Paid Ads and Seasonality

Whether it’s enjoying hot cocoa on a cold December day or surfing on your summer vacation, some activities and products are just a seasonal must! And as most business owners know, that seasonal behavior ultimately affects one’s bottom line. I’ll take you through PPC seasonality and how you can best optimize your paid ads, no matter the time of year. 

Know Your Business (And Your Audience)

Every industry has its own busy and slow season, and it’s imperative that you know yours. Look through past data on sales and revenue and ask yourself these questions: 

• What aspect of my product/service interested or disinterested consumers at that time? 
• Was there any internal issue that may have affected the data? 

When you have a solid grasp on the “why” factor of the ebb and flow, you can better adjust your paid ad strategy to reflect that.

Plan Ahead 

Although it can be easy to fall into the procrastination pitfall, ads can be unforgiving. A good (and successful) campaign is one that is well thought out, so don’t wait until the last minute.

Planning three months ahead of a busy (or slow) period can help you flush out any details that you might have missed if you’d waited. You can also utilize the time for testing ad copy, developing landing pages, or working on in-depth keyword research.

New Campaign

Continuing to make adjustments to campaigns is essential for success, but adjusting the same campaign for a long seasonal change (i.e., three weeks or more) isn’t necessarily the best method. Outside of the issue of having to make multiple changes, it’ll affect the performance of that campaign once the season ends. Creating a new campaign will allow you to make season-specific adjustments without having to sacrifice off-season performance.

Avoid Limiting Budget

The cost of paid ads might not always be the easiest to bear, but making sure your campaign isn’t limited due to budget constraints allows Google to have more flexibility to bid where it matters, increasing performance.

Google Tools

Google always has a tool when needed, and seasonality is no different. This tool works best for short durations (think Black Friday sales or promos for a new product) and for campaigns utilizing Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) or Target CPA (Cost per Action).

While Target ROAS focuses on the conversion value per ad dollar spent, Target CPA goes after as many conversions/customer actions as possible.

The seasonality adjustment tool informs smart bidding on the expected increased conversion rates and lets smart bidding go back to pre-sale adjustments instantly after the event.

Staying on top of seasonal fluctuations can be stressful, but utilizing these tips can help your ad campaigns be successful.

If you need help creating a seasonal paid ad strategy, or even if you have questions about ads let us know. We’re here to help! Feel free to read our recent Guide on PPC Advetising to see the positive impact it could make on your business.