This year Cyber Monday set an all time record for online sales in America. According to data from IBM Smarter Commerce, holiday shoppers turned Cyber Monday into what is now known as “the biggest spending day ever”. Online sales grew by ~30 percent year over year. U.S shoppers spend over $1.25 billion as they rushed to go online and grab those “hard to say no to” deals.

Historically, department stores have been the slowest adopters of online sales platforms; however, this year was a different story as giant retailers such as Nordstrom, J.C. Penny and Macy’s experienced one of their largest gains in sales.

With most retailers vying for revenue growth, it is crucial to market your brand and company effectively to ensure that you attract new customers and manage to retain old ones. Some marketing tips for Cyber Monday:

1)      Review your data from last year: this should be step one in your planning strategy. What worked? What did not work?

2)      Social media: crowds will be searching for deals and discounts on all social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. To jazz it up, try offering a different promotion on the hour every hour. You could raise awareness by announcing your promotions on the various social media platforms.

3)      Create a sense of urgency:   increase sales instantaneously using the “buy now” ‘s and “only today”’ s to avoid losing customers to competitors.

4)      Appreciate your customers: offer special gifts with the purchase of certain items. It shows you care.

5)      Visuals are important: Pinterest has gained popularity where potential customers could be browsing for holiday gift ideas. Post visually appealing pictures and slogans to announce your discounts and special offers. The key would be to create a picture or message board with a link that would take the customer to your online store at a click of a button.

6)       Mobile friendly: ensure that all your newsletters and ads are mobile friendly and links are easy to navigate. How many times do you remember trying to click on a link on your mobile phone only to realize that you are clicking on the wrong link because of the fat finger syndrome?  Remember – make customers lives easy. You don’t have to lose sales to a competitor because your app isn’t easy to navigate.