Today’s guest post is written by Max Sinclair. Max is based in London, UK, and is the founder of Snowball Creations (an award-winning paid advertising agency) and Forzeit (a complete time management system).
We all know that as holiday time approaches, products tend to go on sale and create an urge within us to be a bit more indulgent with our hard-earned paychecks. As these seasons approach, consumers eagerly start hunting for bargains, discounts or just last-minute purchases — because who hasn't been caught in the frenzy of late holiday shopping?
This surge in consumer behaviour provides businesses with a unique opportunity to swoop in with seasonal campaigns. By doing so, they can capitalise on the increased demand and willingness to splurge during these peak times of the year. In this article, we will explore seasonal campaigns and everything you need to know to make them a success.
What Is Seasonal Advertising?
As the name implies, seasonal advertising refers to campaigns designed to take advantage of the increased demand that accompanies certain holiday periods, such as Black Friday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and other seasonal events.
But hey, seasonal advertising isn’t just about the big holidays. While these are the major players that many businesses tend to focus on, seasonal ads can also tap into things like the changing weather, back-to-school period or even massive sports events such as the Super Bowl.
The main idea of these campaigns is to align them with specific times of the year to make them more relevant to consumers. With a limited-time offer that sparks excitement, businesses can quickly grab people’s attention and drive engagement.
According to Google, 75% of shoppers said that during seasonal periods they keep their eyes peeled for promotions and exclusive offers. This is why seasonal campaigns can be such a game-changer for boosting sales and visibility.
When done right, these campaigns encourage impulse purchases and a sense of urgency that gets people to add items to their cart before they even have time to second guess. That said, while these types of campaigns are effective, they are not without their challenges.
The thing is that you won’t be the only one running seasonal ads. This means many other brands will also jump on the holiday ad wagon, making it harder and more expensive to stand out.
Plus, these campaigns have a short shelf life. So all that effort disappears once the season ends. But if planned strategically, seasonal campaigns can be a powerful tool to drive sales and brand awareness at just the right moment.
9 Tips to Help You Make The Most of Your Seasonal Campaigns
Seasonal campaigns are clearly an effective marketing strategy, but how do you leverage it for maximum effect? Well, one thing is certain, timing plays a huge role. If you launch too early, consumers might not be ready yet to purchase.
Whereas when you launch too late, there’s a good chance your ad will get drowned out by all the other promotional content floating around. Finding that sweet spot is a key factor in making your campaigns stand out and drive real results. Here are 9 key things that will help you to make the most of your seasonal campaigns:
- The Power of Starting Planning Early
With seasonal ads, time plays a massive role, whether in the planning, development or launch stage. Waiting until the last minute to plan your campaign is a surefire way to miss out on big opportunities.
The earlier you start mapping out your strategy, the more time you have to craft strong ad creatives, irresistible offers and fine-tune your message. Plus, getting a head start means possibly securing better ad placements before the competition swoops in and drives up prices.
- Build Anticipation Early
Don’t just drop your campaign without warning. You want to build up anticipation first and warm up your audience. Think of it as a movie trailer. When it is carried out well, the trailer creates excitement, gets people talking and ready to buy a ticket when the big day comes rolling around. You want to try and do the same for your campaign.
Start teasing your offers early through social media, email newsletters or even countdown timers on your website. Give your audience a taste of what’s coming, like a great discount, a limited-edition product or early access to the sale.
Get them excited before it even starts! The more hype you build, the more likely people will be ready to take action the moment your campaign goes live.
- Break Down Your Audience
When it comes to paid advertising, not all customers are the same. Each of them has their own interests, needs and buying habits. With seasonal campaigns, it is no different. With segmentation, you can divide your audience into smaller groups and tailor your messaging to each group.
That way, you’re not just broadcasting the same generic message to everyone, but instead you’re speaking directly to what each group cares about. For example, if you're running a holiday sale, you could target people who have purchased from you before with exclusive offers, while newcomers could get an introductory discount. Tailoring your approach like this makes your ads feel less like someone just trying to sell you something and more like a well-timed opportunity.
