The Christmas season can be very confusing for advertisers, but it is important to remain cool, calm and collected – it will be over soon!
Each industry will be influenced in different ways and have their own individual issue as the season approaches, but for everybody, being prepared is essential.
For Retail Businesses Especially…
If you’re not utilising for seasonal trends, you may be limiting yourself from achieving maximum results.
You should be prepared to alter your budget with accordance to forecasted seasonal trends and previous results – you should analyse historical data and see what has worked well in the past.
Ensure that you’re keeping a watchful eye on your account – your ads must be running as much as possibly, especially when it matters most. You should avoid payment issues, being limited by budget and anything else that could stop your ads from showing to potential customers. You could possibly add a backup form of payment to be extra sure you don’t miss the season.
If you are an e-commerce website, you should use Google Shopping. Although this can be slightly difficult to set up if you are new to it, but the Shopping Network is likely to play a significant role in online shopping at Christmas.
Remember: Being a retail business does not mean you are always going to rocket in sales at Christmas, other factors also come into play which could, in fact, decrease your conversion rate – i.e. your competitors may be promoting an amazing Christmas offer, steering your customers in a different direction to you. Statistics show that Christmas advertising will be at it’s highest ever with retail businesses spending around £5.6 billion in the run up to Christmas 2016, this is £300 million more than last year!
Service based businesses will take a different turn – as I mentioned before, each industry is completely different at this time of year. You may discover that your target audiences are too distracted with buying gifts and eating turkey.
If historical data tells you that your business is quiet over Christmas, it may be worth decreasing your bids and budgets to avoid wasted spend.
