We’ve been waiting for this all year long. At last, it’s time to kick off your holiday advertising.
And this year will be crazier than ever. Holiday shoppers are expected to spend even more online this year, with experts predicting a 2.5% growth in online sales between the months of November and December.
Rather than rushing to spin up a last-minute campaign, follow these tips for holiday advertising success. Before you know it, you’ll be watching the sales roll in, cup of hot cocoa in hand.
Sections
1. Ensure your Shopping product feed is up to date
Make sure you don’t overspend this holiday season. Audit your Google Shopping product feed now to ensure all of your products are included, and all of your product details are correct. The more info you provide, the better. We’re talking details like:
- Pricing
- Color and size options
- Reviews
- Free shipping
- Discounts
- Curbside or in-store pickup
- Free returns
2. Use Google Ads extensions
With its wide range of ad formats and targeting options, Google Ads will be your home base during the holidays. Make sure you take advantage of these ad extensions that can help boost click-through rate during the holidays:
- Location extensions
- Promotion extensions
- Sitelinks extensions
Location extensions invite shoppers to shop in person, with a link to your closest store and nearby locations.
Promotion extensions include an extra line of text highlighting your current promotion with the discount code and sale dates.
Sitelinks extensions enable you to add additional links to gift guides, holiday deals, and holiday best-sellers.
3. Prepare your retargeting campaigns
People do a lot of window shopping during the holidays, whether that window is a real window or the metaphorical one on their internet browser. As they shop around, make sure they don’t forget the gifts they were checking out on your site.
Run remarketing display ads that remind people of the items they left behind. Bonus points if you can include any holiday discounts they can score, like Kate Spade did with this holiday display ad:
4. Tell shoppers about their last chance for holiday shipping
With supply chains still holding up delivery times, people will be even more worried about their gifts arriving on time this year. Reassure them with a clear guide to your holiday shipping times. Don’t be afraid to get granular with it, including the last day and time to order per shipping option to ensure it arrives by Christmas Eve. You can:
- Dedicate a page on your site to holiday shipping times.
- Include a banner across the top of your site reminding people of the last day to order.
- Call out the last day to order in your product description.
Trust us; you can’t over communicate this. Nordstrom even released a press release to get the word out:
5. Triple-check everything
Finally, take a cue from Santa and check everything twice. Any time you make a change to one of your campaigns, Google pauses the campaign. It could take up to 2 days for them to review your changes. While it usually doesn’t take that long, any second lost can hurt your sales.
To avoid any downtime, triple-check that everything is squared away — your targeting, budget, and more — before you click “go” on your holiday ad campaigns.
Preparation is the best gift
Incorporate these best practices into your holiday advertising strategy this year. The sooner you prepare, the better. So gift yourself a successful sales season by getting ready now.
Does your holiday sales strategy need a refresh? Talk to the digital marketing experts at Your Marketing People.
