The last two weeks of August are traditionally the time many of us realize we’ve worked too hard this summer and we’re over the limit. So it’s time to kick back and take a vacation before Labor Day. Good advice because once Labor Day passes it is definitely time to get moving on holiday promotion plans.
Once you have your creative idea there are three digital technologies that will likely drive the success of your Holiday Promotion Plans.
Mobile
Whether you are a pure ecommerce company or traditional brick and mortar here is an eye popping prediction. 1. An analysis of Bizrate Insights data from 2012 accompanied by the increased penetration of mobile devices suggests that almost 2/3 of all shoppers will use a smartphone or tablet to check pricing while shopping in- store, and as much as 
20% will make purchases in store on a mobile device during the 2013 holiday season. Amazon leads the way with their still way cool price checker app.
Video Content
Recognized leaders in casual dining chains know that photos on menus work better than descriptions. Online retailers still have not fully embraced it. There was a modest increase in video use from 2011 to 2012. This year promises a more significant jump. Production values aside it is important to offer as much video content as possible. Even short 5 second Vines or 15 second Instagram Videos provide sufficient time to deliver a focused message.
SEM
There is a funny commercial running right now for National Car Rental. It features a professional marketing consultant purring away at the keyboard, when done for the day the voice-over says you can improve ROI through SEO all before COB. Sorry, but for the holidays replace SEO with SEM. SEO takes time, you don’t have it. SEM also continues to become more precise so companies of all sizes can test to determine the benefit. The Shop.org pre-holiday survey says that close to half of retailers polled have committed to try Google Product Listing Ads. These appear when a buyer Google’s your product. They get a picture of your item, the price offer and the store name. When they click they are taken directly to the item.
The headline is here is that there is not a lot of time to leverage the technology that is available to you. Furthermore, another complimentary promotion tactic is a sweepstakes or contest. A sweeps will provide a lift, add some zip to your call to action and create immediacy. These can be added on easily. For help with your 2013 holiday planning give us a call or write us at expert@mardenkane.com.