Regrettably, we find ourselves amidst a chaotic era plagued by multiple crises, prompting individuals to recognise the significance of saving money. However, this situation presents a silver lining for retailers during this sales period. Given the diligent efforts of many to accumulate savings, Black Friday emerges as a golden opportunity to indulge in purchases and acquire products, services, and amenities at exceptionally favourable prices.
In this article, we will explore how to leverage the full potential of Google Ads during the Black Friday period, providing practical strategies and expert tips to help you navigate the digital advertising landscape and achieve outstanding results during this critical sales period.
In October, numerous e-commerce businesses faced a sales downturn. Multiple factors can contribute to this, but typically, it's a sign that people are preparing for Black Friday and waiting for a good deal. Therefore, seize the advantage by announcing your Black Friday sales well ahead of time.
By initiating early communication about your upcoming sales, you have the opportunity to proactively raise awareness among both your existing customer base and potential new customers. This ensures that your brand and enticing offers are at the forefront of their minds when Black Friday arrives. By getting a head start on your competitors, you can capture a larger share of the market and increase your chances of attracting customers who may be planning their Black Friday shopping in advance.
What do you need to get in order?
Enhance your landing pages to prominently showcase the discounted products, ensuring an optimised user experience that drives conversions. Revisit your ad copy to align seamlessly with the Black Friday theme, employing captivating language that captures the attention of potential customers. Additionally, update your ad images with visuals that vividly present the essence of the sale. Doing so creates a compelling and visually aesthetic marketing campaign that leaves a lasting impression and motivates customers to take the desired action.
What should you ensure?
To run a successful Google Ads campaign during Black Friday, implementing the following strategies is crucial:
- Plan and prepare your images, videos, and text well in advance to ensure seamless execution.
- Phrase your monthly budget to ensure you can ramp up and maximise delivery of the days around the Black Friday period.
- Segment your campaigns and asset groups based on your specific objectives. Create separate campaigns for different Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) goals, and use distinct asset groups with tailored creatives and messages for different product categories.
- Conduct thorough research to identify the most relevant keywords and audience segments, enabling you to fully capitalise on the increased traffic during Black Friday.
- Optimise your ad scheduling to align with peak shopping hours. Analyse historical data and customer behaviour to determine the most effective times to display your ads, maximising their visibility and impact.
- Incorporate a countdown feature in your ad copies to create a sense of urgency among customers, driving immediate action and boosting conversions.
Products
Get your products in order for the sale. Understanding in advance which products will receive discounts is key to accurately filtering and strategically presenting them on the designated pages.
Budget
To maximise the impact of your advertising efforts on Black Friday, it is advisable to significantly increase your budgets. While providing precise figures can be challenging, it is common for businesses to consider raising their daily budget by 5-10 times. Given the increase in demand and competition on this shopping day, a higher budget is crucial to accommodate all potential clicks and secure more advantageous ad placements compared to your competitors.
However, you can still strive for improved efficiency without a significant budget increase. By strategically optimising your campaigns, you have the potential to generate a higher volume of sales and achieve a stronger return on investment. This means you can make the most of your existing budget while capitalising on the opportunities of Black Friday.
Check last year's performance
Always review the performance from previous years. The past couple of years have been somewhat unique, so a direct comparison may not be as accurate possible, but there will always be insights that can be useful.
Which messages worked best? What was the media spend? What did it take to maximise impression share? Were there any categories/products that performed better than others? Should any of these be excluded or emphasised more? There can be many learnings from previous sales, so use them to achieve even more success in the upcoming period.
Performance Max
To enhance your advertising strategy for Black Friday sales, embracing Performance Max campaigns can provide a significant advantage. By leveraging Google's powerful machine learning capabilities, these campaigns enable effective targeting of your desired audience across various networks and placements, generating impressive results during the highly competitive Black Friday period.
While Performance Max is a relatively new addition to Google Ads, adopting a strategy like your existing Google Shopping setup is worthwhile and effective. However, to fully unlock the potential of Performance Max, it is crucial to incorporate additional creative elements: crafting compelling and persuasive ad copy, utilising visually appealing imagery and videos, exploring all rich media formats, and customising ads based on user interests and past interactions with your business.
Final thoughts
In summary, using the power of Google Ads during Black Friday can be a transformative opportunity for your business. By planning ahead, you can fine-tune your advertising strategy to captivate the attention of eager shoppers despite the intense competition. Stay tuned in monitoring your campaigns, leveraging data-driven optimisations, and fearlessly experimenting with different approaches. With strategic planning, creative ingenuity, and precise execution, Google Ads becomes an invaluable tool that propels your business to thrive during Black Friday.
