Seasonality has a major influence on the success of Google ads efforts. However, seasonal changes do not impact all types of businesses in the same way. This often leads to confusion regarding drops in performance or unexpected increases in marketing costs.
With this in mind, it is important to have an understanding of how different times of the year affect your business in order to better plan out your PPC strategy.
In this article we will explore the many factors that come into play when planning out your PPC strategy, ensuring optimal performance all year round.
What is Seasonality in Marketing?
Seasonality in marketing is all about the changes in audience and customer behaviour during different periods of the year. For example, during the Christmas period products such as gift cards saw a significant spike in demand. These shifts can result from holidays, weather changes or personal events. These all influence the customer’s intentions.
For example, colder months typically increase demand for heating products while the back-to-school season sees an increase in demand for supplies and clothing. Each business experiences its own unique trends depending on its services. Understanding these is vital for shaping your Google Ads strategy.
Why does Seasonality Affect Google Ads Performance?
Google Ads performance is closely tied to customer intents and search trends. These both fluctuate throughout the year. When different products and services are experiencing higher demand, the competition for these keywords naturally increases.
Gaining insights into these patterns gives you the upper hand on your competition. This is because you will be able to adapt your marketing campaigns accordingly.
How Can You Adapt Your PPC Efforts?
To ensure your Google ads performance is steady throughout the whole year, it is important to adjust and adapt your campaigns to the seasonal trends. There are many ways to do this such as:
1. Planning For PPC Trends
It is important to identify the key periods and date ranges which are most relevant to your business. By using tools like Google Ads, you can predict when demand for your products/services will increase and prepare for these trends in advance. This can be done through:
- Historical Data Analysis: Looking into previous historical data can give significant insights into work that has worked well in the past. It provides learning to improve on these periods going forward.
- Goal Setting: By understanding the PPC trends for your business and account, it is important to set goals. This ensures performance is achieved in the most effective manner.
2. Budget Management
With these seasonal trends in mind, it is important to remain competitive against others with effective PPC budget management. Knowing what works at different times gives you the advantage of knowing where to place your PPC budget to ensure continuous performance.
With the competition increasing during these periods, effective budget management is vital. This competition can cause the cost per click to rise and during Black Friday it increased by 26%.
3. Using Seasonal Ad Copy and Keywords
Tailoring your ad copy to match the current season or the event you are targeting is a great way to ensure the ads resonate with the desired audiences. The use of urgency-based language, such as now, today only or last chance, is also a great way to encourage call to actions.
The use of seasonal keywords is also essential when it comes to capturing the audience’s seasonal interests. This also helps to ensure that the ads appear when customers are searching for specific seasonal products/services.
Achieving Year Long Success With Pod Digital
Understanding the effects of seasonality in marketing is not just a bonus, it’s a necessity for businesses looking to maximise their online visibility, increase traffic and drive sales.
At Pod Digital we understand both the opportunities and challenges that seasonality brings to your Google Ads efforts. The continuous changes in competition and demand, as well as fluctuating budgets, can sometimes be overwhelming to manage on your own. That’s where we come in
Our team is experienced in identifying PPC trends specific to your business. If you’re ready to make the most of seasonal marketing trends and ensure your Google Ads are performing all year round, contact us today to arrange a meeting with our digital marketing experts.
