Get Ahead of the Holiday Rush: Ad Strategies for Maximum Impact

November 4, 2024 |

Written by Daniel

It’s Crunch Time: Why Early Planning Wins the Holiday Season

If you’re starting to hear holiday music in stores, and the Halloween decorations on the shelves, it’s too late to start thinking about your holiday season campaigns! As an advertiser, of course, you know that the competition is as high as ever during the last few months of the year and it’s important to stick out with your messaging. But, how do you know when the right time to plan and launch is and how do you create messaging that will stand out and resonate with potential customers? You’re in luck, I’m here to walk you through the process to ensure you make the most out of your advertising efforts this coming holiday season.

What You Need to Know

There are two very important points to remember when considering when and how to launch your holiday season ads. Timing will be half the battle. This is because 21% of holiday shopping is completed by mid-October. So be prepared with your plan of attack before everyone else has crowded your potential customers’ feeds and search results!

The other important thing to remember is that, according to Meta, 82% of shoppers are open to switching brands or trying new ones to find the best deal. So you can’t just be first, you need to have the right promotion to win new business.

How to Incorporate Compelling Holiday Messaging

Now that you know when and why you are running holiday season ads, let’s get into how to incorporate the right messaging and what it will look like in practice.

Having great visuals for your ads is half the battle but what are you doing to make the customer’s life demonstrably easier? What pain points are you addressing? This is where emphasizing convenience will make you stand out. Make sure to highlight if you have free shipping, extended return policies, or more purchase options, like buy now pay later.

Countdown Timers

Once you identify what exclusive deal you want to use to make yourself stand out, make sure it’s paired with a sense of urgency! Countdown timers on Google Ads make this an easy task to deliver on.

The first step to incorporating Countdown Timers in your ads is to create a new Responsive Search Ad:

Then make sure you dedicate one of the headlines to the countdown timer by typing in “Special ends in {“ or something similar as long as you use “{“ to generate the dynamic insertion menu then select countdown:

Once you have selected countdown you can set the end date of the promotion and how long you’d like the countdown to last for:

Success on Meta

Using Google Ads and Meta together is always suggested. All the rules about emphasizing how you are the right and convenient option for the customer apply but how does that work when creating Meta ads? Create an Advantage+ Shopping campaign that has at least 10 unique creative assets.

The Power of Reels

Prioritize Reels as they outperform campaigns without them. How, exactly? Ad sets with Reels have a 4.8% lower cost per action, a 2.9% higher conversion rate, and 5.1% higher click through rate. Reels also deliver a 34% lower cost per result than image ads. According to Meta’s Reels ad guide, Reel ads are most effective with users aged 18-34 with 80% of Gen Z users making a purchase after watching a reel. This does not mean that Reels will only work on a younger audience. Reels have a strong brand interaction benefit. A 2023 survey by Morgan Stanley revealed that 82% of respondents have followed a business after viewing a Reel and 74% of respondents have messaged a business after viewing a reel.

Finish Strong: Make Your Holiday Ads Unforgettable

Remember, it is not enough just to spend more on ads leading up to and during the holiday season. Make sure you are putting your best advertising foot forward by remembering that you want to address the pain points of your clients in the most convenient way possible. You’ll also need to create urgency. Google Ads countdown timers create a literal ticking clock that reminds customers time is running out on the solution to their problem.

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