Eleventh Hour: Last-Minute Quick Fixes for Holiday Ads
Whether you’re an online retailer, a small business using the Internet to promote your business, or a company combing website sales with a brick-and-mortar store- it’s crunch time. The final weeks of the quarter, and this decade, are among you: how will your advertising pay off? If you’re anxiously watching the days of December count down while your PPC campaigns are struggling to turn good leads or ROI, consider these last minute quick fixes for your December PPC campaigns.
Keyword Research:
With time running out, it’s critical to the success of your PPC campaigns that they include all possible keywords that prospective customers are using. Think of their search for your product in stages: initial research, specific product research, and time to buy. Then consider the keyword phrases that searchers may be using along these steps and add any missing keywords to your campaign. Keyword reports, available through your PPC management console, and research tools online will help you fill in any gaps.
While you’re in research mode, check out the keywords that your competition is using to drive traffic. There are plenty of free online keyword “spy” tools that will give you an edge up in your competition’s best performing keywords. Knowing this critical information, and adding any missing phrases to your campaign, will put your ads in front of consumers where the opportunity may have been previously missed.
Budget Review:
Run some campaign reports and analyze your overall budget consumption over the past month when holiday shoppers really started kicking into high gear. Next, run reports analyzing budget consumption by time of day, by campaign, and by keyword. With all of this data swimming before your eyes it won’t take long for trends to begin emerging from the inky water. Perhaps you notice that your ads are searched most frequently from 10am – 2pm, or maybe even from 7pm – 10pm. Maybe a particular search phrase may be extremely popular and be eating up most of your budget. If the traffic and click-through data is positive, you’ll want to make sure your PPC campaign budget is adequately funded during the right times, and for the best performing phrases, so that your ads are always presented front and center for searching consumers.
The Phrase That Pays:
Figure out the offer that motivates potential customers to reach into their wallets and become actual leads; in other words, make them an offer they can’t refuse. Here is where knowledge of your product or service, and customer base really comes into play, and where simple A/B testing can really give your struggling campaigns a boost. Whether it’s free shipping, deep discounts, a hybrid of the two, or popular Buy 1 Get 1 deals; now is the time to crank up your best sales pitch. Using solid performing keywords, and considering the budget research you performed, set up A/B tests pitting two different offers against each other. What you find out will let you tailor those ads running during the final weeks of the year with highly converting offers, and give you something extra to smile about on January 1st.
If you’re stuck in a PPC conundrum, don’t waste any more valuable time! Give our PPC experts a shout; initial consultations are free and we offer several free marketing an analysis tools that will pull you out of any advertising rut!