It might be a bit early to think about preparing your Christmas dinner, but you should already start preparing your marketing strategy for the last months of the year. The most important period of the year for e-commerce is coming again, the holidays!
Do you want to set up a promotion for Black Friday? Or highlight a collection as a Christmas gift? Then it's urgent to think about how you want to position your brand and products in the market during the holidays.
Start your preparation on time
Why should you start now? Simple. Good preparation can only help you get the most out of your promotional campaigns. Ensure a well-thought-out strategy with the right product selection and smart marketing mix, prepare your content so your campaigns stand out, and analyze last year's campaigns so you can learn from them.
Also, don't forget that consumers start their research quite early. The orientation phase of your potential customer is almost here! Buyers have been more focused on their holiday purchases lately: 74% do research before buying products. Be prepared by expanding your search terms with action-oriented terms and getting ready for the increasing demand.
87% of shoppers say they use Google services like Search, Maps, and YouTube during the holidays when shopping online, so we'd like to share some tips & tricks to make the most of your Google Ads campaigns during the holidays.
The Development of 2023: AI
The major development this year is undoubtedly AI. We can no longer ignore it; artificial intelligence is taking up an increasingly larger part of our lives. This smart technology can also help us deploy campaigns as effectively as possible.
AI and automated strategies are indispensable in Google Ads. Therefore, it's crucial to feed the algorithm with information so it can learn to find the right consumer for your products. Ensure up-to-date information in your account about conversions and customer data.
Google Ads continues to develop in terms of campaigns and other tools to optimally utilize AI. Below are some important developments regarding AI that can contribute to an optimal distribution of your marketing actions for the holidays.
Performance Max
The Performance Max campaign was introduced early last year but has evolved throughout the year, making it almost unavoidable for e-commerce players in 2023. The Performance Max campaign uses AI to connect your ads, channel, audience, and timing at the right moment to achieve the best possible performance for your brand and product.
Specifically for the promotions you want to run, you can add assets in your item group(s) that describe your promotion and convince the consumer.
Demand Gen Campaign
A brand new campaign type in Google Ads is the Demand Gen campaign. This campaign type creates interest and engagement with your brand and products. Using AI, the campaign reaches and activates your audience. This campaign is shown on YouTube, Google Discover, and Gmail, and is more situated in the orientation phase than the Performance Max campaign.
With this campaign, you can increase the visibility of your brand and products by reaching a broader audience and engaging them. It's the ideal campaign type to put your brand on the map before the holidays.
Google AI Studio
Google also launched the generative AI Studio. With this, you can enhance and adjust your images using artificial intelligence without much work. This can help enrich your product feed with images of your products, provide 3D models based on a few images, or easily create campaign images
Don't Lose Sight of Your Competitors
Analyze what your competitors are doing right now, monitor how they move in terms of impression share during the weeks leading up to the promotions, and analyze your prices compared to the competition.
Gradually Increase Your Budget
Consumers are starting to prepare for holiday purchases. Search intent is rising, but competition is also increasing. As a result, the cost per click will rise. Therefore, it's important to gradually increase budgets leading up to the promotion period so you're not limited in impressions during the consumer's orientation phase.
The gradual increase in budget is also important because your campaigns can learn how to best handle the extra budget leading up to the promotion period. If you double the budget or make a large increase all at once, the algorithm may be confused, and you might lose budget in the first days of your promotion.
Add Keywords Specific to the Holidays
Consumers search for promotions and discounts and will also type in keywords in combination with promotions like “black friday.” Be prepared by adding relevant keywords for your products and promotions during the holidays.
Ensure Competitive Pricing
Keep in mind that prices and discounts become more important to consumers. Use discounts and promotions strategically to maximize your profit and achieve long-term growth. 48% of consumers indicate that they buy from new brands when they have better prices or discounts.
Enrich Your Ads and Product Feed
Images
Ensure high quality of your images and also provide enough images. Many products on Google have only one image, but research shows that products with more than one image receive an average of 76% more impressions and 32% more clicks. It's worth the investment to increase your market share on Google.
