What do we already know about Christmas campaigns?

1. Well planned campaigns are more successful

2. Advertising costs rocket

3. The marketplace is swamped

4. Consumers prefer to buy from brands they know and trust

How has 2020 disrupted the norm?

1. Consumers are scrolling more than ever and are missing their real-life shopping habits

2. Older generations are embracing e-commerce

3. The general mood is low and we’re looking for distractions

4. Who knows what Christmas 2020 is going to look like?

In ‘normal’ times Q3 is the period to start executing your Christmas marketing campaigns, but this year, more than ever, getting plans underway early could see you roasting the competition as well as the turkey. What quirks of 2020 do you need to be aware of?

DATA ACQUISITION

Building trust and familiarity is a sound investment when you’re going to be advertising in a busy space, such as pre-Christmas. Theory says a consumer needs seven touch points before committing, and whilst we could all argue the flaws in this theory, the fact remains that warm audiences produce better conversion rates. An effective social ads campaign is probably going involve several tiers of retargeting, but if you can warm your audiences up and create those re-targeting groups before the Christmas crush, you’re going to bring down costs.

It’s also worth testing some early offers to pick up the ‘low hanging fruit’. By feeding ideal customers through your Ads Manager you’re creating data which can be used further down the line to build powerful ‘lookalike’ audiences. This will help keep your funnel topped up with good data as the competition grows towards December.

BUYING PATTERNS

There’s a good chance that consumers are going to start hiding presents in their wardrobes early this year. Motivated by spreading the cost over several months, grabbing stock while it’s there and generally boosting morale by hitting the retail therapy button, retailers would be wise be on their toes early in 2020. We don’t know what restrictions will be in place by the end of the year, and the cautious among us will be getting ahead of the game.

SIZZLE, NOT SAUSAGE

Golden rule – you’re not selling the product, you’re selling the benefit. Don’t sell the tablet, sell the opportunities to communicate; don’t sell the kitchen gadget, sell the joy at producing better meals; don’t sell the hotel voucher, sell the prospect of escaping and indulging. We’re all more eager than ever to soak up the ‘feel good’, make sure it stands out of your ads.

EASY ROUTE TO CHECKOUT

Baby Boomers and Gen X are seeing a big growth in e-commerce this year, and 43% say they will shop online more after the pandemic. To catch this growing market, in particular, the shopping process needs to be robust and inspire trust. Check your data often, if you’re getting good traffic to your site, or even adding to cart, but not converting, something’s up with the checkout process.

SELF-GIFTING

History tells us that in times of hardship sales of small, affordable luxury items go up, and it’s predicted that luxury cosmetics, confectionary and small tech gadgets will get a boost in Q4 this year. If you fall into this category, test some ads speaking directly to the consumer, not just the gift buyer.

OTHER POINTS TO CONSIDER:

As advertising costs rise steeply in the run up to Christmas, make sure you are testing all of the ad placements. Costs are likely to be lower on non-feed placements, so dig into the data and see if they are performing for you.

Schedule your start date at least two days ahead to speed up the approval process.

Is your payment card due to expire or bounce? Problems with your payments could completely disrupt your campaign, make sure your cash flow is good.

Social advertising is a beautifully fluid creature, and one of its greatest strengths is the ability to continually test and adapt to create an optimal campaign. For a pre-Christmas MOT on your Ads Manager and tailored advice on how you can manage this year’s advertising, book in for one to one training with us.

Nutshell manage paid social media advertising for businesses of varying size, in multiple sectors.

Get in touch today to arrange a call to discuss how we can crack your next social advertising project, or support you through bespoke training.