As a marketer, it is crucial that you fully understand issues surrounding seasonality and how they affect your business cycles.
These are the insight that will help you determine which tactics and Per-Per-Click strategy to implement as well as the basic things to keep in perspective.
Seasonality should become an integral part of your PPC strategy and all your other online paid campaigns.
This will help you define the most appropriate exposure for your business brand and where you need to expand or narrow your efforts for the best Return-On-Investment.
Understand your Historical Data
If you have been running PPC campaigns for a while, then you are in a good position as you can look back at the previous year’s data.
A great resource is Google Analytics. What you will do with your historical PPC campaign data will depend on the objectives you set, and these will vary depending on the season and audience.
To effectively market your PPC ads and get the most from invested resources, you need to appreciate the customer journey.
You must understand how the consumers actually move through your entire purchase funnel, ranging from brand awareness to interest development, the consideration stage, up to eventual conversion.
This past data is vital if you are to gauge where the weaknesses and strengths in your seasonal performance lie.
Adjust your Budget
During peak times such as holiday time, PPC impressions could surge by as much as 350%.
You need to be ready and capitalize on this increased demand. You can allocate your budgets to accommodate seasonality by applying bid adjustments.
Because sales and conversion rate also increase during holiday seasons, you should embrace CPCs rise if you are to stay on the SERPs first-page and witness higher ad ranking.
When you allow the PPC budget to move based on the search competitiveness and demand, you reduce the possibility of being left out on potential impressions share.
Observe the Competition
Auction Insights are an excellent way of previewing the SERP without having to actually waste impressions.
Because you personally Google, it’s possible to get insights into what kinds of promotions and deals are currently being run by your competitors.
Tools like SEMrush and SpyFu will give you estimates on the size of competitor budgets, although for better insights, look at the general trends.
Bid Adjustment and Scheduling
If you find out that at specific times of the day, in different locations or using different devices people are more prone to converting, it’s important that you adjust bids to ensure you maximize and expose your PPC ad during those lucrative times.
If you want to maximize on these opportunities, plan for PPC bid increases if you are employing an automated PPC bidding strategy.
Consider ramping up your keyword bids if you notice that your competitors are encroaching on your business territory or even for opportunistic purposes.
Final Word
Everywhere in the world, seasons bring change, and the same is not any different in business and PPC Management.
This makes it critical to only know the seasons but also find out what works and perhaps, more importantly; what is not working.
This will inform how you implement your PPC strategy and make more informed choices for the coming seasonal spike/dip.
