How Will Your Brand Reach Holiday Shoppers? 3 Ways to Stand Out During The Busiest Time of the Year

It’s only the very beginning of October, but the holidays are here, and holiday shopping, for some, has been underway for weeks.  

Is your brand ready? 

“Many local retailers and businesses don’t realize that holiday shopping starts in September and peaks in November. The trend shows that consumers are starting their holiday shopping sooner in the year than ever before,” says Chris Fehrmann, VP of Digital Products at TEGNA. 

Getting a jump on the competition is critical, but how else will your brand stand out? Every retailer is trying to get the word out about their products at this end-of-the-year make-or-break period. Here are three great ways you can reach holiday shoppers this year. 

1. Aligning With Content on Your Local News Station

Throughout the holiday season, local TEGNA stations will be showing everything from Halloween specials to Christmas classics like a Charlie Brown Christmas. Local stations will also be creating their own specially crafted holiday content – and as an advertiser, you can get in on the action and place messages alongside feel-good content on trusted stations. 

For example, every year, local Minnesota station KARE runs a Toys for Tots drive in partnership with the US Marines, presenting a unique opportunity for sponsors. Given the fact that 87% of consumers will purchase a product from a company that advocates for an issue they care about, aligning your brand with content that helps serve the local community is a win-win-win: A win for the brand, a win for the consumer, and a win for the community. 

‘Tis the Season for Sports
While most people think of trick-or-treating, eating turkey, and opening gifts on Christmas day, the holidays are also a great time for advertisers to align with sports content – such as the NFL games on during Thanksgiving, NHL games on New Year’s Eve, College Football Bowl games, and many more. 

“The fourth quarter is chock-full of live viewing opportunities during the holidays on TEGNA stations. This is especially true of new and perennial holiday specials that are perfect for family co-viewing – as well as live sporting events, such as football, basketball, and hockey,” says Sheryl Standfier, Manager, Major Accounts Strategy at TEGNA.

“In fact, Nielsen reported live sports viewing in 2018 accounted for nine out of ten of the top watched programs on television. Retailers need to be reminded of the big reach and immediacy of live sports and that specials can be great tools for ringing-up sales during the holiday season,” Standifer says.

Severe Weather & Winter Storm Alerts
With the holidays come cooler temperatures, winter storms, and school closings. Many people in the local community will be tuning into their local news stations each morning to help plan their day. By aligning with weather segments, brands have an opportunity to get in front of a huge local audience.

2. Location and Event Targeting with Geofencing

From attending NFL or NHL games, haunted houses and hayrides, Christmas parties and concerts, using Location and Event Targeting with Geofencing to target an audience within a specific location could be just the answer your holiday strategy needs to get the results you want. 

No matter the industry, Katherine Yape, Product Manager for TEGNA, says, “Geofencing allows advertisers to stay in front of potential customers while they are in the buying process and is a great advantage for any marketer to have in their tool kit.”

As an example, let’s say you’re a dancewear retailer in New York located near a theatre putting on a production of “The Nutcracker.” You could draw a geofence around the venue and target attendees with mobile ads for ballet slippers or dance costumes for up to 30 days. Then, thanks to Location Targeting technology, when they visit your store and buy a tutu, you’ll be able to attribute conversions to your Location Targeting campaign. 

3. Go Digital for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday

Black Friday set digital records last year. Thanksgiving saw total online sales reach $3.7 billion, while Black Friday hit a record of $6.22 billion in online sales. However, brick-and-mortar sales were down 1.7% this year compared to 2017, illustrating the changing trend as shoppers increasingly prefer shopping online.

When creating digital ads for the holidays, new research from eMarketer reveals what audiences don’t want: video ads that play automatically with sound. Desktop users also don’t want to see pop-up ads, prestitial ads with a countdown, or large sticky ads. Mobile users, meanwhile, don’t want to see pop-up ads, prestitials, pages with more than 30% ad density, flashing animation, prestitial ads with a countdown, full-screen scroll-over ads, large sticky ads, or autoplay videos with sound.

About TEGNA 

The marketing experts at TEGNA stay up-to-date with industry news. We take the time to understand our client’s unique marketing needs to create a customized solution based on insights and industry expertise. From concept development to implementation and measurement, we offer the highest level of support as your marketing partner. Contact TEGNA to find out how we can improve your marketing strategy.