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It’s that time of year again! The holiday season is upon us and that means it’s time to start thinking about how to prepare your Google Ads for the influx of search traffic or lack of traffic, depending on where your business sits in the marketing landscape.
For shopping and travel websites, the holiday season being one of the busiest times of the year, meaning there’s exponential potential for your business if you know how to make the most of it.
To help you prepare, we’ve put together 4 tips for making the most of your Google Ads this holiday season. From making sure your ad copy is relevant to your target audience to increasing your budget to take advantage of the increased traffic, we’ve got you covered.
So read on and find out how you can make the most of your Google Ads this holiday season!
1. Anticipate changes in customer behaviour
The holiday season is a busy time of year for everyone, which means that customer behaviour changes as well. People are searching for gifts, deals, and holiday entertaining ideas all while trying to juggle their busy schedules. This means that your target audience is likely to be in a different mindset than they are at other times of the year.
To make sure your ads are successful, it’s important to anticipate these changes in customer behaviour and adjust your ad campaigns accordingly. For example, you may want to create separate campaigns, additional sitelinks, extensions or ads for your holiday deals and your regular product offerings. For example, you might want to adjust your ad copy to focus on the benefits of your products or services rather than features.
2. Plan your ad campaigns in advance
The holiday season is a competitive time for businesses, so it’s important to have your ad campaigns planned and ready to go well in advance. This way, you can take advantage of the increased traffic and get your ads in front of as many people as possible. When planning your ad campaigns, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Think about what you want to promote for the festive season / end of year break – Is it a holiday sale? A new product? A special offer? End of year offer? Once you know what you want to promote, you can start to create your ad campaigns.
Decide what type of ads you want to run – Google offers a variety of ad formats, so you’ll need to choose the one that best fits your goals. For example, if you’re promoting a holiday sale, a search ad might be a good option. Or, if you want to increase brand awareness, a display ad might be a better choice. You may even want to create special countdown items in your ads.
Once you’ve decided on the type of ad, you’ll need to create your ad copy and design. This is where you’ll need to get creative and make sure your ads stand out from the competition.
Set your budget and schedule – Google allows you to set a daily budget for your ad campaigns, so be sure to factor in any increased traffic during the holidays. You’ll also need to decide how long you want your ads to run. For example, you may want to start your ads a few weeks before the holiday to increase brand awareness. Or, you may want to run your ads only on the days leading up to the holiday to maximize your results.
3. Create relevant and targeted ads
One of the most important things to remember when creating your ads is to make them relevant and targeted to your audience. This is especially important during the holiday season when people are bombarded with ads from businesses of all types.
To create relevant ads, you’ll need to consider what your target audience is looking for during the holiday season. For example, if you’re targeting parents, you may want to focus on the convenience of your product or service. Or, if you’re targeting people who are looking for holiday gifts, you’ll want to make sure your ads focus on your unique selling points.
In addition to making your ads relevant, you’ll also want to make sure they’re targeted to the right people. Google allows you to target your ads to specific demographics, interests, and even locations. This is important because you want to make sure your ads are being seen by people who are actually interested in what you have to offer.
4.Monitor your campaigns closely
Google provides a variety of tools that you can use to keep track of your results, including the Ads dashboard and GA, but also ensure you are keeping a close eye on sales data / leads data. By monitoring your campaigns, you’ll be able to see which ones are performing well and which ones need to be tweaked and boost / decrease spend where required.
Monitoring allows you to take advantage of any data you can access in the short period of time that is the festive season. You may find a new product line or service that is selling well and providing exceptional ROI; the faster you can boost ad spend, the likelier the chance of picking up more sales.
Conclusion
The holiday season is a busy time of year for businesses, so it’s important to make sure your Google Ads are ready to take advantage of the increased traffic. By following these tips, you can make sure your ads are relevant, targeted, and effective. And, by monitoring your campaigns closely, you can make sure you’re on track to reach your goals.