Tips To Increase Sales This Holiday Season!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for brands, as the holiday season has arrived and gifting season is in full swing. This is a great time for marketers to take advantage of promotions and other tips and tricks to increase sales this holiday season.
This is especially true this year, as the National Retail Federation has reported that holiday spending is expected to reach a new record this year at $902 per person on average across gifts, food, decorations, and other seasonal items. The latest NRF consumer survey – conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics – found that people will spend $25 more than last year’s figure and $16 higher than the previous record set in 2019.
Although there is a shorter window of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, the NRF predicted that retailers should prepare to meet the needs of consumers. This includes providing your holiday shoppers with earlier deals, sales, and ensuring inventory is correct.
If you’re wondering what marketing efforts you should take during the most in-demand time of year, Digital4Startups knows of some common practices that should help.
1. Start Early to Capture Holiday Demand
Planning and optimizing your ads ahead of time can make a huge difference in your holiday success. The same goes for your product or service, think of what your ideal customer wants and create a promotion or deal for them. You can do bundles, free gifts, seasonal products, or any other creative idea to attract holiday shoppers with new promotional ads.
According to Google, “Starting your holiday campaigns early can help you capitalize on the growing search interest in holiday shopping.”
Launching your ads early can help you capture potential customers during the research phase. This also gives you time to optimize campaigns, adjust keywords, and ensure that your ads are showing at peak moments.
2. Optimize your ads for the holidays.
During the holiday season, specific terms gain traction as shoppers search for holiday deals. That’s why it’s standard to update your campaigns with your relevant holiday terms to increase the chances of your ads being shown. If you’re unsure how to optimize each campaign type, D4S has some ideas that you can choose from.
For those running shopping campaigns, you can add holiday-specific attributes like special promotions, pricing, and shipping details. It’s also suggested to include all necessary product information in your shopping feed and highlight discounts or limited-time offers that appeal to holiday shoppers.
For video campaigns, it’s typical to showcase seasonal products and target the right emotions and customer needs to help boost engagement. In general, throughout all campaigns, it’s a common practice to add promotions like “Free Shipping,” “Limited Time Offer,” or “Holiday Discount” in your ad copy.
Take advantage of special extensions like countdown timers to create a sense of urgency and consider crafting messages that align with holiday sentiments. Lastly in all campaigns with images, make sure your product images are high-quality and your titles and descriptions are clear and enticing to customers.
3. Monitor your ads daily and focus on mobile optimization.
With the fluctuating demand, trends, and competition during the holiday season, keeping an eye on your campaigns can save you time and stress. Making adjustments in real time is key to maximizing your holiday performance. During this time you should regularly review campaign data, adjust bids, tweak keywords, and edit creative to respond to these changes.
If you’re worried about budget during the holiday season you can take advantage of Google Ads’ smart bidding. This works by making the most of your budget by automatically adjusting bids in real time based on the likelihood of conversion. Smart Bidding strategies like Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) or Maximize Conversions help optimize bidding for each auction, to ensure you get the most value from your spend.
It’s also no secret that holiday shoppers are buying on mobile devices more than ever before, so optimizing your ads and landing pages for mobile is essential. Dave Kooi, Senior Account Manager at Digital4Startups, says mobile shopping is expected to be bigger than ever this season, so it’s important to ensure your ads are mobile-friendly.
“With more than half of holiday shopping happening on mobile, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly and ad copy emphasizes convenience is crucial. Mobile-optimized landing pages and checkout processes can make all the difference,” said Kooi.
4. Use Remarketing to Re-engage Past Customers
Remarketing is another powerful tool to boost your holiday performance because it allows you to reach previous users and invite them back for the holiday shopping season. During the holidays, remarketing can be especially effective, as it targets customers who are already familiar with your brand and products.
By serving tailored ads to these users, you can remind them of products they viewed earlier or show them similar items they might be interested in. This increases the likelihood of conversion as the holiday season progresses.
Conclusion
The holiday season offers immense opportunities for brands to drive sales. Start by optimizing your campaigns early and utilizing strategies like smart bidding and remarketing to boost holiday marketing efforts. Remember to stay agile and monitor or adjust your campaigns to meet the shifting demands of holiday shoppers. With the right approach, you’ll be well-positioned to capture attention, increase conversions or leads, and make the most of the record-breaking spending this season. If you have any questions about Google Ads and want to schedule a consultation, please email info@digital4startups.com. Happy Holidays!
