December 12, 2016
If you’ve found this article, chances are you’re a small business wanting to know how you can effectively advertise like the big brands this holiday season. This article will show you how to do just that! But first, I’d like to share a personal story about the holiday season to help illustrate my point.
The holidays inspire us all. They inspire decorations, kindness, giving and shopping. For some people, like myself, they also inspire elaborate cooking. Last week, I felt inspired to have a dinner party, but not inspired enough to write a grocery list.
Big mistake. I ended up going to the grocery store three times in one hour.
Three times in fewer than 60 minutes! Fortunately, several grocery stores were near my favorite Harris Teeter. As I drove home recalling what I’d forgotten, I just made two quick ingredient pit stops.
If you’re like me, you enjoy cooking. You like the holidays, and you actually enjoy grocery shopping for holiday gatherings. That’s right — I love going to grocery stores. There’s something about them that’s so…hmmm…electrifying.
Maybe it’s the strict organization or the many choices. Or maybe it’s the almost overwhelming variety of colors and smells.
During the holidays, grocery stores come alive with the holiday spirit. You may think I’m crazy (which OK, I’ll concede that I am a bit crazy for loving grocery stores so much) but at this time of year you’ll agree: Food lends not only calories but life to the holidays.
Whether it’s turkey, or the stuffing, or grandma’s famous fruitcake recipe, the spirit of the holiday season exists in the many flavors, smells, and tastes that waft around our kitchens this time of year.
Marketing During the Holidays
Christmas creep is real. It’s the concept that Christmas marketing begins earlier and earlier every year. Whereas in days of yore, the season didn’t begin until Thanksgiving, it seems that Halloween now marks the beginning of the Season.
It’s no secret that holiday marketing pays off. According to the National Retail Foundation, Americans are expected to spend $655.8 billion this time of year. That’s about 10 times my state’s annual operating budget!
Big businesses also spend a lot on advertising during the holidays. Retailers deck the halls; commercials have holiday soundtracks, and every doorway seems to entangle us in tinsel.
According to Kissmetrics, businesses should be spending more during the holiday season. People are more likely to buy, so advertising during the holiday season can have significant ROI.
This has me thinking, how can small businesses successfully advertise during the holidays?
Small businesses can’t afford to roll out entirely new marketing plans for only two months.
This is what’s great about shopping cart advertising. Major supermarkets build extensive holiday marketing plans. They change their websites, stock holiday-flavored products, and play those commercials that give you the warm fuzzies.
Their marketing also pays off. On my three-supermarkets escapade for the holiday dinner party, it was apparent that I wasn’t the only one making last-minute trips.
Crowds were preparing for their own feasts. In the Harris-Teeter (my first stop on the adventure), these people were pushing their carts and looking at Adcart’s advertisements.
Every cart was outfitted with the advertising holder, and more carts meant more people seeing my local realtors and insurance agents.
This also got me to thinking —
Adcart’s method of advertising actually adapts to the holiday season. The increased holiday traffic provides greater exposure to our advertising partners, without increasing their costs or requiring any new marketing strategies.
The supermarkets get their customers in the holiday spirit. While they’re in the spirit, they see Adcart’s advertising partners while they shop. Local businesses benefit from seasonal marketing without any additional work or expense.
It’s just one of the season’s many gifts.
Oh, and happy holidays from Adcart.
More About Shopping Cart Advertising
Adcart’s unique form of advertising places small billboards on shopping carts in grocery stores. The patented advertising system puts your business’s ad in front of shoppers, from front door to check out to car.
This advertising medium allows local companies to take advantage of the large-scale, national advertising efforts of major supermarkets in their community. Most supermarkets average 15,000 to 30,000 shoppers each week, and this base overlaps with several local businesses.
Companies benefit from the strong branding and solid reputations supermarkets build to attract such high volumes of customers. Adcart works with businesses to determine the best location to display the company’s custom-designed, full-color advertising billboard on shopping carts.
There is currently a network of 16 supermarket chains in 33 states where the ads can be displayed.
The company, a division of ShopperLocal, currently holds patents for this shopping cart advertising system, which can display ads on three different placements on any shopping cart.
Why Advertise in Grocery Stores?
Communities are closely tied to their grocery stores, making them great locations for targeted, direct advertising. Adcart builds brand recognition in a trusted location.
Grocery stores also spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing each week. Adcart allows small businesses to benefit from this extensive marketing at a fraction of the cost.
Adcart Can Help Grow Your Business
Shopping cart advertising builds brand recognition through sustained and repeat ad exposure in the central part of a community.
Being seen is central to the success of any business, but it’s not about being seen just anywhere. Shopping cart ads are great for local business because they target your advertising to the people most likely to use your services.
If you are considering a shopping cart advertising campaign to build brand recognition and would like to talk to our representatives for a free consultation, please click here.