‘Tis the Season for PPC Advertising

Increasingly, marketers and brands must merge their organic content effort with paid advertising offers. Whether you’re looking to get Facebook views or dominate the search engine results page, combining a natural content effort with PPC ads is imperative; picking one over the other simply won’t get you optimal results.

PPC ads can be especially important during the holiday shopping season. With more consumers doing their shopping online than ever before, your brand has a lot of big opportunities to be discovered by those who are making their Christmas lists or seeking the perfect gift for a loved one. Paid ads allow your brand to be visible to these shoppers at every stage of their consumer journey.

To capitalize on these opportunities, we recommend these seasonal strategies.

Start with Last Year’s Data

If you didn’t do any holiday ads last year, you can skip this section. But if you did, know that your previous data can be a helpful road map for where you might go this year. Were there certain types of ads, certain keywords, or certain calls to action that gave you big results? That doesn’t guarantee they’ll work again this year, but it’s certainly a reasonable indicator.

Use Seasonal Keywords

Research confirms that seasonal keyword phrases can make a big difference in the success of your ads. Specifically, words that help your ads get seen by shoppers—terms like “perfect gift,” “gift for children,” “stocking stuffer,” etc.—can work well when they are inserted into your copy. You might experiment with some really finely-honed phrases, like “affordable kids gifts” or “creative gift for boys.”

Rewrite Your Ad Copy

It can be a pain to rewrite all your existing ad copy, but it might also prove really effective—especially if you can generate new copy that speaks directly to holiday shoppers. Try using your copy to urge end-of-the-year decisions, or to simply encourage consumers to join you in your festive spirit!

Create Holiday-Specific Landing Pages

An effective PPC ad always links to a landing page—not just your generic home page—and that’s especially important if you’re advertising special holiday deals or discounts. Ensure that the ad copy takes the reader directly to a page that specifically addresses that deal. Make it easy for shoppers to find what they’re looking for.

The holiday season offers many marketing opportunities, and PPC shouldn’t be overlooked. To learn more, reach out to Grammar Chic, Inc. at www.grammarchic.net or 803-831-7444.