By Amy Neale

With the holidays upon us, it’s a great time to engage shoppers with festive marketing. Rather than just sticking to the usual specials and “happy holidays” messaging, think about how you can tell a story and share ideas that inspire consumers.  This can help to increase basket size and build customer loyalty as they connect with you on a deeper level.

At Bad-Adz, we use a variety of techniques in our email marketing and social media posts to peak the interest of holiday shoppers. We use our recipe videos and images in combination with the local store specials, local products, and event happenings to become a one-stop holiday resource for grocery and meal planning.

The Christmas Feast photo below shows a festive holiday spread that can be combined with sale items such as chestnuts and spiral ham - right in time for holiday meal planning.  Giving people ideas to add to their menu, whether it’s homemade or from your own prepared foods department.

Tips to Inspire Spending During the Holidays

1. Ask engaging questions on social media, such as, “What is your favorite holiday dish?”. This can prompt responses and give you a chance to interact with customers in a very positive way. Add branding and your logo to the pictures you post so when they are seen and shared, you’re also gaining impressions and brand awareness for your store across the web.

2. Create related and personable content. For example, by using a series of pictures to spotlight employees' favorite mouthwatering dishes, you can create an Instagram slide post for people to flip through for ideas and share with friends. This helps to build your brand personality and connect with consumers. Another way is to post or respond to comments with related recipe videos, such as this Orange Glazed Baked Ham Recipe for all those spiral ham lovers out there. It will keep customers engaged with your content and add items to consumers shopping lists.

3. Combine ideas together so they are even more powerful and allow you to help consumers connect the dots. For example, these two drink videos can be used together with fun messaging and are a great way to inspire additional purchases. As people host for the holidays or visit friends and family, many are trying new things or looking for something extra special to share. People love to share ideas and photos of delicious food, your store should be joining in on the fun, you’ll be rewarded with loyal shoppers.

An easy treat for the kids…

and something special for the adults!

4. Connect your marketing. Find ways to coordinate your messaging across platforms and media. You can connect social content to emails by sharing relevant recipe videos and favorite meals in your next email campaign. GIFs are also a great way to add motion and excitement to your email. Including short preview GIFs of recipe videos are an enticing way to guide customers to click through to a video published on your website or social page. Make it easy for people to navigate from one aspect of your marketing to another, becoming a useful resource for consumers on all channels.

Feeling overwhelmed?

If you need a digital marketing agency to take your email and social media marketing off your plate, we’re pros at grocery store marketing. Give us a shot.