Setting up a perfect PPC ad campaign is not all about making the ad copy look good or choosing the right keywords. Often, people become so focused on the PPC ad campaign side of things that they forget about the Marketing strategies. PPC ads are one part of the equation; the actual test starts when the potential customer lands on your website; this is where marketing begins.
While a PPC ad campaign is not the end-all and be-all, to lure potential customers in, you still have to prepare an attractive ad campaign.
The following PPC Marketing tips will help you maximize sales not only on Black Friday but throughout the holiday season.
Advertise A Deal
Many people hold off their purchases in anticipation of getting a better deal during the holiday season. The cyber week includes days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday is an excellent time for most people to shop for themselves and their loved ones. You can cash in on this perfect opportunity by offering a deal that grabs people’s attention.
The first thing people look for while shopping during holidays is the % off discount they are getting. So, you have to prepare your ad copy to put your deal front and center. For example, your ad can start as “30% off on the best electronics brands” or “Buy one t-shirt and get one for free.”
Due to the prevalence of shopping websites like Amazon, people expect to get free shipping. So you have to consider that while making any offer during this holiday season. A shipping charge might deter people from making purchases at your website.
Increase Your Budget
Having some extra dollars lying around during a busy season is always a good thing, especially if you are up against businesses from around the world. The beauty of the internet is in its openness. Anyone from anywhere can advertise and sell their products on the internet, so if you are running a PPC advertising campaign during the holiday season, you must be ready to shell out some extra $.
An extended budget is essential to drive traffic to your website on crucial and competitive days during the cyber week. If you have prepared your ad campaign to attract people, you will need to have finances to keep it running for longer. The more people interact with your advertisement, the more you have to pay the publisher, so there is no getting around the financial requirement.
It is better to plan for the expected expense rise way before the holiday season than to lose precious traffic on Black Friday or Cyber Mondy.
Load Test Your Website
Often businesses become so focused on advertising and providing competitive offers that they forget about the technical aspect of running a digital marketing campaign. When more people visit the website simultaneously, the load on the web server increases, and when it reaches its threshold, your website will become inaccessible.
Getting no traffic is not as bad as losing a customer after they have arrived at your website because if you are not getting customers, you still hope for them to come. However, if someone visited your website and finds it unresponsive or inaccessible, they are not likely to return, and they might also warn other people against visiting your website.
Having technical issues during crucial moments is the worst thing that can happen because you don’t just lose your customers for an instant; you lose them for good, as they go to your competitor while you fix the issue.
Because responsiveness and timing are everything when it comes to online shopping during holidays, you should stress test your website long before the arrival of Black Friday to make sure everything will run smoothly even under an unusual load.
Discount Code And Free Shipping
Whether or not you offer free shipping can play a significant role in driving up conversions. People expect to get free shipping on every item, especially during the holiday season. If you are not providing free shipping, you might lose a significant number of customers.
The other and most obvious thing people look for while shopping on Black Friday is the discount. You can mention a discount code in your PPC ad that the customer can use to avail of additional discounts. For example, your ad could say, “30% off on branded watches, use offer code CyberWeek for an extra 10% discount.”
You can also use pop-ups on your website to show the special discounted items and how much discount you are providing.
Welcome Returning Customers With Recommendations
Isn’t it nice to go back to a place, and people there instantly recognize you and remember your preferences? A customer can get the same comforting feeling if you set your website correctly to provide a personalized experience to your returning customers.
You can create a suggestion list based on their previous purchases or provide them with special discounts or offer codes. Graciously treating returning customers is the key to acquiring long-term and loyal clients. Often businesses become so focused on attracting new customers that they neglect the existing ones. This type of behavior will ultimately hurt the companies in the long run.
Get Your Website Mobile Ready
It is more likely that the person visiting your website is using a smartphone than a computer. The number of people exclusively shopping from their desktops or laptop is declining. The modern smartphone can do so much that people use it to perform all online activities, including shopping.
If you don’t optimize your online store for the mobile experience, you will lose a significant number of customers during the holiday season. Not making the website mobile-friendly is not only bad for acquiring customers who are shopping using their smartphones, but it also means losing potential customers on desktop platforms.
Google usually prioritizes the website optimized for mobile experience in the search results. So, even if your targeted audience is on the desktop, try to consider putting a little effort into making your online store look good on mobile.
You can use Google’s mobile-friendly test that provides you with an overview of your website and shows the points that need optimizing. All you need is to insert your web store’s URL, and Google will analyze the rest.
State Your Unique Selling Proposition
When everyone is giving discounts and free shipping, it is essential to stand out from the crowd. You can highlight the things that your competitors are not offering. You can tell your potential customers why they should feel great about purchasing from your web store. Mention things like;
- Gift wrapped for you
- Made in the USA
- 50 years in business
- In stock now
- Free shipping
- Fast delivery
- Always 50% off retail
Reading labels like those made in the USA makes a customer more likely to buy a product.
Ship In Time For Holidays
People usually buy products as gifts for others and want them delivered in time for the upcoming holidays. When shopping during Cyber Week, people often look for the estimated delivery time before placing an order. If you can assure your customers that you can deliver the product well before the holidays, you are more likely to increase sales.
Start Planning Early
The most crucial thing about planning your PPC marketing strategy for Black Friday is to start the planning well in advance. Don’t wait for the last moment to make a strategy because if something goes wrong, you won’t have ample time to react.
Your Black Friday ads should be up and running early in November, which means you will need to create, edit, and review them even before that. Preparing and uploading Cyber Week ads ahead of time helps you ensure that all the advertisement is in place and approved before Black Friday.
Starting ahead of time will also allow you to optimize your website for heavy traffic to not crash under load. You will also have enough time to make your web store mobile-friendly to target an even larger audience.
State Your Return Policy
A lousy return policy might be the biggest hurdle to purchase, especially during the holiday season—a clear and easy-to-understand return policy and make or break your entire Black Friday strategy.
If you have an incredible return policy in place, make sure to highlight it everywhere on your website. People shopping during Black Friday and Cyber Monday are usually in a hurry, the sale cycle is shorter than usual, and people don’t have time to do research.
As a business, you should make your customers comfortable making a snap decision, and having a sound return policy can do that. If you laid out the return policy so that it is easier for the customer to understand the terms of purchase and return fully, they would be more likely to complete the transaction.
The main factors determining whether a return policy is acceptable or not are the language you use and where you place it on your website.
