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Brace Yourself – Holiday Shopping Is Coming: Five Ways to Dominate the Season

Paid Media

Posted by Mike V On November 23, 2016

It’s never too early to start holiday shopping. This sentence rings true in the ears of a lot of consumers. You may think you have a lot of time to prepare for the festive season, but time flies when you’re running a business. Take advantage of the next three months and prepare for the upcoming storm that is holiday shopping by running paid ads.

5 Ways to Use Google AdWords to Dominate the Holidays

Here are five Google AdWords strategies to help you dominate the holidays.

5. Go Digital!

The times are a changin’. No longer do we expect people to open up their catalog or drop into a store to make their purchases. People are taking to their phones and computers to make purchases and conduct research on this year’s hottest toys or best electronic products.

Also, make sure to spend your money wisely, by focusing on devices that tend to give your product the best conversion rate. Google AdWords displays ads across three device archetypes, tablet, mobile and computer devices.

With Google’s latest update to AdWords, you’re now free to adjust bids per device to your liking, making sure you have the most power and options heading into the hectic holiday season.

4. Remarketing, the 80/20 Rule

Also known as Pareto’s Principle, the 80/20 rule states that 20% of your customers will account for 80% of your sales. Tailoring your holiday messaging to those customers’ tastes and search history is a great way to increase your total holiday revenue.

Remarketing works on various platforms within the AdWords spectrum, from the use of RLSA in the Search Network to the dynamic remarketing in the Google Display Network. Find out which network and platform provides the best conversions for you, and remarket to returning customers. If you want to take it a step further, you can incorporate conversion rate optimization elements to improve performance without increasing your spend.

3. Use Your Ad Extensions

Ad extensions give your ads extra real estate on the SERP (search engine results page) and help provide shoppers with more information. They also make your ads stand out, and the best part, it’s all FREE!

With ad extensions you’ll be able to provide information on your physical location, phone number, reputable reviews and even prices for certain products.

Make use of as many of the ad extensions shown above as possible, to give your ads a leg up on the competition. As Black Friday and Cyber Monday come closer, expect to see an additional Structured snippet extension that will emphasize any additional information or savings to potential shoppers.

2. Focus Your Ad Copy

Don’t just let your old ad copy run during the holiday season, take this time to target those seasonal shoppers and try and convert them into regular shoppers. Use different techniques to help make your ads stand out during the holidays. Include holiday/seasonal messages in your ad content; include one-time or seasonal sales/discounts, and other seasonal incentives such as “avoid the holiday rush.” Try generating a sense of urgency that will make the shopper want to click on your ad right away.

1. Include Shopping Ads and PLA

Shopping ads are one of the best tools AdWords offers for the Holiday season. These ads are not only cheaper in click pricing, but have almost everything a shopper is looking for when making a purchase on a product. Shopping ads provide searchers and potential shoppers with an image of the product, the price, reviews, and any potential special offers as well.

The best part is Google typically shows ads that are above the fold (top half of the page), and even above search ads, so it’s the very first thing searchers see. Shopping ads tend to be a little more complicated than other aspects of AdWords, so it’s imperative that you gather all the resources necessary to implement Shopping Campaigns well before the start of the holiday shopping season.

Begin Your Holiday AdWords Campaign Early

Don’t let the holiday madness sneak up on you. Prepare and plan ahead for the most successful shopping season you’ve had in years! Contact V Digital Services for more information on how to dominate this upcoming holiday shopping season!

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Mike Venable manages the day-to-day operations and strategy of the paid team at V Digital Services. He has worked at V Digital for over 3 years and has helped drive department growth, operational success, and expert campaign strategy for our client base. He has driven paid strategy for national, regional, and local clients over the course of his 8+ year careers in paid media.

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