How to use marketing to boost your ecommerce business’ potential this Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is a huge day for ecommerce businesses. In 2021 the average person spent around $220 for the day, a figure that has steadily climbed since 2017, with total spending set to reach $28.1bn.

With consumers spending more time online than ever before, it’s important to ensure your ecommerce business stands out in a marketplace which has become more crowded than ever. Marketing is a key area in which you can help boost your visibility and sale figures, but Mother’s Day brings its own unique set of challenges.

With the occasion being such a special one for so many, customers will be looking for brands they can trust in and that echo their sentiment surrounding the occasion. By utilising bespoke content strategies, influencers, gift guides, and more, you can help boost your ecommerce business chance of capitalising on Mother’s Day.

Social media is still the Motherlode

For an ecommerce business, social media has always been a key marketing tool. Targeted use of websites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest can reap significant dividends as long as you have a coherent strategy in place.

A key strategy to focus on for Mother’s Day is user-generated content (UGC). With the occasion being such an important and emotive one for so many, UGC can not only help ramp up engagement with your audience but also allow users to feel they’ve made a connection with your brand.

UGC can help users to put their loved ones in the spotlight, making both the user and their parent feel special. It’s also completely free and can help generate significant amounts of content for your social channels with minimal input from you.

To back up UGC, ensure that you’ve created content tailored specifically to Mother’s Day. Blog posts highlighting the lifestyle applications of your products can be a great thing to share on social media, as well as staff picks and giveaways.

Ensure you’re also engaging extensively with your audience and monitoring interactions on social media surrounding your brand. This can help to flag any areas in which you could be doing more for your audience, such as additional shipping options or discounts when appropriate.

Timing is also crucial in your use of social media for Mother’s Day. Start with incentivising early purchases through discounts and shipping promises, as well as reminders on your social channels and email promotions.

As the day gets closers, make sure to highlight how you can still help those who have maybe left things to the last minute! Ensure your order deadlines are clear however; UK greetings card retailer Moonpig promised via their TV advertising that they would be able to deliver all cards by Mother’s Day. When many cards failed to materialise, the company saw a significant backlash on social media.

Influence the Conversation with Influencer Marketing

As well as more traditional social media avenues, influencers can help you to create an amazing and creative marketing campaign for your ecommerce business. By teaming up with a well-known blogger, Youtuber, or Instagram influencer you can help create a campaign that could reach an audience well outside your own sphere of influence.

An influencer led campaign can be particularly effective for Mother’s Day given the personal nature of the celebration. The nature of an influencer’s relationship with their audience means they are able to deliver your product through a true connection with their followers. You can also integrate ideas such as discount codes or exclusive product variants in order to drive more sales.

Your choice of influencer can have a big impact on how effective your campaign can be. Mother’s Day is often associated with quality, luxury, and spoiling a loved one so making use of ‘high-end’ influencers is a good first step. Additionally, seek out influencers who already operate within some of your key demographics: parent bloggers, fashion influencers, and beauty Youtubers are some good starting points.

‘Mom bloggers’ however are the corner of the influencer market that can help deliver your brand to the widest audience. These influencers focus on navigating their transition into parenthood whilst still focusing on their core business/values, and are largely followed by other mothers. Through documenting their own experiences of motherhood, influencers such as these are the ideal brand ambassadors for speaking to a dedicated audience for Mother’s Day.

Guide your Customers onto the Right Path with Gift Guides

A gift guide is an excellent way to not only help guide visitors to your website looking for Mother’s Day gifts, but also existing customers who value your brand and want to use you for their Mother’s Day purchases.

At a basic level, setting up a gift guide can help group all relevant products for immediate access on your landing page. Doing this enables even the most unlikely of edge-cases, such as first-time customers visiting for an unrelated purpose, to instantly be made aware of your offering in the run-up to Mother’s Day.

To really maximise the impact of your gift guides however, it’s important to consider the different profiles for visitors to your site. Don’t just think about who your products are being purchased for but also who is purchasing them. Think about both the age of the buyer and intended recipient, potential interests of the recipient, even the relationship between the two.

A child buying for a parent is usually the norm, but what about spouses buying on behalf of young children? Or a mother-child dynamic in a found family relationship? Your gift guides can overlap, but think about how you might frame the same product to different buyer profiles.

Services Lead the Way

Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic created a myriad of fresh challenges for ecommerce sellers, it’s also caused consumers to look for companies to do more in these unprecedented times. As an ecommerce seller, offering additional services to help mitigate the impact to consumers can help your business stand head and shoulders above other brands.

One solution is to ensure you have a robust ‘services’ offering which complement your physical products. This includes being able to offer gift cards for anything that may be disrupted by a change in Covid-19 restrictions. A generous redemption period for your gift cards can also become a central part of your marketing message.

Additional digital services can also be a fantastic way to market your ecommerce business for Mother’s Day. An online personal shopper service could not only help you stand out in a crowded marketplace, but help to drive further sales.

Conclusion

Whilst Mother’s Day is set to be another huge sales day for ecommerce businesses, by making best use of these marketing tips you can ensure that your businesses is the one standing tall.

A comprehensive and diverse social media strategy will reap the biggest rewards for ecommerce businesses. Making use of user generated content can help both current and prospective customers feel included. Monitoring mentions on social media can help you to pinpoint exactly what more you can do as the day approaches.

The rise of ‘mom bloggers’ and Instagram influencers can be a book for ecommerce businesses looking to find a new audience this year. Work with individuals who will really understand your product and are able to translate that passion to their audience.

Finally make sure to highlight what your business is doing to help customers during these uncertain times. Giving customers certainty that their purchases will be honoured, that their gifts will get to them on time, and that they can reach you for personable support should they need to.