Is your pay-per-click (PPC) strategy ready for the upcoming holiday season? We don’t mean to alarm you, but there are only two months left until we reach the height of holiday spending. Given that nearly half of eCommerce marketers plan to launch holiday campaigns before October, we guarantee your competitors are prepping early this year.
If you want to win more sales this season, your PPC campaigns should be optimized for a variety of shoppers — early bird, last-minute and even post-holiday shoppers. To help you kick your campaign planning into high gear, we’re going to share some of our best data-driven tips with you to make your campaigns successful during this celebrated time of year.
Figure Out Your Budget
Starting in late October, online retailers typically see increased impressions, clicks and conversions. Unfortunately, they will also see much higher cost-per-clicks. This is to be expected, as more people are now searching for your products, and your ads are appearing more often.
You don’t want to miss out on holiday sales opportunities because your budget ran dry. Plan to increase your budget during the coming months to account for increased product searches — especially from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, when searches are at an all-time high.
On the other hand, you don’t want to overspend during the holidays either. If you’re taking advantage of online retargeting tools, like AdRoll, you can use BidIQ, their artificial intelligence algorithm that automatically optimizes your bidding strategy in real-time.
Start Planning Your Holiday PPC Campaigns Early
Creating coupon codes, performing keyword research and developing ad copy are vital steps to eCommerce success, especially during the busy holiday season. It’s important that you don’t overestimate how much time is left for perfecting your PPC ad strategy. If you don’t have a plan in place, we recommend that you start now.
Like we said, your competitors are already formulating their holiday PPC campaigns. To win more sales this season, you will need as much time as you can get to prepare your marketing strategy to capitalize on the busiest time of the year.
Get the Timing Right
When do you plan to launch your Black Friday and Cyber Monday ads? Roll them out too soon and you may hurt your sales because everyone is waiting for the best deal. Launch them too late and your audience may not see your ad in time before they make the purchase.
For most industries, the sweet spot tends to be two or three days before Black Friday. This gives online shoppers enough time to see your ad without hurting your bottom line.
Of course, there are some marketing campaigns that you should launch weeks in advance. These will help prime holiday shoppers for upcoming sales and allow you to test your ad creatives to see how your audience reacts.
Use Facebook Ads to Build Brand Awareness
With its advanced targeting capabilities, Facebook is a powerful advertising platform for eCommerce marketers. To leverage Facebook ads this holiday season, plan on launching your ads two to three weeks in advance to introduce new audiences to your store’s brand.
You can do this with Facebook’s Lookalike Audiences feature, which targets users who resemble your current customer base. Show ads that build brand familiarity and start growing your relationship with these users (video ads are perfect for this). When the holiday season rolls around, your brand will stand out in a sea of unrecognized brands.
Get Started with Dynamic Remarketing Ads
Did you know that only two percent of site visitors convert into buyers? That’s where remarketing comes in. By serving ads that are only shown to those who have previously engaged with your brand, you stand to cut your PPC spending and save money in the long run.
With dynamic remarketing ads, you can take things a step further by showing these users ads featuring products that they’ve previously viewed. If you’re a Magento or Shopify retailer, you can easily create and launch static and dynamic web, Facebook and Instagram retargeting ads directly in the Springbot dashboard — just in time for the holiday season!
Final Thoughts
Holiday season or not, PPC advertising can result in massive sales for small- and medium-sized eCommerce stores. To make the most of your PPC ads during the holidays, remember to track and monitor your campaign results closely.
One last thing — don’t forget to optimize your landing pages! Planning for after the click is key to any successful PPC strategy. With these tips, you are queued up for a solid year-end!
