Impression with Video Content | AdRoll Blog. Retrieved 15 October 2021, from https://www.adroll.com/blog/customer-experience/make-a-good-impression-with-video-content