An extra tip: let Google AI Studio help you create 3D visuals of your products. They generate 50% more consumer engagement.
Copy
Include your promotion in the headlines and descriptions of your ads. Pin the headlines in your Responsive Search Ads so your potential buyer is aware of your promotion.
Video
Be sure to add videos in your item groups in Performance Max. Advertisers with at least one video in their Performance Max campaign achieve an average of 12% more conversions.
If you don't provide a video, Google can also automatically create videos based on your images and copy. These videos are often of lower quality and have low branding value. Keep control over your brand and profiling.
Product Feed
You can use your product feed not only in Shopping campaigns but also in video action campaigns and Discovery campaigns. This results in an average of 74% more conversions from these campaigns at a lower CPA.
So, add the product feed to your campaigns as much as possible. If you don't have a video action or Discovery campaign active, consider these campaign types during promotion periods. You can combine branding and performance and expand your reach.
Use Branding Campaigns to Raise Awareness of Your Promotion
Research shows that people are more open to discovering new brands in their search for gifts during the holidays. Therefore, it's important to be present in the audience's orientation phase. Reach the right people for your products based on good targeting when they are browsing the internet.
This can be done with a video campaign, Display campaign, or Demand Gen. See what might be most interesting for your brand.
Do you have Performance Max campaigns with shopping-only item groups? During the holidays, it's best to add items so you can spread your promotion to the audience. This way, you also give your Performance Max campaign the chance to be shown on more channels (Search, Display, Gmail, and YouTube) and expand your audience reach.
Focus More on New Customers in Existing Campaigns
As we mentioned earlier, many people are open to getting to know new brands during their holiday search. Therefore, it can also be good to focus more on acquiring new customers in your current campaigns. You can inform your existing customers about your promotion through email marketing and your social channels without spending too much marketing budget.
With the goal of 'new customer acquisition,' you can choose to bid higher for new customers so more budget goes to these consumers, or you can also bid only for new customers. By focusing more on new customers, you can increase your market share and generate more revenue in the long term by binding new customers to you.
Build Consumer Trust
Ensure you have a webshop that instills trust in the consumer. An easy checkout, clear information regarding shipping and returns, and product reviews can create a good feeling about your brand.
The value of reviews for your brand should not be underestimated. It turns out to be one of the most important factors why people choose a brand or product. You can also add product reviews and seller ratings to your ads. It increases your click-through rate and can set you apart from the competition.
And the Work Doesn't Stop When the Promotion Starts
Let Google Know an Exceptional Period is Coming
The Google Ads algorithm is getting smarter and smarter. Based on historical data, it can make predictions to achieve your goals as best as possible. However, consumer behavior is slightly different during promotions like Black Friday or holidays. During these periods, traffic increases unseen, and conversions also rise significantly. Additionally, there are increasing competitors and click prices.
To prepare the algorithm for this, it's best to set seasonal adjustments in your account. This way, the algorithm knows that a 'special' period is coming and can adapt to it.
Also, it's best to lower your ROAS at the beginning of the promotion period so the algorithm has more chances to generate quality visitors and drive more sales.
Monitor Your Budget
Monitor your budget during the promotion period. Using the shopping depletion and budget pacer report, you can track how your budget is spent throughout the day. Is your budget almost gone by noon? Then it's best to increase your budgets to avoid missing out on revenue.
You can also set up alerts in your account to be notified when your budget is limited. This way, you can manage your budgets quickly and efficiently.
Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
If your competitors offer a lower price during the promotion period, you could miss out on many sales. Using the price insights report in Google Merchant Center, you can get a proposal for adjusted prices with estimated impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue. This way, you can see which products you want to compete with.
Additionally, you can also gain insights into your competitors and market trends with the “Competition Insight” report. By looking at price and assortment insights from competitors, you can get the most out of your promotions.
What are you waiting for? Start preparing for the end of the year now! Need help or advice for your campaigns? Feel free to contact us!
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