ICYMI: Small Businesses Use Digital Ads For Big Holiday Season
While the holiday shopping season is known by consumers for steep discounts, it’s critically important to small businesses’ bottom lines. According to the National Retail Federation, total retail spending will reach about $730 billion in November and December 2019 – and small businesses are increasingly relying on digital tools in order to reach and target consumers:
— This holiday season, small businesses are investing more in digital ads to reach a wider audience during their most profitable time of year.
— Digital tools especially help small businesses located in smaller markets sell to a global customer base.
This holiday season, small businesses are investing more in digital ads to reach a wider audience during their most profitable time of year.
Adobe Analytics reported that shoppers spent $3.6 billion online this Small Business Saturday: “Adobe Analytics, which tracks online sales, says that’s up 18 percent from a year earlier. Adobe reports that holiday season sales are on track to grow 14.9 percent from 2018. Small businesses garnered $68.2 billion in online sales from Nov. 1 to Nov. 30.”
A survey from small business lender Kabbage found that most retail small businesses have their highest profits during the fourth quarter holiday shopping season: “The impact of fourth-quarter profitability varies by industry, with online retailers (74 percent) and brick-and-mortar retailers (71 percent) reporting Q4 as their most profitable time of the year.”
A February poll of 529 small businesses across the US finds that 95% will increase their spending on digital marketing in 2019, writes The Manifest’s Emily Clark: “Digital marketing allows more direct interaction with consumers, as customers click advertisements and emails when they want to. Customers voluntarily engage with an ad, which demonstrates an initial level of interest.”
Digital tools especially help small businesses located in smaller markets sell to a global customer base.
Dan Cochrane, chairman of watch brand Vertex, argues that the rise of microbrands in the watch industry can be attributed to the sophistication of digital ads: “Internet, internet, internet. From access to information to access to suppliers to access to your target audience, none of this was possible before.”
Betsy Mikesell, co-founder of Utah-based bedding manufacturer Beddy’s, argues that digital tools’ sophistication and low cost have enabled her small business to sell to a global consumer base: “We sell all over North America and also in England, New Zealand and Australia. We get more than 3 million monthly views on Pinterest and we have more than 250,000 Instagram followers. All of these platforms require our team’s input and management, but their global reach and analytics are incredibly complex, way beyond the know-how of our small company and remarkably low-cost (sometimes free!).”
Small businesses in Maine are increasingly using email and social media to target tourists outside the summer season, says Steve Pogson of marketing agency Helm Digital: “‘They’re trying to recapture and re-engage the summer tourists,’ Pogson said. Those summer tourists can be a lucrative market for Maine retailers, even when they’re hundreds or thousands of miles away and the seasons have changed, he said.”
Julie Gabay, owner of Pacific Cycling & Triathlon in Connecticut, says that digital ads help her reach consumers even though she doesn’t have an online store: “I don’t look at it as a deficit that I don’t have an online store. At the same time, social media is very important to us. For us, it’s a way to reach customers we couldn’t with just our website.”