In the digital marketing space, each year the holiday season is expected to bring increased ad competition and a rise in cost-per-clicks. On the whole, digital advertising costs can increase anywhere from 10-25%. This year, however, there have been unprecedented increases in advertising auction pricing, especially on paid social platforms.
Campaigns with an average $1.00 per landing page view suddenly have skyrocketed to $5.00, making normal budgets have less reach and impact. Why is this? Likely because of the crowded landscape. Due to the global pandemic, customers are staying home, working from home, and having much more screen time. As a result, the supply and demand relationship is expressing itself strongly this holiday season. With more advertisers competing for the space, costs are increasing dramatically. So what exactly does this mean for your business? Here are a few ways you can shift holiday promotions this month to help combat the end of the year advertising increase.
Focus on Remarketing
Dynamic remarketing and similar product suggestions will be essential for the rest of the year, and for future holiday seasons. Though retargeting customers and site visitors is always important, shifting ad budgets to get more out of your customer base might be the way to go this season.
Be Specific
Other suggestions include a strong focus on individualized offers, like specific gifts for mom and dad in different price ranges. One example is launching a sales series during November and December (i.e. 12 Days of Christmas) to try to get customers to not only engage with the brand, but also share promotions with friends and family via social and email.
Spread the Love
While many companies align their promotions historically with Black Friday, in recent years there has been a major shift to focus on Cyber Monday. However, this year things have changed, and many brands are offering seasonal promotions all of November and December. While this might work well for your company, we also suggest mixing in some flash offers, or bonuses for spending a certain threshold to keep customers engaged and avoid ad fatigue.
Though businesses of all sizes may shift their Q4 2020 holiday strategies in order to maximize their user base, it’s important to keep in mind how this crazy year will change strategy going forward. With the digital landscape being flooded with brands, offers, sales, and giveaways, it can become overwhelming for consumers. That’s why for 2021 planning, we recommend focusing on building audiences via website, email capture, and focusing on understanding our customers to maximize advertising dollars and run efficient campaigns. It’s a new era for digital advertising, and the need to pivot and be flexible is likely a trend that is here to stay.
