‘Tis the Season for Search: How to Stay SEM-Focused and Successful During the Holidays
Contextual Advertising: In contrast to the broader network approach of traditional search marketing, contextual advertising provides a way for online merchants to place listings on specific, brand-name online publications or even specific sections of publications, based on relevance to the product or service being offered. While online networks can offer outstanding broader coverage, contextual advertising can complement this by providing a laser-focused way to appear on specific brand-name online publications.
Be Aware of the Calendar:
So when does the online holiday shopping season officially start? As anyone who tries to shop the day after Thanksgiving can attest, this is usually the busiest retail shopping day of the year, in terms of customer traffic, so this day has been widely known as ‘Black Friday.’ Traditional offline retailers will open very early and usually provide discount on their products.
For many online retailers, though, the Monday after Thanksgiving has emerged as the real start of the online shopping season. With an intuitive moniker, ‘Cyber Monday’ is a day when millions of consumers are back at work, in front of their keyboards and starting to fret about holiday shopping. So you should keep this in mind, as you set your timing and budget plans.
Also, keep the calendar in mind as it relates to your ability to ship product: JupiterResearch indicates in its October report that more than half of online holiday shoppers say that knowing shipping cutoff dates helps them plan to do their online shopping earlier in the season. If it is the last day to buy before shipping in time for a holiday arrival, make sure that you convey this! Not only will it lead to a better purchasing experience, but it will also engender goodwill with your customers. After all, how many times will a customer come back to a merchant after their purchase arrives three or four days after Christmas??
Manage your Budget:
Unless you happen to have an unlimited search marketing budget for the holiday season, plan to set daily budget limits, keeping a couple of things in mind: One, nothing spoils the spirit of the season more than blowing your budget before the holiday shopping season even gets into full gear; and two, balance this conservatism with the fact that online traffic is going to be higher during this time of year, so do not set limits such that your opportunities to sell will be cut-off before noon each day. Each circumstance is different, so be willing to closely manage the initial days of your holiday campaign to find the balance that works for you.
Use Promotions and Merchandising:
Whether free shipping, targeted discounts or other promotions, sometimes a little incentive can make a big difference — and win you longer-term customers who will remember you well beyond the holiday season. After all, if consumers have two chances to buy the same calendar at the same price point, they will more often than not opt for the one that has free shipping or includes a gift card of some type. From a search marketing standpoint, promotions also help merchants visually stand out from what can be crowded holiday marketplaces.
The holiday shopping season provides plenty of opportunities for online merchants to drive sales and expand their visibility through search marketing. With so many avenues to choose from, staying both focused on the strategy that you’ve initiated and flexible enough to adjust to opportunities that can develop during such a busy time could be the keys to your search marketing program having a successful holiday season.
Reader Comments.
- Pingback from Leading Search Engine Marketing Firm Search Mojo Forms Board of - Internet Marketing Blog
Leave a Comment
Pages: « previous page 1 2
Tags: contextual_targeting, holidays, jupiterresearch and SEMArticle Sponsor
More Features
-
Loading ...
Latest News
- Hulu’s Bringing Its “A” Game But… March 19th 2010 ADOTAS – Hulu’s sales team is actively subverting the ad [...] more »
- Yelp! A class-action suit? March 19th 2010 ADOTAS – One of three civil suits against Yelp filed [...] more »
- Viacom Accuses Google; Testing Digital Millennium Copyright Act March 19th 2010 Viacom has accused Google of turning a blind eye to [...] more »
- Google to Leave China April 10th? March 19th 2010 ADOTAS – According to the China Business News, Google Inc [...] more »
- [x+1] Creates The Smartest Tagging System Around March 18th 2010 ADOTAS – Today, if you happen to be at the [...] more »
- IAB’s Video Standards Tackled By ADTECH March 18th 2010 ADOTAS – ADTECH, a part of AOL Advertising and an [...] more »
- Google Search and Mobile and….TV? Oh My! March 18th 2010 ADOTAS – Google wants to dominate your screens…. Not just [...] more »
Features
- Growing Pains March 19th 2010
- For Better or For Worse? March 18th 2010
- Yahoo! Wants to Get More Personal March 17th 2010
- Creative Considerations for the iPad March 16th 2010
- Amazon Leaves Colorado Affiliates Out in the Cold March 12th 2010
Spotlight
AdBidCentral’s CEO, Vivek Veeraraghavan Talks Openly*What was the inspiration to start AdBidCentral? The conditions that inspired AdBidCentral came from a variety of factors in my personal [...] more...
Reader Favorites
Classifieds
- Communications Fellow
- Sr Director, Marketing Services
- Senior Web Analyst
- Account Director
- Director of Analytics
Recent Comments
- Jedd Gould: I think you miss the point. Publications have to charge because the content most are
- Gavin Dunaway: They're similar, but Ning is more a competitor to Facebook and MySpace while StumbleUpon considers
- Steve Feldman: Does StumbleUpon compete with and does essentially what Ning networks does?
- Bulent: I wonder how many of the clients would accept a media plan, that would -as
