To help give your brand a head start this year, I want share a few of ouragency's best tips. Here are six ways you can optimize your brand marketing for the holidays.

1. Every year, brands worldwide look for
Ways to ramp up their marketing efforts in
preparation for the biggest shopping season
of the year. With all the hustle and bustle the holidays
bring, brands employ their best advertising tactics to grab consumer
attention early and harness the ad opportunities available through
various channels like the web and social media.
To help give your brand a head start this year, I want share a few of
ouragency's best tips. Here are six ways you can optimize your brand
marketing for the holidays.

2. 1. PRIORITIZE YOUR
MOBILE STRATEGY.
This year consumers are making a list and checking it twice through their
mobile device. It seems as though every year, for the past five years, has
been hailed the year of mobile, and 2014 is no different. User adoption of
mobile smartphones has skyrocketed in the last year and is expected to reach
nearly 2 billion by the end of the year, according to research firm e-marketer.
Not only are consumers using smartphones, but consumer adoption of
tablets is also steadily increasing with many digitally savvy consumers owning
both a smartphone and a tablet.

3. Moreover, wearable tech is becoming a
growing trend with smartwatches like
Apple watch making its debut early next
year. To leverage your brand this upcoming
shopping season, you must prioritize your
company’s mobile strategy and find ways to reach
consumers wherever they are with targeted advertising
campaigns that yield to the nuances of varying mobile technologies.
At the core, consumers want the best deals and convenience, and they want
it now. These key things will serve as the guiding light for your strategy.
Particularly, small businesses looking to compete with larger retailers should
take advantage of mobile by offering coupons and special offers on items not
widely accessible elsewhere.

4. 2. FOCUS ON REAL-TIME
MARKETING.
Real-time marketing is all about being aware
of current cultural trends and incorporating your
brand into those conversations in a way that’s creative,
timely, appealing and ultimately beneficial to consumers as well as your
brand. The holidays are an ideal the time to fine-tune your real-time
marketing strategy as this time of year provides, as consumers are extremely
attached to their devices constantly monitoring and sharing deals.
A helpful tip for real-time marketing is automation. It’s best to try to
automate marketing as much as possible using automatic emails or queued
advertising, so that you don't have to try to manage your entire campaign
amidst the craziness.

5. 3. RAMP UP SOCIAL-MEDIA
EFFORTS.
One of the most useful means for executing
real-time marketing is social media. It’s also a
great way to engage with consumers and get
real-time feedback. It’s important for brands and marketing
teams to understand that social media is a two-way communication tool and
should not be used for dumping micro bits of information on your audience
but rather actively engaging with them and responding to legitimate queries
in a timely and constructive fashion. During the holidays, social-media users
respond well to content that is relevant, smart and makes use of the holiday
spirit without being over the top or disingenuous. Be sure to differentiate and
show value. Do not just tell people they should buy because it is the holidays
-- that doesn't mean anything. Make sure you are very compelling and the
holiday is just subtext.

6. 4. USE INFLUENCER
MARKETING.
A good to way to maintain a certain level of
authenticity during the holidays is using
influencer marketing. The old ways of
word-of-mouth marketing are, in many ways, still the
most effective strategy. Also, making use of social media and blogger
influencers is a great way to resonate with audiences on various platforms.
For instance, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networks and is a
huge player in the influencer market. Search social media and blogs for key
influencers that can operate as brand ambassadors during the holidays. Your
stocking will be stuffed with nothing but happy customers.

7. 5. MAKE E-COMMERCE
SEAMLESS.
Monetizing your marketing channels is arguably
the most effective way to fully leverage your brand
during this holiday season. At the end of the day, you want to drive
consumers to make a purchase; therefore, you need to make the process as
convenient and simple as possible. From PayPal to newer technologies like
Apple Pay and even Bitcoin, there are so many ways to monetize social-media
channels and mobile devices to make it simple for customers to make a
purchase. Making these technologies available to consumers can make all the
difference.

8. 6. PLAN AHEAD.
Now that you have some helpful tips on how to
maximize your marketing strategy this holiday
season, all that’s left to do is plan. You may think Christmas
is not so far away and in case you haven’t noticed, the holidays start earlier
and earlier each year. Stay ahead by having everything queued and ready to
go by November 1 for the timed holiday campaigns. You do not want to be
last minute on this because it will produce your biggest numbers. Also be
sure to test everything long before the holidays. Try tag lines and see how
things perform. DO NOT do anything new that could have a large negative
impact. Now is not the time to test new channels or technologie