Is Your Company Getting a Piece of “Christmas Pie” this Season?

Christmas time is here again!  Whether you think of Christmas as a religious holiday, a time for family get-togethers, or a purely commercial event that creates a shopping buzz—one thing is for sure.  You cannot underestimate the Christmas season and the revenue it creates.  Christmas is an unstoppable force in today’s economy.  Recession or not, children want their toys, dad wants his Christmas bonus and mom wants the whole family to come together and eat on December 25th.  It’s hard to imagine not working in the Christmas season into your marketing plan somehow or another. 

The question is how can you plan for Christmas in an economy that’s colder than Rudolph’s red nose?  After all, you have to take seriously reports from the American Research Group that suggest Americans cut their Christmas budget in half for 2008, an average of $431 down from $859 in 2007.  What was to account for the drop off?  It could have been any number of things.  The year 2008 was when the recession hit full swing.  A lot of people were waiting to see what would happen in 2009.  A lot of people were so busy writing angry letters to the White House that they forgot all about Christmas spirit.  A lot of people had already bought the Nintendo Wii and still had Wii-itis.  In short, there are a lot of people out there and a lot of speculative reasons on why 2008 was a disappointment.

Now the question is what are people going to do in 2009?  Are we supposed to believe that the economy is improving and it’s time to start spending like Vanilla Ice in the 1990s?  Not exactly.  No one is saying that the recession is over.  However, we are entering into a phase of stabilization, if not in literal financial terms, than in our own minds.  The Huffington Post recently ran a story on the “Statistics of the Recession” and stated that “parts of the economy are stabilizing.”  The report went on to say that while consumers are still “hunkered down” that retail sales are actually showing gains.  So while it’s definitely not safe to say the recession is behind us, it is safe to say that the problems we are dealing with are a bit less urgent.  It’s as if we have reconciled the effects of the recession in our minds and are now planning practical solutions and reworking our budgets to survive these tough times ahead. 

Now that we have saved some money by spending frugally, it’s time to splurge on Christmas presents for the family.  If not your family members and friends then who or what is really worth splurging on?  To me, this seems to be the attitude of the 2009 Christmas season.  Perhaps we have all had a chance to mull over the brevity of life and now realize that the most important things in life are family, friends, presents and Christmas desserts.  Personally, I go for Christmas pie.

What type of Christmas pie are you going to have this year?  More importantly, how much of it are you going to have?  Are you going to get a big, heaping helping of Christmas pie or are you going to go for the thin slice? 

The Christmas season is quite possibly the biggest retail event of the year, recession or not, and shopping for Christmas encompasses the “Black Friday” day-after-Thanksgiving sale all the way to December 25th. 

The U.S. Census speculates judging from reports from retail stores that well over $30 billion dollars in America alone is spent during the Christmas season.  Furthermore, retailers take a sizable “jump” in sales from the November to December time frame.  The Census Bureau states that clothing stores jump up 48%, electronic stores 58% and jewelry stores a whopping 170%.

If you’re a retailer then I’ll bet you can almost taste that piece of holiday pie.  Imagine just a fraction of a billion dollars coming your way.  With just that fraction, you could probably close up shop for half a year and vacation in Tahiti.  Come to think of it, Santa Claus must be really cashing in on the Christmas licensing money.  No wonder the guy only works one day a year!

How is the Christmas 2009 season looking anyway?  Is it just wishful thinking that says this year is going to be better than the last?  There are actually quite a few sources predicting a jollier holiday season in 2009.  Analysts Shawn DuBravac and Steve Koenig announced some optimistic findings at the Day One of the New York City-held CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) Line Shows. 

DuBravac stated that “The first quarter of 2009 was abysmal, the second showed signs of life, the third is showing lots of hope and there is great anticipation for the fourth quarter.”  While the 2009 Christmas season is still predicted to be low compared to superior economy years, it is expected to out-gross 2008.” 

Fox Business News also reported favorable predictions, citing reports from Forrester Research.  According to reports, U.S. online sales are expected to rise 8% this holiday season.  Predicted figures for online sales are up to $44.7 billion dollars for just November and December alone.  The reason why online marketing continues stabilizing even while unemployment grows?  Because a great majority of online shoppers are looking for lower-cost alternatives to the high-priced brands they usually buy.

