Holiday Season Is Over But Creativity and Diligence Remain

Gerard Tollefsen - January 10, 2011

Another holiday season in the books, did you meet your goals?  There are still plenty of customers out there shopping, so its time to get creative with new ad messaging.  In addition, make sure those holiday ads are pulled down.

As we move into the 1st quarter of 2011, you are going to see plenty of post holiday specials.  When running a Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaign, you need to be imaginative with your message to attract customers.  Many companies run big sales on overstock products, but how do you separate yourself from the competition?  Price is always a big attention getter, but if you simply offer deep discounts in your ads, you will merely be bunched into a large group of similar companies saying the same thing.  Yes, you have a “Clearance Sale” and so do the other 50 PPC ads competing for the first page!  Think about inventive ways to attract customers beyond just the slashing of prices.  Think about using humor or word play to make your ad copy stand out.  Strategies such as these can be just as attractive for a searcher, if not more eye catching, than seeing another post-holiday sale offer.  Once they get to your site, you can clearly show they are getting the great deal they expect with compelling landing page content.

While planning out a creative strategy for your post holiday campaigns, make sure you terminate any ads specifically written for the holiday rush.  One of the quickest ways to turn off a customer is to have active ads promoting a sale that is no longer in place.  You are almost certain to see high click-through rates, higher bounce rates, and very low conversions if you are not closely managing your seasonal ad copy.  Additionally, if you have selling points like “Buy Now to arrive before Christmas” in ads still running in the month of January you can be sure customers will be turned off by your lack due diligence.  I am always surprised by the number of PPC campaigns that are too slow to adjust to the changes in the season.  I don’t think I am alone in ignoring campaigns that offer 25% discounts on orders placed before December 22nd when I am searching on January 4th.

These two concepts may seem elementary but they can go a long way to differentiate your company from the competition.  Do not assume everyone is being as creative and diligent with their ads because the fact is, they are not.  Conduct a few searches yourself to see what’s being promoted in ads for your top keywords.  Avoid the temptation to follow the herd with bland “clearance sale” ad copy and stand out from the pack with ingenuity.  Lastly, and I cannot stress this enough, pull down those outdated holiday ads.