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Halloween is upon us, a time for dressing up, eating candy, and celebrating the darker side of pop culture. While all in good fun, there are more things on the horizon for advertisers than ghouls and goblins: we’ve got a Presidential Election about to hit directly followed by Black Friday and the holiday craze. There’s a lot going on and a lot to keep track of in the world of digital marketing; let’s avoid the end-of-year scaries and talk about what to keep in mind for these big events coming up at the end of this year.
What Happens When the Election Ends?
We’ve all been seeing them throughout the year: political ads. Every party has them on every channel, and the ads are pushed especially heavy in the few weeks leading up to election day. Hundreds of thousands of extra ads means that the usual ad inventory gets eaten up quickly, and drives up the prices for everyone else. This is especially true in the swing states, where the election could reasonably go either way.
Once the election is over, however, those ads stop rolling. A lot of inventory opens up and prices go down slightly to encourage advertisers to fill the void. Lower prices means more impressions, so it’s a great opportunity to achieve greater market penetrations for less cost.
Black Friday, however, is right around the corner from election day. Businesses are starting holiday advertising and deals earlier every year, so that window of lower cost is getting smaller and smaller. Rather than guessing and banking on a small window of opportunity, the smart move is to start early and get ahead of the game.
Genius Monkey has long advised that – more than anything – a consistent budget maintained over time is what works best for long-term advertising health. Over-reacting to fluctuations in metrics may lead to better numbers in the short term, but steady placements and slight adjustments allow you to maintain every part of your sales funnel and grow your business organically.
Black Friday is Big, but December is Even Bigger
According to data from our partners at Experian, holiday shopping starts near the beginning of October and steadily climbs throughout most of the rest of the year. This is the main reason why you should have your holiday campaigns running early, so your ads have a chance to sink in and stay top of mind; November 1st at the very latest!
Purchases spike during Cyber Week – Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday – even when the deals have been going for some time. Sales fall sharply after Cyber Week, but continue to steadily climb before spiking again the week before Christmas.
Sales during Cyber Week account for about 8% of all holiday shopping; the week before Christmas covers about 9%. But the month of December accounts for a whopping 35%. It’s exciting to see the metrics jump up during the holiday spikes, but a solid strategy implemented before the craze begins will do the most good for your business.
Use An Ad Platform Built for Results
Not sure what to do? Don’t have a strategy at all? Not to worry; in all times and all seasons, partnering with a proven programmatic platform is a great step to evolving your marketing strategy to the next level.
Genius Monkey has been leading in the programmatic industry since 2010; our expert team and cutting-edge technology will help you increase your conversions while reducing your costs. Are you ready to take advantage of the most precise audience targeting and detailed impression reports in the industry? Talk to the Genius Monkeys today and let’s get started!
