Day 4: Marketing and Branding for the Holidays

During long sunny summer days, it’s hard to imagine the holiday season is right around the corner. The sellers who begin preparing during the summer have a head start and a smoother holiday season. Have your marketing and social media ready to go for fewer things on your mind during the busiest time of the year.

Prepare Your Shipping Cut-off Graphics

Each year, postal carriers such as USPS, FedEx, and UPS announce their holiday deadlines. While you may use their guidelines to decide when your cut-off date will be, it may be worth adding an extra week on. This can account for sudden weather changes, delays, or an influx of last-minute orders.

Create an infographic for your shop with the date you’ve chosen to be your “last call” before the deadline. You can make a placeholder graphic for now, and once you’ve decided on a date, add that in. Then put the infographic into each listing as a listing photo. Have a holiday version of your shop banner ready to go, for when you put your shop into holiday mode.

Shipping carriers release their deadlines as the holidays get closer, so keep a lookout for those announcements!

Add a Pinch of Holiday Fun!

Consider taking new listing photos with holiday-themed props or color schemes. This can help your items shine on a search result page during the holidays. For a mock-up, swap in some candy canes or snowflakes, or give the backgrounds cozy, inviting colors. Get double use of your time by reusing those new thumbnails for your social media marketing. Take some videos of how you package gifts or handwrite a card, and use those in your listings and social media.

Shoppers want to know that you are active and present in your shop. Making small updates is a great way to let them know that you’re ready for the holidays. You can learn more about how important first impressions are in the eRank blog post, The Power of Decorating Your Etsy Shop.

Begin growing excitement for your upcoming holiday products on social media. Begin sharing your process and idea photos NOW while you’re preparing and building stock. Keep it a mystery or shout it from the rooftops, whichever style resonates more with your target audience. Schedule out posts as far in the future as you can, leaving yourself some wiggle room should plans change.

Craft Supply Sellers

Makers who need your supplies to prepare for their own holiday products are already shopping. Spend more time on your photos and descriptions rather than finding new products to list. Highlight the quality and craftsmanship of your products on social media. Share how you might use them yourself to make items that you also sell! Makers love process videos, as videos can help inspire them and help them understand what to make with the supplies you sell.

Learn more about selling supplies in the eRank blog post How to Sell Craft Supplies on Etsy.

Getting your shop holiday-ready needn’t be stressful. Planning ahead can give you a competitive edge and also lessen stress once the busy shopping season has begun. eRank has blog articles, tools, and community support to help you every step of the way.

Today’s Tasks:

• Begin planning your holiday marketing
• Create some holiday-branded graphics for your shop
• Visit eRank’s Holiday Hub for more Q4 tips and advice