What does this have to do with article marketing, you ask?  Simple.  Article marketing is your spoon—the spoon that scoops the pie.  This is a big piece of pie to consume, so you can’t just put your dirty hands all over it.  You have to eat it carefully, scooping up every last taste of cherry, pecan, blueberry, chocolate, apple or whatever is your pleasure.  In other words, you need an instrument or a utensil to grab a piece of this market.

The fact of the matter is that most of these lower-cost alternative companies that make money—you know, the ones that aren’t Wal-Mart or Amazon—rely on article marketing to sell their products.  They can’t afford to advertise a banner on Yahoo.  They can’t afford to put up billboards all over a major city.  They also don’t have the luxury of powerhouse branding.  They can brand all they want, but they’re not going to become the next Amazon or the next Ebay over night. 

Therefore, smaller retailers have to find a different avenue from which to profit from the holiday season.  They are still fighting for the same consumers, but they don’t have the muscle to wrestle customers away from bigger companies.  The most effective strategy then is to stop trying to manipulate the audience into coming over and instead make the customers come to them.  (This is an example of “attraction marketing”) 

Online retailers do this by keyword phrase marketing, or what I call article marketing and Search Engine Optimization.  In this scenario, the retailer determines what keywords the customer is searching for (there is tools for this).  The retailer then uses SEO to his advantage and creates articles that feature these keyword phrases.  The quantity and quality of this writing sets the website apart from the rest, and increases the company’s ranking.  Now, for a certain keyword phrase the company’s website comes back as #1 or #2.  The customer sees that the search engine considers this site’s information the most relevant.  Now is your chance to shine!  You must subtly but surely convince the customer to buy your product—which he has already expressed an interest in buying. 

Just a word for advice to the retailers—remember if you are trying to avoid competing with bigger brands then avoid using the same sledgehammer approach that they do.  Instead of trying to explain how great your company is, instead focus on meeting the individual needs of the customer.  Explain the “who, what, where, why and how” of this business and why they need quality products.  After giving this helpful information, you can discreetly provide a link to your store.  Customers aren’t stupid!  They know you’re selling something.  Just give them some time to get to know you and trust you before you start pushing products.

Search Engine Optimization techniques involve both the content of your website as well as the articles you submit to directories.  You use SEO to optimize your website content.  However, since your website is relatively unpopular (assuming you’re working your way up the ladder) you want to use the momentum of a popular site to sell your product and promote your company.  Enter the article marketing phase.  Articles are created for your company and posted to a popular online directory.  This not only helps in increasing your targeted traffic, but also helps to establish you as an expert in your field.

Believe all the hype you hear about search engine marketing.  This is where consumers are, because they are following the gossip that says you can buy anything you want from a retail store through the Internet at a fraction of the cost.  They know that savings are out there, they’re just not sure where to find them.  So what do they do?  They type in keyword phrases into major search engines looking for their Christmas wish.  And hey, who can really blame them?  Shopping online sure beats having to endure the mad Christmas rush inside brick and mortar stores.

Writer Chris Sherman quoted studies from Enquiro, Did-it and Eyetools that suggested that online viewers usually always go for the top ranking search results, and also tend to follow an “F” pattern, with the eye traveling vertically along the far left side of the screen—always looking for relevant keywords.  The effectiveness of SEO and article marketing in advertising is practically indisputable.  It has the potential to work for you also.

If you are a retailer then you are at a crucial point in time.  You are struggling to make your business recession proof and are right at the door of $44 billion dollar holiday season.  Don’t tell me that you haven’t worked Christmas into your marketing plans and business plans.  Don’t tell me that you aren’t aggressively pursuing your online customer base.  Don’t tell me you are taking a wait-and-see attitude towards article marketing.  Because taking a lackadaisical approach to this “rebound” season is almost the worst thing you can do right now. 

If you can’t profit this holiday season then when are you going to get your slice of the pie?  In April?  During tax time?  I don’t know about you, but if I’m sitting at Christmas dinner and looking at a delicious piece of uneaten pie that no one is claiming, I’m reaching for that pie!  Matter of fact, you might have to stab me with your fork to keep me from grabbing it!

You get the point.  This is survival of the fittest in retail marketing, and if you can’t afford an expensive advertising campaign like the big boys of retail then you have to invest in search engine optimization and article marketing if you want any of that $44 billion dollar online sales market this holiday season.  This isn’t the “future” we’re talking about.  This is now—November to December 2009, folks.

Get your spoon out and get ready to dig in because something this tasty only comes along once a year!