You may not want to believe it, but the festive season is right around the corner, and Christmas ads in particular are extremely tough to get right, so it is best to start now. And while some of the bigger, more established brands reap huge rewards during the run up to Christmas, many struggle to achieve the commercial success they desire. 

There are a number of competing factors that impact the success of a truly great Christmas ads and seasonal marketing campaign. And while the key disciplines of B2C and B2B marketing remain unchanged, executing a successful eCommerce campaign at Christmas is an entirely unique entity. 

As autumn takes a grip on the weather, now is the time to start urgently thinking about Christmas and how best to increase your ROI and supercharge your ads. 

Make Your Ad Create Your Number One Priority 

Creative assets are an essential part of any advertising campaign, but even more so at Christmas. Star-lit skies and snowy scenes take customers on a wonderful journey, with your product featuring as the awe-inspiring, problem-solving gift at the end. 

mailchimp-partner-program

Christmas marketing draws upon themes of desire, excitement and wonderment, meaning you can approach your ads in a variety of unique ways using a number of established platforms including Google AdWords, Bing, Facebook and YouTube. 

It is also worth considering how people search for Christmas gift ideas throughout the year, making it even more important to agree on your creative approach sooner rather than later. 

Schedule Your Christmas Content in Advance of the Season

The modern customer has a variety of unique behaviour types which involve multiple touch points, so it has become increasingly harder to be reactionary in your approach. 

In this day and age, potential customers are just as likely to search on TikTok or Pinterest for inspiration or this year’s must have present, as they are to use a search engine such as Google. Trends which have emerged over the past few years show that customers are considering their purchases for a longer time, and are more budget conscious. Indeed, studies show that customers are taking 9 days longer on average to make a purchase decision. 

We would recommend that you start at least planning your strategy in autumn to launch in November, while premium products should be advertised as early as possible. At an absolute minimum, it is best to start 2-3 weeks before the Christmas season to maximise brand awareness. Furthermore, before the launch of your Christmas ads campaign, it is best practice to set up a seasonal landing page. It is also hugely important to make sure your website is robust and updated to handle the influx of visitors expected during Christmas time. 

Choose a Format that Best Suits Your Needs 

During the festive season, newcomers enter the market looking for quick ways to increase their ROI, meaning your ads can end up competing with hundreds of thousands of competitors who are operating in a similar market to you. With this in mind, it is imperative to make sure that your festive ads stand out head and shoulders above the competition. 

When building a Christmas ads campaign from scratch, it is important to choose the best ad format for you. Whether that is video ads which are useful if you want to show your product in more detail; mobile ads, if you know your target demographic is more likely to use a smartphone when making a purchase; native ads, which are great if you depend on maximising user generated content; or DSP ads, if you lack the time to build a campaign from scratch. 

In order for the above ads to be successful, however, you need to have good quality images and video in order to maximise their potential. 

Again, competition is fierce during Christmas, and so you need to motivate potential customers to make quick purchasing decisions. And by that, we recommend you never let a potential customer slip through your fingers. 

During the holiday season, customers are much more likely to put products in their shopping carts either for later or, more interestingly, so other rival shoppers cannot access them. They are also more likely to move on to another purchase or forget altogether  So, it is important to get to grips with remarketing early and plan your strategy ahead of time. 

Best practice includes emphasising benefits, special deals and expiry dates to retain your customers’ intrigue even after they have left your website.

Master Your Domain First 

Do you have a physical shop on the high street? If so, it is hugely important to tap into your local community not just in store, but online too. To do so, geo-targeting enables you to serve up ads to people within your local radius, including those within 100 metres or less. 

Indeed, while people may travel to get the gift they want at Christmas, they would much rather shop in their local area, So, by targeting local people, no doubt you will increase the effectiveness of your ads. 

PPC Geeks: Your Christmas Ads Specialists 

We pride ourselves on what we achieve for our clients on a daily basis, be that significant results or enabling them to drastically increase their ROI at Christmas time.

Contact PPC Geeks to see how we can help you achieve your objectives this Christmas by working with an exceptionally talented PPC agency.  

You May Also Like

Gamifying Sustainability: Turning Eco-Choices into Playful Wins

The Earth, once a vibrant haven, now bears the scars of our…

Inspiring Digital Agency Tagline and Slogan Examples

A digital agency is like a muse for brands. So, what can…

Need to Revamp Your Brand’s Messaging? Look at What’s Trending

Whether she’s promoting a consumer brand or raising money for a non-profit,…

7 strategies to sell more

The simple part of selling is thinking that someone needs your product…