Buying a gift can be a challenging process. There are seemingly unlimited possibilities to choose from on the market.
That's why you should make it as easy as possible for your customers to select one of your products as a gift. A gift guide is a great way to attract attention from new customers and reengage existing ones.
Read on for some tips on how to create a gift guide that will boost your sales and marketing strategy.
Gift Guide Sales Potential
One of the best reasons to create a gift guide is to boost brand awareness and sales potential. The best gift guides inspire and guide people to a product they love. When they're happy with their purchase, they tend to share it with friends and colleagues.
It's a way to boost your brand awareness and maximize your sales potential simultaneously.
People don't always have enough free time for shopping, but they still must purchase gifts for many occasions. There are also infinite possibilities for gift ideas on the market.
Solve both problems for potential customers by addressing their pain points with a gift guide.
What to Include In a Gift Guide
1. Understand your buyers' emotions
Buying a gift can often be an emotional journey. In most cases, people are searching for a gift for a recipient with an emotional connection. It includes a romantic partner, a family member, or a close friend.
Use this knowledge to create a powerful headline for your products to attract their attention. It's another reason why it's vital to familiarize yourself with your target audience's demographics.
2. Choose the right products
Once you understand your audience, the next step is to choose the right products to include in your gift guide. Your sales data will provide insight into popular products, sales figures, and buying trends and habits.
You could also ask your customers what they'd like to see in your gift guide. Use social media to gauge what they're interested in buying from you. Polls and surveys are good ways to reach out to your customers and determine what they want.
3. Consider creating gift bundles
Gift bundles are a great way to demonstrate your range of products to potential buyers. However, you must select the right mix of products for them to be effective.
You want to bundle complimentary products from your product range. Include products that have been successful in cross-selling and combine fast-selling products with slow movers to clear some of your excess inventory.
4. Consult your suppliers
Your suppliers are another source of knowledge regarding which products to include in your gift guide.
Ask them which products are moving quickly in their inventory and whether they anticipate any buying trends in the upcoming weeks and months.
Focus on relevant products for the season to ensure they satisfy your customers' immediate needs.
5. Determine the format of your gift guide
Remember that gift guides can come in many different styles. When planning your guide consider whether it would best serve as a social media post, blog post, video, or infographic.
There are three key factors for determining the best style for your gift guide:
- Audience
- Platform
- Niche
6. Use high-quality product images
Images also attract attention from your buyers. They provide instant visual information and make your gift guide easier to scan for people in a hurry.
If your buyer is interested in your product, they might share the image on social media to get a second opinion. It increases the visibility of your brand and can potentially engage new customers.
You could either reach out to your product manufacturer for their images or hire a professional photographer to take your own.
Holiday Gift Guides
A gift guide is one of the most powerful tools a business can have during the holiday season. It allows them to showcase products, inspire shoppers, and stay in their customers' thoughts during the holidays.
Releasing gift guides is a tradition in the retail world, and many businesses have discovered the benefits of holiday gift guides.
Marketing Your Gift Guide
Once you've chosen your format, then you can plan your strategy for marketing your gift guide.
Social Media
Social media gives you access to around 3.6 billion people and might increase to approximately 4.4 billion by 2025. Formulate an SEO strategy and utilize keyword research to expand your brand's reach.
You can also use paid advertising, which lets you specifically target your buyer persona.
Add text to your images and focus on offering a good user experience for your gift guide.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is another effective way to reach existing and potential customers. Most of the people on your email list are already interested in what you're offering. You could offer them a discount for referring a new customer.
Email also enables you to segment your list, allowing you to craft personalized messages to your recipients.
Benefits of Creating a Gift Guide
The main reason to create and promote a gift guide is to increase sales. However, there are several additional benefits for your business.
Here are four benefits of creating a gift guide:
1- Highlight Specific Products
A gift guide enables you to highlight and promote specific products that you offer. You can base this on data from sales history, inventory planning, or products in high demand.
For example, you sell coffee and see from recent sales history that a particular blend has consistently sold well. You could highlight it in your gift guide. It allows you to include complementary products that help boost their sales and sell off excessive inventory.
2- Boost Brand Awareness and Sales Potential
Designing and promoting a gift guide can boost awareness and increase sales potential for your brand.
You can also offer a more straightforward buying process than your competitors, providing the opportunity to attract new customers.
3- Increase Organic Search Results
Offering a gift guide in the form of a blog post or landing page can boost your site's organic search results.
Perform keyword research for your products and include them in your gift guide.
4- Improve Customer Lifetime Value
By creating a gift guide, you can reengage past and existing customers by encouraging them to choose your products over your competition.
You keep them connected with what your business offers and retain their future consumer purchases. It's known as customer lifetime value (CLV), or the total amount that a customer spends at your business during their lifetime as a customer.
Gift Guides for Your Business
You want to give your customers the best shopping experience possible. It's important to highlight popular products and bundle them with complementary products to reduce inventory.
If your business doesn't offer and promote gift guides, then maybe it's time to consider implementing them into your marketing strategy.