Optimize Your Gift Guides
With the above points in mind, it's essential to consider what kinds of content will facilitate actions from your customers. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Copy: Create an editorial framework around key phrases or call-to-actions that work well across your long-form and short-form content channels. With an emphasis on the gifts in the guide, copy can be used to create context or education around what you're trying to sell.
- Visual: Gift guides are inherently visual as they provide a look at the service or product for sale. Use the holidays to iterate on your visual product imagery by creating a unique identity system (colors, fonts, embellishments) that is distinctive to all holiday/guide-related content. Doing this will help maintain consistency across your brand's hero content while creating something aesthetically-stimulating for your customers.
- UGC: Don't underestimate the power of a real-life testimonial. Consider how user-generated content (or UGC) can fit into your marketing strategy in addition to the assets you create in-house. This approach can be especially helpful when establishing credibility around products or services that might be a hard sell otherwise.
Identify an Industry for your Gift Guide
From food to design, every sector will have its own set of standards for promoting gift guides. Generally speaking, here are a couple of things to consider whether you're a brand or content creator.
Brands: This year has paved the way for transparency across a brand's environmental and social responsibility functions. Consider how you curate/market your guide to reflect the efficacy or long-term value of your products or services.
Influencers: Similar to the above, as trusted authorities, influencers are responsible for remaining transparent in how they're curating their gift guides. With that in mind, it's important to make sure your guides are considering diversity in both product and brand selection.