The tactics are coming in full force around the topic of Marketing today for tomorrow’s holiday shoppers. As much of the retail industry is having meetings three times a week (this started in July) solid plans are still in preparation. What this means for software companies and advertisers is a greater chance to introduce new services to the industry before plans are concrete.

Last year what did you do for your brand that was outside of the box? Most of the big box brands followed the same tactics that they’ve done year after year achieving some of the same or some less than spectacular results. In most polls that Zoom Email Marketing (http://zoomemailmarketing.com) conducted by The Directory52 Network, it showed that nearly 68% of small to mid-level retailers spent meeting in a creative space and developed out-of-the-box concepts that had a greater return than the previous years.

Of course we have Direct Mail and Postal Circulars which gain about a 15% increase in market share but the two big tickers were Email and Social Media. When I say social media, I am speaking of the big four (Facebook, Twitter, Email and Mobile). These locations filled with helpful apps were the source of over 30% of all revenues seen. So now I ask, what will your plan for Q4 include?

Some companies like Bronto (http://bronto.com) have already started their influx of emails to marketers on LinkedIn and beyond offering tips, tricks and secrets to navigate successfully this holiday season. Now I am sure most of you may be thinking “Its Christmas Already?” and of course it is not, but the time to prepare is always 90 days and beyond. If you have not already started your planning, you should mark on your calendars for September 25th as the spit fire deadline to create your genius plan.