October is seen as kick-off for the last quarter of the year, driven by the holiday season shopping frenzy. Not only is October the start of the busiest season for retailers, but it offers the final push for audience testing and optimizations to make sure campaigns are as efficient as possible.
What Did We See in 2021 Holiday Season?
The 2021 holiday season saw retail sales increase by 14.1% year-over-year to $886.7 billion (NRF). Advertising for holiday sales began earlier in the year as businesses prepared for supply chain shortages and shipping delays. 2022 will be no different. E-commerce retail sales are expected to reach $235.86 billion in 2022 (eMarketer). In addition, holiday sales are expected to occur earlier in the year again, with 37% of consumers planning to begin their shopping sooner than expected to take advantage of lower prices (Salesforce).
Three Key Programmatic Campaign Strategies for Q4
Between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar sales, advertisers have constant opportunities to generate revenue when campaigns work together to drive online and in-store purchases. Using data from 2021, we outline five key recommendations to make the most of this holiday season.
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Reach Consumers At The Household-Level
- Geo-Fencing can be done at an address-level by utilizing CRM lists with address, city, state, zip variables. If a CRM list isn’t available we are able to curate a custom audience by accessing over 3,000 demographic and property variables, and then filter the audience with location details such as DMAs, states, and zip codes.
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Utilize Intent Data to Find The Right Shoppers
- We can help define different onlin
e behaviors that would align with your target customer persona, including the keywords they search, the content they read, and the websites they visit. Diverse ad formats can be served to this targeted users to minimize wasted impressions by only targeting those potential customers that have shown interest in your products or services.
- We can help define different onlin
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Expand Digital Media Mix to Streaming TV Ads
- Streaming TV (Connected TV, ie CTV) channels are a staple in our society now, and the opportunity for retailers of all sizes to serve ads on these channels is expansive. Create an integrated approach to minimize any wasted impressions by pairing CTV ads with other targeted audience groups. A great technique is to retarget users that watch the CTV ads with Display ads to help drive traffic back to the site.
Key Takeaways for Q4 Holiday Media Planning
The next holiday season is around the corner and is expected to be a busy one. Stay top-of-mind by testing new targeting strategies and expanding channels for additional reach in a competitive season. Incorporate behavioral targeting and intent data to deliver ads to specific customer persona most likely to purchase your products. No matter your vertical, even B2C or B2B, to drive revenue this holiday season with Above the Fold.