Christmas is approaching…is it too late to be good?

It’s not too late yet, but don’t wait any longer. Start preparing your holiday marketing now.

A recent survey shows that 76% of Americans will do their holiday shopping online and collectively spend an estimated 6 billion dollars, that’s billion with a “b”. Whoa, that’s a lot of shopping, and you should be thinking about how you can get a share of all that holiday spending.

We recommend utilizing PPC advertising to quickly get your product in front of these customers.

Advertising should be fun

Advertising is a tool that when utilized correctly can really reinforce your brand, add personality to it, keep your customers engaged, and not only drive sales but build brand loyalty. Your brand has a story, creative ads help enhance that story. Check out how some large companies integrated their brand with the holiday season:

2. Preparing PPC Holiday Advertising Campaigns

Taking advantage of the holiday season with PPC advertising requires a lot of work. We’ve put together a checklist for any business wanting to take advantage of PPC to boost their sales during this holiday season:

Know Your Holidays
Determine which holidays you think you can run promotions on. Communicate with your marketing team which dates you’re planning to hit such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Free Shipping Day, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year’s, and more. Not sure of all the dates? Contact us for a list.

Determine Promotion Dates
Now that you have the specific holidays you want to run your promotions around you’ll need to decide the time frame they will run. Should you run your promotion 2wks prior, the day of, or a month in advance?

Determine Your Offers
After determining the holiday(s) to run your promotion around and the length of time for the promotion you can now decide what are the best offers. Keep your offers very simple. Don’t create friction through the sales funnel. A few examples of friction could be; your promotions are only available to previous customers. Your promotion requires an initial step of filling something out or buying another item first.

Creative for Promotions
Now that the logistics are squared away it’s time to be creative. This might be one of the most important steps, anyone can buy Ad space but not every Ad can generate sales. The creative you display in front of your potential customers will likely determine if they click your Ad or ignore it.

Select Appropriate Channels
With your promotions in stone and your creative established to back them up, you’ll now have to choose which online PPC channels will be most effective for your holiday season marketing. Should it be Google, Bing, Facebook etc.

PPC Budgets
How much are you willing to spend for what results? You should have a general idea of what you expect sales to be as well as how much your willing to budget for advertising to obtain those sales. PPC allows you to set your own budget so it’s extremely flexible but just note that much like anything else the more you spend the better the results.

Emergency Contact(s)
Online traffic gets heavy during the holiday season, especially if your advertising. It’s a good idea to work with a marketing firm that can monitor your website’s uptime and help you navigate the process of PPC advertising. The worst thing would be to spend money on advertising and your site goes down. Be prepared for any issues that can arise. Think ahead.

3. Additional Considerations

1. Make sure your website is mobile friendly. Over half of web browsing and shopping is completed on a mobile device. Ensure your mobile checkout process is buttoned up.
2. If you decide to use Adwords for your PPC advertising then it’s a good idea to enable Bing as well. With a simple click, you can capture another 30% of search and display traffic.
3. Choose a certified PPC specialist to help you with your campaign. With a certified specialist, you can ensure your promotion will be effective and meet its objectives.
   Contact our certified PPC specialist if you have any questions.