Before the shop-local campaign starts, make sure its link goes to a page showing your holiday hours, what is in store this season and how to buy, then ask the organisers to link straight to it.

The campaign is already running

In November, downtown business associations and shop-local campaigns start sending people to member shops: printed maps, gift guides, window decals, posts, and a website listing every member with a link.

The shopper who follows that link has already decided to shop locally. They want to know whether your shop has what they are after, and when it is open.

Too often the link lands on a home page still showing summer hours, a spring promotion or nothing about the season at all.

The campaign did its job. The page did not.

What the shopper is looking for

The first is most likely to be out of date. A shopper who finds a locked door at six on a Thursday, because the site still shows summer hours, is unlikely to try again in December.

Check the listing the campaign uses

Start with what the association already has. Most keep a member directory with a description, a photograph, an address, a phone number and the link.

These directories can go years without an update, and members rarely look. Read yours: the link, the phone number, the category and the photograph.

If the link points to an old domain, a page that no longer exists or the home page of a previous design, ask for it to be changed now, before the printed guide goes out.

And ask whether it can point to a specific page rather than the home page.

A holiday page at a permanent address

Build one page for the season at an address that will not change, such as /holidays on your own domain, and update it each year rather than starting again.

Put the hours at the top, then this season's stock, then how to buy, then directions and parking.

Give the association that address. Next year the link still works, and only the page needs updating.

The same hours everywhere

Hours have to match on the website, on Google, on Facebook and on the door, or shoppers cannot tell which to believe.

Special hours in Google My Business apply to chosen dates, so the listing can show late openings and holiday closures while the regular hours stay as they are.

Set them once, for the whole season, before the first campaign mailing goes out.

What is in store, shown plainly

A shopper choosing which of twenty member shops to visit wants to see what yours sells, now.

Photographs of this season's shelves, a short list of gift ideas at a few price points, and anything that only appears in December.

Rough prices help. A shopper planning a round of stocking stuffers wants to know whether your gifts start at five dollars or fifty.

This is not a catalogue. A dozen photographs with a line or two each is enough to tell a shopper the trip is worth making.

What to send the organisers

Associations usually ask members for a photograph and a few lines of description for the printed guide and the website.

Send a current photograph of the storefront taken on a bright day, wide rather than tall, and one of the inside with the season's stock on the shelves.

Write the description yourself: what you sell, in one sentence, and the holiday page address. Whatever you send is what campaign shoppers see first, so it deserves twenty minutes.

A worked example

A bulk food store on a downtown main street joined its area's holiday shop-local campaign last year. The campaign listed members on a website and in a printed passport stamped at each shop.

The association's directory linked to the store's home page. That page still showed the summer trail mix special, summer hours that ended at six, and a photograph of the storefront from before its renovation.

That December the store stayed open late on Thursdays, took phone orders for holiday baking quantities and made gift jars to order. The site mentioned none of it.

Partway through the season the owner built a holiday page: December hours at the top, the baking supplies in stock, how much notice gift jars need, phone orders for large quantities, and parking behind the store.

The association changed its link to that page and replaced the photograph. The same hours went into the store's Google listing and onto its Facebook page, and staff were shown the page so they could point phone callers to it.

This year the same page only needed new hours and this season's stock.

Seeing what the campaign sends

Visits from the association's website appear in Google Analytics as referrals, under the association's domain, with no special setup. If their site is on HTTPS and yours is not, those visits show as direct instead.

Look at them weekly through the season, along with whether those visitors went on to the hours, the map or the contact page.

And ask staff to note when a customer mentions the campaign. It is the simplest measure there is.

After the season

On Boxing Day, or the day after the last campaign event, change the holiday page to say what happens next: January hours, the next event, a sign-up for next year's dates.

Leave the page in place. A dead link in the association's directory over the winter is the same problem in reverse.

The counter-case

A shop that does most of its holiday trade with regulars who already know its hours may get little from the campaign link, and a short notice on the home page can be enough.

A member outside retail, such as an accountant or a physiotherapy clinic, may need only correct hours and a working link.

For a shop that wants new customers in December, though, the campaign link is a free introduction. Make sure it lands on a page that shows the hours, what is in store and how to buy.

Before the campaign starts

  1. Read your listing in the association's directory.
  2. Fix the link, phone number and photograph.
  3. Build a holiday page at a permanent address.
  4. Put December hours at the top of it.
  5. Set special hours in Google My Business.
  6. Ask the organisers to link to the holiday page.
  7. Check referral visits weekly through the season.

Step four is the one shoppers act on. Everything else on the page helps them decide; the hours decide whether they arrive to an open door.

For a shop that trades from inside another business, the listing needs the same care, as covered in Google listings for a business inside another business.

Frequently asked questions

Where do shop-local campaigns send shoppers?

Usually to the link in the association's member directory, which often points to the home page and is rarely checked by the member business.

What should the landing page show?

Holiday hours including late nights and closures, what is in store this season with photographs, how to buy, and where to park and which entrance to use.

Should I make a new page every year?

No. Keep one holiday page at a permanent address, update it each season, and give the association that address so the link keeps working.

How do I set holiday hours on Google?

Use special hours in Google My Business. They apply to chosen dates, so late openings and closures show on the listing while the regular hours stay unchanged.

Can I see visits from the campaign?

Usually. Visits from the association's website appear in Google Analytics as referrals under its domain, unless its site is secure and yours is not. Staff noting mentions in the shop helps too.

What happens to the page after Christmas?

Change it to January hours and what comes next, and leave it in place. A dead link in the directory over winter is the same problem in reverse.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Campaign link landing on summer hours?

Send us your shop's address and the association's directory page. We will check both before the guide goes to print.

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