Unbalanced Holiday Advertising & Where You Should Increase Your Ad Spending

In order to understand holiday advertising, let us begin by looking at some statistics and forecasts on holiday retail. As per Deloitte holiday retail survey 2021, this holiday season will be bigger and better in terms of sentiments and spending from customers. With experiences expected to drive the growth, the holiday spending is expected to increase by 5% over the last year to $1,463.

Here’s more holiday advertising statistics-historically; during the holiday season, brands experience an upwards of 50% increase in impressions, a whopping 100% in click-through rates, and a 60% jump in the conversion rates.

Simply put, the holiday season is the season when consumers are all set to spend and shop till they drop. Given this market truth, it is but natural for brands to allocate disproportionate marketing budgets during these holiday months compared to the other months of the year.

With the consumers willing to spend buying gifts and essentials from October to December, why not give them an excuse to spend money through holiday advertising campaigns. With even the average order value going up by 30% during the holiday season, spending disproportionately on communicating holiday advertising ideas is ideal for businesses.

In order to maximize the gains from your holiday season advertising, here are some of the incredible channels you should definitely consider promoting your products, services, and season’s best offerings on:

Social Media Is All About Engagement And Garnering Interest

At 4.48 Billion, over 56% of the total global population is today on social media, making it a no-brainer to channelize your energies and resources to social media while running your holiday advertising campaigns. Plus, if one were to go by Deloitte holiday retail survey 2021, over 62% of the holiday shoppers would prefer to complete their holiday shopping online rather than offline.

In today’s digital age, names like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., are commonplace. While working on your Facebook holiday advertising, adding a holiday unique cover photo will generally garner better interest from the users. Not only is Facebook a great platform to showcase all your deals and promotions, but it is also brilliant for engaging the consumers through various contests.

Another great platform for customer engagement through contests and questionnaires is Twitter. Tweeting about your holiday-related photos as well as with product and offer details can get a lot of eyeballs. With Twitter, it is critical to reply to customers, retweeting their pictures and content. It works to keep conversations personal and also to run a crazy hashtag campaign.

Pinterest and Instagram are all about images. Creating a distinct board with content related to the holiday seasons and relevant offers always helps grab the consumers’ attention on Pinterest. On Instagram, it works to use customer-generated images of their parties and get-togethers with their families and friends to create a festive mood. Make your page fun and engaging to keep the audience hooked on.

Create Urgency With Urgent Text Ads

Text ads are a form of communication used by marketers to promote their products or services on search engines using paid search ads like Google AdWords. A strong copy that generates excitement and creates urgency with the customers is the backbone for any successful text ad campaign. Besides a tight copy, a catchy headline and an attractive call to action also leave a lasting impression and help deliver results.

Lastly, creating a sense of urgency is exceptionally critical for the success of text ads. Phrases like “act now,” “last day,” “one day only,” limited quantity only.”, etc. work wonders here. If possible, change deals and offers, and remember to use them in your text ads.

Boost Sales With Display Ads

Display ads, like text ads, can essentially be used to promote your sales and deals. With a stamp of festive sale on the image used for display ads, they also help create the festive mood while promoting a specific product or service.

Another great strategy used by many includes offering a discount code to consumers. Display ads are great for communicating any festive sale you may be running. Together with holiday advertising taglines, these offers should definitely be designed to make your ad stand out.

While designing ads, given the increase of smart device usage, care should be taken to ensure they are universal and compatible with any sized device-tablet or smartphone. With multiple image displays, use GIF.

All display ads should have a call to action, leading to the brand’s e-store, website, or social media page. Another trend catching up is the trend of “self-gifting,” so capitalize this.

PS: Do try dressing your mascots in red in keeping with the festive spirits.

Targeted Emails Still Work Wonders

Festive emails with your holiday advertising slogans should be loud enough to aggressively promote your product and offerings. Be sure to pamper the loyal customer with coupon codes and discounts. It is also a great time to get better conversions from new customers.

Another good strategy could be to use a behavior intelligence engine or other automation systems to send out more personalized emails depending upon user behavior from the past.

With email marketing, an intriguing subject line can work wonders. Having a question about the subject or a listicle like “top 5 gifts for your children”, “10 most gifted products” together with a bit of personalization works wonders.

Finally, with emails, timing matters. Given that it’s the holiday season, the ideal time to send out emails is usually in the morning hours, when people are most likely to check their email.

Affiliates And Partnerships Help Increase Your Reach

These mutually beneficial alliances are your partners who will help increase your communication reach to add that magical touch for your target holiday advertising. Simple activities like writing a blog for your partner as a guest post or publishing your video on your partners’ platform can help address those audiences you may not have access to earlier.

For seeing success, it is critical to identify partners who sell a complimentary product or a brand with a similar ideology as yours. Incentivize your customers for using the affiliate brand, further helping your affiliate and your brand.

While these tips will definitely help you achieve your goals this festive season, remember that you are not alone. Keep your holiday advertising ideas fresh, get your content to the point offering a product or service with a discount, get your partnerships right, and you can hope for success. More than anything else, be aggressive, be adventurous with multiple channels, and go for the kill this holiday season advertising.