Holiday SEM Strategy: How to Prepare Right Now

The fourth quarter creeps up every year, and most businesses succumb to “holiday fever” without revisiting their SEM strategy. Whatever product or service you market, Q4 opens new possibilities for SEM strategy and there is still time to harvest revenues by devising a sound plan now. Consider our task checklist as your business nears the new year:

AdWords, Bing Ads, Google Analytics, Oh my!

Analyze the keyword trends from the previous holiday season using tools such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Google Analytics.  Having reliable data of how your campaign performed in last year’s November and December will show you which ads worked and which did not.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday

Create promotions that match the holiday season. Black Friday and Cyber Monday create a consumer base looking for great deals that will ship promptly. Alter your normal promotions by offering the greatest discounts in the beginning of the season and offer free or expedited shipping options towards December. *Note: Test the health of your website’s shopping cart to ensure it is loading quickly and can handle large orders.

Cash In Your Market Research

Now is the time to think about where you want to place your online ads. As much as we all would like an ad on Amazon during the holiday season, the smaller businesses have to be more creative and focused. Using your market research (hopefully conducted all year) it’s time to book the banners, make your press published, and point the spotlight to your product or service on the websites your market is visiting. Editorial calendars are scheduling for the holidays now. Try emailing the advertising department of websites, instead of the editors, and offer an ad purchase in return for an article about your business.

That is what we have to say, how about you? Do you have any tips of your own that are successful in creating your holiday SEM strategy?