It's hard to believe that another holiday season will soon be upon us, but sure enough, brands are beginning to unveil their seasonal promotions. This year, more shoppers are expected to turn to eCommerce retailers than ever before, meaning there will be a lot of tough competition online. Therefore, it's crucial to head into the holiday season prepared with a winning paid advertising strategy that will help you boost your sales.
If you're ready to get your full-funnel holiday marketing plans underway, we've got some great tips to get you started. Let’s take a look!
Paid Social Advertising for the Holidays
To begin, you'll need engaging social media advertisements to draw in your target audience and help them become familiar with your brand and its products or services. Consider using social platforms Facebook, LinkedIn, and even trendier platforms like TikTok to meet users where they already spend a lot of their time.
The key here is engaging content; personalization is more enticing than boring, static ads. Eye-catching video elements like Instagram stories, Reels, and TikTok videos are effective for reaching younger audiences. Meanwhile, Facebook ads remain a top option for older audiences. Or, if you're targeting a business-to-business (B2B) audience, consider running LinkedIn ads.
Paid Search & Programmatic Advertising for the Holidays
Brand awareness can also be built on Google through the Google Display Network (GDN). Targeting specific audiences on GDN is essential for increasing brand awareness or even serving retargeting ads to reach the right users at the right time. For the best results, ask yourself, “Who are we showing ads to and when?” It's not enough to serve ads to every user – you'll need to build out great audiences to ensure you get the most value out of your campaigns.
Another great way to increase brand awareness is through programmatic advertising, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the process of buying and selling ad placements in real-time through online bidding systems. This option is particularly beneficial in the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) world because it’s faster, more efficient, and cheaper than manual bidding. It also gives advertisers a granular look into their ad campaigns by allowing them to utilize dashboards to strategically manage their processes and glean insights into the behaviors of their audiences.
Tips for Planning Your Holiday Advertising Campaigns
The holiday season is fast approaching, and holds the click-power to make or break many online retailers. Using pay per click advertising to pull in customers this holiday season can help increase your sales and raise brand awareness during this essential ecommerce period.
Before you start creating your holiday paid advertising strategy though, you should consider the upcoming holidays. Here are some key dates to keep in mind as you plan your promotions:
- Thanksgiving– Thursday, Nov. 27th, 2025
- Black Friday– Friday, Nov. 28th, 2025
- Small Business Saturday– Saturday, Nov. 29th, 2025
- Cyber Monday– Monday, Dec. 1st, 2025
- Giving Tuesday– Tuesday, Dec. 2nd, 2025
- Hanukkah– Sunday, Dec. 14th– Monday, Dec. 22nd, 2025
- Christmas– Wednesday, Dec. 25th, 2025
- Kwanzaa– Friday, Dec. 26th, 2025 – Thursday, Jan. 1st, 2026
- New Year's Eve– Wednesday, Dec. 31st, 2025
- New Year's Day– Thursday, Jan. 1st, 2025
Use the PPC tips below to perfect your holiday advertising campaigns:
1. Build Brand Awareness with Target Audiences on Social Media or Google Display Network
Nearly 80 percent of internet users are active on at least one social media site, which means there are plenty of eyes waiting to find your brand. Therefore, paid social ads and responsive display ads (through GDN) are a great way to generate attention during the holiday season. Not only are these platforms a great place to showcase your products to new customers, investing in paid social media ads can increase your BigCommerce, OpenCart, and other ecommerce platform sales.
The key here is to target users whose interests and demographics align with your buyer personas and create compelling ad copy and creative that resonates with them.
2. Nurture Awareness with Targeted Ads
After you’ve placed your brand in front of new eyes, you’ll need to nurture them to ensure they keep you on their radar and consider you for future purchases. This is best accomplished with targeted ads designed to educate users about your products or services and how they can fulfill their needs. By highlighting the benefits of your offerings, you can set your brand apart from the competition throughout the holiday season and beyond.
3. Run Holiday Offers and Discounts that Entice Your Audiences Further
When you offer promos, discounts, and exclusive offers, you're reaching into the next stages of the sales funnel. These strategies push people through the buyer's journey because you're attracting consumers who have already expressed an interest in the products and services you provide. By giving them an incentive to stay excited about your brand, you're more likely to retain their attention.
People who are ready to engage in promotions are already near the bottom of the funnel; they're aware of your brand, they know what you offer, and they've figured out how you can solve problems they're facing in their lives. Your goal is to make it worth their while to keep following you down the funnel – especially during the holiday season, when shoppers are looking for the best deals on gifts.
4. Capture Bottom-of-the-Funnel Audiences with Enticing CTAs
When your customers are prime to convert, you want to capture them with enticing calls-to-action (CTAs) on Google search ads. Great CTAs match the intent of the audience, driving them toward landing pages where they can realize their full consumer potential. Basic calls-to-action lead people to perform a specific task, such as downloading an eBook, making a purchase, or scheduling a live demo.
5. Target Holiday-Related PPC Keywords
You may not sell holiday themed products but that doesn’t mean you can’t get in on the high traffic queries that tend to pop up around the Christmas and holiday season. For example, you may sell year round string lights and typically run PPC campaigns centered around terms like “string lights” and “outdoor lights.” It is worth your while to start running PPC campaigns on similar terms that include holiday related keywords, such as “Christmas lights” or “holiday string lights.” The simple inclusion of these holiday related terms could help spike visits in the months leading up to the holiday.
5. Use Google Shopping Ads to Boost Your Presence
Have you identified the holidays that will work best with your ecommerce PPC strategy? Great! Now you can optimize your holiday promotions by brainstorming where and how you want to promote them. Of course, one of the best ways to increase Shopify sales, Magento ecommerce, and other forms of online sales is to make use of Google Shopping Ads.
These shopping ads allow you to add a picture, price, and even a series of reviews to the very top of Google search results. These types of ads typically promote a much higher clickthrough rate than the standard text ads on Google! Any savvy ecommerce PPC agency will tell you that Google Shopping Ads can seriously boost your sales any time of year, especially during the holidays. If you are running a special discount, you can use your Google Shopping Ads to promote specific holiday discounts alongside your ad copy through Merchant Promotions.
Reach Success This Holiday Season with Help from Zero Gravity Marketing
If holiday PPC campaign management seems a little too complicated for you, or you simply don’t have the time to include these Holiday PPC tips or manage your own campaigns during the busy holiday season, contact Zero Gravity Marketing for assistance. Our experienced digital marketing professionals create results-driven PPC campaigns to increase conversions and help you capture all that holiday traffic.
About the Author
Danni Reid
