As you prepare your business for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there are some things to consider when it comes to PPC advertising.
To get your Black Friday advertising where it should be, the following is a comprehensive video and guide that will cover some critical aspects of a successful campaign. Consider this a complete Black Friday PPC checklist as you gear up for the holidays.
Top 3 Considerations for Black Friday
Here are a few action items to think about for Black Friday 2023 ads and your overall Black Friday marketing strategy.
1. Create Ad Copy & Creative that Clearly Outline Your Promo
As you prepare your ad copy and creative for the coming month, ensure it’s geared toward your Black Friday promotions and make them clear.
Make sure people know exactly what you’re offering, and make your Black Friday marketing materials appropriately themed.
At the same time, generate a sense of urgency with your advertisements for Black Friday using techniques such as:
- Countdowns toward the end of sales
- Flash sales that only last for a short period
- CTAs that drive action, including “Hurry before you miss out!” and “Last chance to take advantage of this deal!”
- Indicators that inventory is limited, e.g. “Only 2 items available!”
2. Launch Your Ads 5 Days in Advance
Don’t wait until the last minute to launch your Cyber Monday and Black Friday PPC ads—prepare all copy and creative for Meta and Google Ads accounts at least five days before the holidays.
Launching your campaigns early will ensure everything is ready to go when Black Friday and Cyber Monday arrive, as you’ll give your ad platforms ample time to review your content.
Also, schedule ads and extensions to launch by the time your sales go live on your website.
3. Relocate Bidget to BOFU
While during much of the year, you might focus on the top and middle of the funnel (TOFU and MOFU), you really want to focus on the bottom of the funnel (BOFU) when approaching Black Friday.
This period is all about remarketing to people you’ve already pulled deep into the funnel, emphasizing conversion over awareness. In short, focus on people who are ready to convert and drive more loyalty among existing customers.
Normally, your budget might be around 70/30 for TOFU and MOFU vs. BOFU campaigns, but this time of year, you’ll want to shift to something closer to 50/50 or 30/70 as you focus more on people who are most likely to convert.
When it comes to keyword research here, target more branded and product keywords that connect with people whose buyer intent is at the decision stage. Doing so will likely drive more action than going after broader, generic terms.
At the same time, you can still allocate a certain amount of your budget to consideration as you attempt to move them toward the decision stage.
Black Friday Marketing Budget
When developing your Black Friday advertising strategy, along with your Cyber Monday marketing campaigns, you’ll want to properly allocate your budget to get the best results.
As mentioned, throughout the majority of the year, you might have a 70/30 budget split, with 70% of your budget focused on building awareness and influencing consideration.
However, you’ll want to shift this budget toward the conversion and loyalty stages near the bottom of the funnel. You can still keep some of your budget funneling into the consideration stage, but you might want to flip that 70/30 split or save 50% of your budget for TOFU and BOFU efforts.
Typically, for BOFU campaigns, budgeting would go to Google Ads via Performance Max, remarketing disruptive campaigns through Display and YouTube, and branded or product-specific campaigns.
Remember, this period is about driving action instead of prospecting.
Black Friday Advertising – Using Your First-Party Data
Gathering and using your first-party data is critical in optimizing your Black Friday 2023 ads. There are a couple of things to consider regarding first-party data this time of year.
Update Your Top-Quality Lists & Retargeting
If you’re late to get started on this, you should take some time to build lists with your highest-quality customers based on the data you’ve collected. You can then retarget these users with your Black Friday sales advertisements and other channels to boost your marketing efforts.
Be sure to connect email and paid media teams, along with SMS, to harness the power of segmented first-party data. You’ll be able to connect with users on all platforms this way, whether they’re on their desktops or on the go with mobile.
Also, connect with people who haven’t converted in 180 days or longer. Reaching out to people who have converted in the past but not in a long time can help increase conversions and loyalty.
Another segment to target is people who’ve abandoned their shopping carts, as they may find inspiration from your campaign to complete their orders.
Developing highly-targeted ad campaigns like this will help you build the best PPC bid strategies for Black Friday and make the most of your budget.
Examples of First-Party Data Segments
There are plenty of first-party data segments you can target with your advertisements for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, including:
- Past purchasers from the last year, i.e., the last 365 days
- People who’ve abandoned their carts in the last year
- High lifetime value (LTV) buyers from the last year
- Customers with a high average order value (AOV) from the last year
- Potential customers who’ve signed up for email and SMS correspondence without completing a purchase
- Customers who made a purchase during the previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday but haven’t done so in 180 days
These are some of the main groups that fall under the action phase of the sales funnel.
Black Friday PPC Tips
To get the results you want from your Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing strategy, the following are key tips worth following.
Ensure Product Feeds & Catalogs Appear Properly On Each Platform
On your ecommerce platform, social media sites, and other platforms, you should make sure your product feeds and catalogs look right and function properly.
Whether people are browsing your product selection on desktop or mobile devices, on Shopify or Facebook, streamline the product selection and shopping process.
Expect an Increase in Competition, Conversion Rates, and Average CPC
In the days leading up to and through Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you’ll see some alarming increases in competition and cost-per-click rates. Thankfully, there are ways to adjust your Black Friday PPC ads to account for this while boosting conversions.
Specifically, you can adjust your campaigns to a slight degree to make them more flexible during auctions. You may also want to make seasonal bid adjustments if it makes sense to do so.
Just don’t overreact and make drastic changes to your campaigns when you see CPC and CPM metrics increase. Subtle but effective adjustments are key to cost-effective and generally effective Black Friday PPC advertising.
Keep Performance Marketing Campaigns Aligned
Align all performance marketing channels to drive better results with your advertisements for Black Friday.
One way you can do this is to give your paid media team your email and SMS calendar, which will inform ad campaigns and determine the best times to run them. As a result, you’ll be able to reach the right people at the right time with your ads and marketing materials.
In maintaining alignment across your campaigns, keep offers, copy, and creative consistent, which will help clarify promotions and boost brand recognition.
Make a Plan in Case You Miss Your Goal
Have a contingency plan to help you if things don’t quite go as planned. The e-commerce industry can be challenging to navigate this time of year, meaning even some of the best initial plans can fall through.
You might find that you’re falling below the kinds of figures you wanted, whether your goal was to increase sales, provide deep discounts, or add more products to your Black Friday sales. In any case, you should have a backup Black Friday marketing strategy to help you work around it.
If you’re ultimately disappointed with your campaigns’ performance, learn from the issues you experienced. For instance, if you find you didn’t adequately connect your paid media teams with email and SMS to get the desired results, you can pinpoint what worked and what didn’t.
Eventually, with future Black Friday sale advertisement strategies, you can get the kinds of results you originally envisioned. Your campaigns could even surpass your expectations as you perfect them over time.
Prepare Your Black Friday Advertising with Ignite Visibility
Want to get real results with your Black Friday 2023 ads along with future campaigns? Ignite Visibility is here to help! From paid media and email marketing to comprehensive digital marketing strategies, we’re here to develop a campaign that really works for your business.
When you team with us, we’ll help you with every aspect of your Black Friday strategy, including:
- Developing high-quality and relevant copy and creative
- Using paid media in conjunction with email and other marketing channels
- Choosing the right platforms for your ad campaigns
- Measuring the success of your campaigns
- Making any necessary adjustments to ads for better performance
- And more!
If this sounds like the right approach to your Black Friday advertising efforts, we’re ready to connect.
Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for your business this holiday season and beyond.