Plus 12 Consumer Spending Stats that every marketer should know

The holiday marketing season is already in full swing and now is the time to reach out to customers and get them excited about deals as well as your other holiday promotions. For retailers, restaurants, e-commerce companies and many small businesses, it is vital to market your holiday promotions across multiple channels. Now is the time to reach out to your target audience and connect with them in ways that will inspire them to respond and ultimately spend part of their holiday budget on your products.

For retailers and small businesses, it is vital to get their message out via multiple touchpoints such as cross-media marketing and direct mail. Using direct mail, retailers can reach their ideal customers within a demographic that they choose. Direct mail done right also allows you to geo-target your audience based on key factors such as household income or personal interests. Businesses can also link physical mailings to online marketing efforts. Retailers can mail a postcard to consumers, who will then see corresponding online ads relating to that postcard and their brand.

Here are 12 stats about consumer spending that any retail or small business should know when planning their marketing strategies:

1. Brands see a 19% return on investment by using two media platforms instead of one. ROI jumps even higher to 35% when using five platforms. (Advertising Research Foundation)

2. 65% of consumers shop across at least two marketing channels; 21% are using four or five channels to shop. (PWC)

3. A unified cross-media marketing campaign with brand consistency across every channel is 57% more effective than being radically different or inconsistent. (Advertising Research Foundation)

4. Over 60% of online searches are conducted because of print marketing campaigns including direct mail advertising, flyers, and brochures. (Printing Industries Alliance)

5. Direct mail influences 76% of Internet users to buy a product or service online. (Marketing Profs)

6. 67% of eCommerce websites use offline advertising to drive traffic and generate sales. (CoolaData)

7. To best reach Millennials, 71% of marketing should be spent on traditional offline channels and 29% on digital. (Advertising Research Foundation)

8. 72% of consumers say they would rather connect with brands and businesses through multi-channel marketing. (Autopilot)

9. 97% of text messages are opened within three minutes. Add a text messaging subscription option to direct mail campaigns to strengthen your connection with consumers. (Autopilot)

10. Tweets with #hashtags have 2x (or 200%) more engagement than those that have none. Create a #hashtag and promote it with direct mail to encourage brand engagement online. (Buffer)

11. Personalized calls to action result in a 42% higher conversion rate than marketing campaigns with generic messaging. (HubSpot)

12. 40% of consumers buy more from retailers who personalise the shopping experience across channels. (Ironpaper.com)