Seasonal ads can be an important addition to your online marketing campaign, but you might not know just how early to start them. Bing’s advertising blog shared some tips for running Mother’s Day ads. We’ve all seen the last-minute shoppers trying to salvage the holiday at the checkout line, and they can teach us an important lesson. Mother’s Day may be weeks away, but it’s not too soon to start planning your strategy.
Not Just Cards and Flowers
Mother’s Day is a major retail holiday, but that revenue expands into the online space as well. According to Bing’s post, “30 percent of shoppers will purchase gifts online, spending 38 percent more than offline shoppers” for Mother’s Day. In addition to that, “around 13 percent of those planning to buy a gift for Mom plan to buy consumer electronics”. PCs and tablets to make life easier for Mom are a popular gift at this time of year.
When Should I Start?
If you’re targeting shoppers who want to buy consumer electronics, Bing suggests that you start running campaigns more than a month before the holiday. This will position you to capture shoppers who are researching and buying a gift well in advance of Mother’s Day. The same applies to florists and jewelry stores, as their search trends indicate an early start for people who want to order flowers.
Bing also recommends that you shift your focus to mobile advertising during the week leading up to Mother’s Day. According to their data, “Last minute shoppers are using their smartphones to find the perfect gift the week before.”
They save the broadest and most important point for last: “Search volume peaks in the middle of April, but click-through rates peak two weeks before Mother’s Day.” If you make sure your ads run throughout that time, you’ll catch consumers at the research and decision phases of their purchase and maximize your opportunities for conversion.
