Inspire Shoppers and Increase Sales with Holiday Gift Guides

Organize and Design

Then, carefully organize and design your guide as a PDF. If you or your staff are comfortable designing a guide, great! If not, hire a freelancer to complete the task. Nicole Kohler, writer of “How to Create a Useful Holiday Gift Guide,” recommends using reputable designers from Guru, Upwork and 99designs. The cost will vary depending on your goals and vision. Kohler encourages retailers to make specific requests and suggest changes or ask for revisions if they’re unhappy with the product. Just be aware that multiple revisions might increase the price. Therefore, plan your guide thoroughly before you submit the creative.

You might also consider making a video gift guide instead of – or in addition to – a static PDF or Microsoft Word document. Videos might help your guide stand out against competitors. The video doesn’t have to be fancy or of Hollywood quality, just make sure the person on camera is clear, easy to hear and doesn’t move or talk too quickly.

Determine Distribution

Next, consider how to distribute your guide to holiday shoppers. Will you print the guide and mail hard copies to locals? Will you hand out paper copies to in-store customers? If printing costs aren’t in your budget, sending a digital guide by email is a sound strategy. You can also post the file on your blog, website or social channels using proper search-engine optimization techniques to push traffic to your business. If you go that route, try linking the content to specific items on your website so customers make on-the-spot purchases. If you created a video, post it on all of your online platforms. You can link within the video, too. Decide what distribution method is best for your company and start marketing.

Gift guides should make shopping easy for your regular customers, as well as those who aren’t familiar with your store or archery products. If nothing else, creating a guide – or multiple guides – might entice customers into your store so a sales representative can help them select the right gift.

For more information on creating a gift guide, contact Kurt Smith, ATA’s director of industry relations, at (717) 578-0736 or kurtsmith@archerytrade.org.