Holiday shopping campaigns will kick off before you know it (if they haven’t already). Before it’s too late, we asked our fellow Bidtellectuals the top mistakes they see clients make during the holiday shopping season that prevent them from getting the results they want. From under-spending to over-exhausting creatives, here’s what to avoid – and do differently – for a rockin’ holiday season.
You are More Than Your Deals:
“Big mistake: Brands push empty Holiday offers and discounts instead of the value of their brand and how they can enhance a consumer’s holiday experience.”
– TJ Kryzanowski, Director of Account Management – East
Don’t Stoop to Display Standards – In Creative and Budget
“Make sure your images don’t have copy on them. While it’s great to push a holiday offer or discount, you don’t want your images mimicking a banner ad when the goal is for your content to blend in with the content in the feed. Use an image of a person enjoying your product or offer.”
– Missy Steiner, VP of Marketing
“The biggest mistake is focusing on standard display formats for Black Friday & Holiday Pushes! Go Native.”
– DJ Virtue, Director of Sales and New York Manager
“The audience gets tired of seeing the same ad over and over again. Switch it up! Start off with awareness creatives, then lead the audience to consider, and then complete your campaign flight with conversions. I see clients immediately start off with lower-funnel in the earlier stages of holiday planning months – BORING!”
– Yeni Gordillo, Sr. Creative Marketing Manager
It’s the Most Competitive Time of Year: Price Accordingly
“Some clients expect CPMs to stay the same over the holiday period and complain about performance going down. You have to price competitively to stay competitive!”
– Jonathon Burden, Director of Sales, West Coast
“One thing that comes to mind: clients don’t always take seasonality into consideration when determining their rates (bid prices). There’s a lot of competition in the market near the holidays. If you don’t have high enough rates, scale becomes an issue and it impacts delivery and performance.”
– Rachel Richardson, Senior Strategic Account Manager
Communicate and Plan Ahead
“Plan ahead. Communicate in advance if support will be needed on holidays like Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday for retail accounts. We prep and ask, but often we receive an emergency email during Thanksgiving dinner saying we need to increase spend, etc.”
– Terah Bocchi, VP of National Sales
Trendy Doesn’t Always Mean Best-Performing
“Don’t fixate on trends. Clients always want the latest “new” thing (carousel, for example) even though it might not perform. Don’t sacrifice performance for aesthetics.”
– Andrew Sugrue, Senior Ad Ops Specialist
Celebrate All the Holidays!
“Creatives pertaining to only one specific holiday limits your audience. Include all celebratory holidays! Make it relatable to everyone!”
– Yeni Gordillo, Sr. Creative Marketing Manager
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