- Adjust Your Budget As The Season Approaches
As the season approaches, so will more competition. In other words, ad costs can start rising fast. To help you stay ahead, a well-timed budget increase is necessary.
Increasing bids on high-performing campaigns or reallocating spend to the best-performing channels can help you maintain visibility when it matters most. As mentioned, planning ahead also gives you more flexibility, so you’re not scrambling to keep up when prices surge.
- Let Data Drive Your Hand
Guesswork isn’t your friend when it comes to timing seasonal campaigns. Instead, use data to guide your decisions. Look at past performance metrics to see when engagement, clicks and conversions started picking up in previous seasons.
Use tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights or historical ad data to help you pinpoint the best time to launch. Another thing you want to do is to pay attention to search trends.
For example, if you discover that interest in a seasonal product starts rising in early October, you don’t want to be the brand that shows up late to the party in November. The more you incorporate data into your approach, the better your chances of having a lucrative and successful seasonal campaign.
- Create a Sense of Urgency
Nothing gets people to throw caution to the wind and spend money faster than the fear of missing out on a great deal. We’ve all been there — buying something we don’t really need just because it was on a massive sale. Why? Because we knew the offer wouldn’t last.
Now while we can debate on whether that purchase was the right choice, one thing that you want to do is create that same feeling with your seasonal campaigns. When people think they might miss out, they’re far more likely to act fast. Use countdown timers, flash sales or reminders like “Limited time offer!” to drive that urgency. With the right mix of pressure and excitement, you can quickly turn hesitant shoppers into eager customers.
- Optimise Your Closer (The Landing Page)
With all the traffic rolling in from your seasonal campaign, you want to ensure your landing page is up for the challenge. The last thing you want is for people to click on your ad, only to bounce right away because the page doesn’t match their expectations. A lot of businesses focus heavily on the ad itself, but the landing page is just as important.
Think of it like this: your ads are the ones that do the heavy lifting — getting people to click, but your landing page is where the deal actually takes place. If it’s slow, filled with distractions or confusing, people will quickly leave and take their money elsewhere.
To get them to stick around, make sure your landing page is fast, easy to navigate and delivers exactly what your ad promised. A well-optimised landing page ensures that once visitors arrive, they’re met with a straight, hassle-free path to conversion. We’ve put together two free checklists to help you fine-tune your landing page — grab them here!
- Don’t Forget Those Last-Minute Shoppers
Not everyone plans ahead and that’s where the last-minute shoppers come in. These folks might’ve been putting it off or just procrastinating, but they’re ready to pull that trigger now!
To pull them in, keep your offers going strong as the deadline nears. And don’t forget about retargeting. Serve ads to people who’ve checked out your site but haven’t bought yet. A simple “Still need a gift? We’ve got you covered!” might just do the trick and get them to seal the deal.
- Analyse and Adjust
Once you launch the campaign, the work does not end there. Successful paid media management can be summed up in one word — testing. You need to analyse your performance and test different things until you find what works. In other words, you’ve got to keep an eye on things as they unfold. If something’s not working, don’t be afraid to tweak it.
Run some A/B tests and see what clicks with your crowd. Sometimes the slightest adjustments can make a massive difference. But you won’t experience it if you don’t experiment.
Then lastly, remember about post-campaign analysis. You want to take note of the things that worked and what did not. That way, when next season comes around again, you are in a much stronger position to crush it.
Closing Thoughts: Bringing It All Together for a Winning Seasonal Campaign
Seasonal ads can be super effective if you plan them well. Start early, build anticipation and stay flexible as things unfold. With the right timing, budget and messaging, you can stand out and drive strong sales.
Also, remember post analysis. Treat every campaign as a learning experience. Take notes, tweak what didn’t work and come back even stronger the next season. Having trouble getting your paid campaigns where they need to be? Contact Snowball Creations and let's make your next campaign a winner.
