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Read through <imajery>’s digital marketing holiday guide for agencies and brands! Use our expert strategies & tactics for a successful BF/CM 2022.
Read through <imajery>’s digital marketing holiday guide for agencies and brands! Use our expert strategies & tactics for a successful BF/CM 2022.
Nothing screams booming traffic and massive sales quite like Black Friday. However, 2022's holiday season brings rising economic uncertainty and new challenges. How should marketers and brands prepare? Should your strategy be the same as last year? What are purchase trends going to look like in 2022?
Here’s some info that might ease your mind:
- Canadian eCommerce has accelerated ~ 3 years even as US reverts back to the trendline
- Canadians are sitting on $300-billion in excess savings.
- There are over 2.6M additional Canadian ecom shoppers compared to 2019
So what does this mean? Shoppers are still on the hunt for good value and are ready to buy this Black Friday season. This doesn't just mean aggressive promos - click here for other ways you can leverage BF/CM beyond discounting, and keep on reading for our expert advice on how to take holiday advertising to the next level.
Pre-launch
Start Early, Like…Now!
Pre-launch
is the most important part of your planning process, so don’t procrastinate.
Get organized now by outlining a promotional calendar and securing budgets.
Give yourself time to build up your remarketing lists. How? Run widespread prospecting campaigns early. Concurrently, start building anticipation with enticing sale teasers or early promotions for your loyal customers!
Email remarketing can be tricky to get right, don't hesitate to hit <imajery> up for more tips and tricks.
Research, Research, Research
It’s recon time! Subscribe to competitor newsletters to keep a macro view of your market. Create Google Alerts for keywords your competitors are using. Your stealthy spying phase can’t only include competitor research; reflect inwards by reviewing your previous data to help you make informed decisions. What worked in the past? How can you build from that?
Prepare to Launch Performance Max
Performance Max is all digital marketers can talk about lately! It uses the best of Google’s automation technologies and allows marketers to access all of Google Ads inventory from a unique campaign and drives conversions across all of Google's channels like YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.
How does it work? All you have to do is provide Google with the right configurations and inputs, AKA great creative assets, audience signals, and tracking. Then let Google work its magic.
Hit up <imajery> to find out how we can make Performance Max work for you.
Build Your Assets
Humans are visual. We like aesthetic things that make us feel something. This means when you’re planning your campaigns, you can’t skimp on creating stunning visuals and captivating copy. Dazzle your audience with graphics, videos and ad copy that hooks them from the start and stands out above the crowd.
Stress-Test Your Website
Your website is about to experience an influx of traffic. Are you prepared? Depending on your conversion goals, either verify your checkout or form submission process from start to finish. Not sure how to proceed? Reach out to our development team here at <imajery>.
Start Early, Like…Now!
Pre-launch is the most important part of your planning process, so don’t procrastinate.
Get organized now by outlining a promotional calendar and securing budgets.
Give yourself time to build up your remarketing lists. How? Run widespread prospecting campaigns early. Concurrently, start building anticipation with enticing sale teasers or early promotions for your loyal customers!
Email remarketing can be tricky to get right, don't hesitate to hit <imajery> up for more tips and tricks.
Research, Research, Research
It’s recon time! Subscribe to competitor newsletters to keep a macro view of your market. Create Google Alerts for keywords your competitors are using. Your stealthy spying phase can’t only include competitor research; reflect inwards by reviewing your previous data to help you make informed decisions. What worked in the past? How can you build from that?
Prepare to Launch Performance Max
Performance Max is all digital marketers can talk about lately! It uses the best of Google’s automation technologies and allows marketers to access all of Google Ads inventory from a unique campaign and drives conversions across all of Google's channels like YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.
How does it work? All you have to do is provide Google with the right configurations and inputs, AKA great creative assets, audience signals, and tracking. Then let Google work its magic.
Hit up <imajery> to find out how we can make Performance Max work for you.
Build Your Assets
Humans are visual. We like aesthetic things that make us feel something. This means when you’re planning your campaigns, you can’t skimp on creating stunning visuals and captivating copy. Dazzle your audience with graphics, videos and ad copy that hooks them from the start and stands out above the crowd.
Stress-Test Your Website
Your website is about to experience an influx of traffic. Are you prepared? Depending on your conversion goals, either verify your checkout or form submission process from start to finish. Not sure how to proceed? Reach out to our development team here at <imajery>.
LAUNCH
In AI We Trust
Lean into machine-learning! It’s so important, especially with the rise of Smart campaigns in the last few years. A successful launch will depend on the foundation you built in pre-launch. The more assets tested and data collected, the better your campaign’s performance will be in the launch phase.
A successful launch will also depend on how you maximize your time with automated tools.
Google and Meta ads bless us with robust automation features within their platforms. So don’t waste your time manually activating deals; outsource your busy work to bots.
Be Ready to Adapt
“I love last minute changes and uncertainty” - said nobody ever.
However, being flexible is crucial. Demand can shift quickly and radically, and if your inventory runs low, the delivery of catalog-based ads will be impacted. Campaigns might also underperform and need to be paused.
Stay on your toes and be ready to make changes if needed! Don’t be afraid to reassess Cyber Monday based on how Black Friday performed. However, don’t make any unnecessary changes, as this can reset your campaign’s learning.
Schedule Time for the Unexpected
There is only so much time in the day. When planning your schedule, don’t forget to account for the unexpected. Make sure your calendar isn’t filled with meetings, and keep time aside for any last minute changes that might come up!
POST-LAUNCH
Don’t Stop Now
BFCM is over but now is not a good time to stop promoting. Receiving gifts in time for the holidays will now be top of mind for shoppers.
Emphasize clearance deals, highlight holiday shipping deadlines and close some sales with end-of-season last chance offers. Note that your Boxing Day messaging is going to be key to keeping people’s interests at this time.
Ok, Now You Can Stop
Since you’ve prepared heavily with campaign automation and drip campaigns, it’s time to take a breather. You and your hardworking staff deserve it! Take the time to acknowledge your staff’s wins, from pristinely optimized campaigns to record-breaking sales and new buyers.
Learn & Leverage
Well rested? Perfect, it’s time to dive back in. You are now flush with data, so it’s time to perform a post-mortem to diagnose exactly what worked… and what didn’t. Evolve successful roadmaps, and take failures back to the drawing board to reconfigure for next year. The countdown is on for Black Friday 2023!
Black Friday and Cyber Monday success is no accident - it’s a result of careful planning, teamwork, and hard labour. If your brand is ready for record-breaking 2022 Black Friday and Cyber Monday digital marketing performance with Google Ads, Meta Ads, email, social, SEO and more, we know an excellent Montreal marketing agency that will be here to help. Good luck to all, and get it done!
Read through <imajery>’s digital marketing holiday guide for agencies and brands! Use our expert strategies & tactics for a successful BF/CM 2022.
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Creative Brand Lead
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