It’s the end of November, and that means the holiday season is right around the corner! Did you know that the average consumer in America spent around $900 per person on holiday gifts in 2019? In order to capitalize on this and make sure your products are the ones people are buying, your website should offer customers a holiday gift guide. Now the question is, where do you begin, and what goes into making the perfect gift guide? See below for our tips and tricks on how to write a gift guide that will catch your audience’s attention and help boost your sales.
A gift guide is a collection of purchase recommendations that brands put together to help consumers throughout the major shopping seasons (think Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentine’s Day, etc.). They can be delivered in a variety of different ways, from Instagram stories to email blasts and traditional blogs.
For consumers, gift guides are useful for finding the perfect gift for every type of person they’re shopping for. Brands, on the other hand, use gift guides to pair their products with specific needs and put them in front of their audiences in a digestible way. Gift guides also provide opportunities to create unique holiday bundles of products or services that cater to specific types of people.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most common ways to boost traffic to your website. Understanding and utilizing SEO keywords in your holiday gift guide can significantly impact your rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs), especially with people searching phrases like “best gifts for mom” or “affordable holiday gifts.” By making your way to the top search results on Google, your sales are more likely to increase exponentially, which is especially helpful during the height of the holiday shopping season.
It is extremely important to be aware of your audience when creating a gift guide. Are you speaking to parents buying gifts for their young children? Spouses looking to find something romantic for their significant other? Young adults trying to buy gifts on a budget? If you know who you are marketing to, you can ensure your gift guide targets those demographics. Creating a guide that is specific to your target personas will make it easier to grab and attract people who are already searching for a specific product or have a gift idea in mind, rather than trying to appeal to everyone.
Once you have created your gift guide, the next step is to market it. Social media is one of the top ways that people search for gifts and with things like targeted Instagram ads, and Pinterest wish lists, it’s not hard to reach people who are looking for gift ideas on social media. However, you have to make sure you know the best practices and how to utilize it to get the best results. Take advantage of the fact that you can target your specific audiences and put some dollars behind sponsored ads. This can help bring in people who are already searching for similar products.
Email marketing is another marketing element that should not be overlooked. By blasting out an email with your gift guide, you can engage with customers who have either already purchased from you or people who have subscribed to your email list and at shown an interest in your product or website. This is an easy way to access a large group of people that you have already gained information from and who are curious about your product.
If you’d like to reach the audiences included in your guide, you could even segment your emails. This strategy typically performs better than a traditional email blast. For example, if you have a list of people who only purchase a specific product (and it’s in your gift guide), they will be more inclined to get it for a friend or family member.
The best kinds of gift guides are engaging and digestible. You should include fun, appealing copy that explains why specific products are perfect for the people they’re paired with. For example, if you’re selling an alarm clock for “the Heavy Sleeper,” you should describe how the features help to “make sure they never show up late to work again.”
Keep in mind that your gift guide should serve as a teaser for your products; ultimately, you want people to click through to your product or service pages and make a purchase. Therefore, you should make sure that all of those webpages are fully fleshed out with well-written copy before publishing your guide. The more descriptive your product and service pages are, the more likely people are to trust your website. Additionally, the more information you can give to people about your product, the better chance you have of selling it to them.
It’s also important to take keywords into consideration when you’re writing your descriptions. Think about your audience and each demographic you are targeting by writing something fun and unique to them. What are their selling points and how can you highlight them?
Do you need help creating the perfect holiday gift guide for your website or products? Look no further! Zero Gravity Marketing has a team of strategists ready to help you get started and achieve your goals this holiday season. Contact us today for more information.