When should stores start stocking and advertising for Christmas? Well, The planning of Christmas advertising should start six months in advance, with a gradual start of the Christmas campaign later in September and going in full swing in October. The deadline is much more likely due for your store if you are reading this. Do not panic, we got you covered. It is still possible to hop on the Christmas train and give your advertising campaigns a festive boost. In this last-minute guide, we’ll explore some effective quick wins to save your Christmas advertising campaigns.

9 Tips to Launch Effective Last-Minute Christmas Ad Campaigns

1. Leverage Social Media Buzz

Social media is a powerful tool for creating buzz around your brand during the holiday season. Do not leave your socials unattended, do the following: 

• Publish engaging and shareable content on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. 
• Give your social media cover photos a festive makeover with an eye-catching Christmas design. Show off your most popular Christmas products and add some holiday cheer to your brand logo if that works for your brand identity and philosophy.
• Consider running a holiday-themed social media contest or giveaway to encourage user participation and increase your brand’s visibility. Use relevant hashtags to make your campaign discoverable and join conversations to foster community engagement.

2. Tune Your Website to Christmas Mood

Depending on your brand’s philosophy and positioning, give your website either a full Christmas makeover or add some slight tweaks aligned with the Christmas mood. Whatever you sell—luxury cars or kids’ toys—do not go for an interactive falling snow effect: this major distraction can negatively affect the customer experience.

3. Optimize Email Marketing

If you haven’t maximized your email marketing efforts, now is the time. Here’s what you should do:

• Craft compelling and personalized holiday-themed emails to entice your audience. Create urgency with limited-time offers and promotions. 
• Make sure your emails are mobile-friendly, as many users check their emails on smartphones. Segment your email list to send targeted messages based on customer preferences and behaviors. 
• Also, capture the attention of customers with a joyful Christmas-inspired newsletter popup. Provide special holiday discounts or give subscribers early access to festive promotions, using language that revolves around the holiday season to generate enthusiasm.

4. Implement Flash Sales and Limited-Time Offers

Nothing creates a sense of urgency like a limited-time offer or flash sale.

• Consider offering exclusive discounts or bundles for a short period.
• Highlight the savings and emphasize that time is running out to drive immediate action.

This can motivate potential customers who have been on the fence to purchase before the holiday season ends.

5. Collaborate with Influencers

Influencer marketing can be a game-changer, even at the last minute.

• Identify influencers in your niche who align with your brand values and audience.
• Reach out to them for quick collaborations, such as sponsored posts, shoutouts, or product reviews.

Influencers can provide a credible and relatable voice to endorse your products during the festive season.

6. Optimize Website and Landing Pages

Besides giving your website a Christmas facelift, ensure your website and landing pages are optimized for the holiday season: 

• streamline the checkout process to minimize friction and encourage conversions
• highlight your best-selling products, feature customer reviews, and communicate any special promotions or discounts.

7. Utilize Local SEO for Last-Minute Shoppers

Many consumers are still looking for last-minute gifts, and local SEO can help your business capture their attention. Optimize your Google My Business listing, update store hours, and include holiday-specific keywords in your content. Run location-based ads to target potential customers in your vicinity searching for quick gift solutions. 

Check these blog posts for more tips on how to use Google Shopping for local SEO:

• How to Use Google Shopping for Local SEO
• How Brick-and-Mortar Businesses Can Make Use of Google Shopping

8. Revamp Your Display Ads

Capture the holiday spirit by infusing your promotion banners and videos with enchanting Christmas visuals, evoking a sense of warmth and celebration: 

• emphasize irresistible special offers, time-sensitive discounts, and exclusive bundles to entice your audience during this festive season of giving 
• elevate the overall experience by incorporating cheerful jingles or festive music into your videos, creating a joyful atmosphere that resonates with the joyous occasion and enhances the appeal of your promotions.

This tactic is easy to implement with the built-in AI capabilities of Google Ads. You do not need to invest time into creating Christmas video ads from scratch. Just feed the Christmas ad assets to Performance Max—and it will do the rest. PMax will repurpose your static visuals to create simple yet effective video ads. Remember, the assets must be high-quality, so you will still need some time to prepare them. However, this will take less time compared to producing a video ad on your own. Read this blog post to learn more about how PMax does that.

9. Engage in Retargeting Campaigns

Implement retargeting campaigns to re-engage visitors who have previously interacted with your website: 

• remind them of the products they viewed or placed in their carts but didn’t purchase. 
• offer them exclusive discounts or incentives to complete their purchase. Retargeting can be a highly effective strategy to convert warm leads into actual sales.

While time may be ticking away, there’s still ample opportunity to rescue your Christmas advertising campaigns. By strategically implementing these last-minute quick wins, you can boost brand awareness, drive engagement, and ultimately increase sales during the festive season. Embrace the holiday spirit, get creative, check your PPC account structure, and watch your campaigns shine brightly before the year comes to a close.

How AI Can Help You Save Your Christmas Advertising

In the eleventh hour of the holiday season, harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes even more critical, especially when focusing on Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. Here’s how AI can elevate your last-minute strategies on these platforms.

1. AI-Optimized Google Ads Campaigns

Google Ads is a cornerstone of online advertising, and its built-in AI can significantly enhance its effectiveness: 

• AI in Google Ads can enhance Christmas campaigns by analyzing historical data to identify trends and patterns in user behavior during the holiday season. 
• Machine learning algorithms can automatically adjust bidding strategies in real-time, ensuring that ads are shown to the most relevant audience at peak times. 
• Google’s AI can also optimize ad creatives by testing and refining different elements, such as headlines and images, based on user engagement data. 
• Predictive modeling enables you to forecast the performance of various ad placements, allowing for more informed budget allocation. 

AI in Google Ads streamlines the campaign optimization process, delivering more effective and personalized advertising experiences for users. However, by incorporating third-party AI solutions, you can multiply the efficiency of your Google Ads campaigns. There are limitations of Google’s AI that will allow you to run ads only to some extent of success, there are many reasons why AI in the advertising platforms does not give businesses an excessive competitive edge. That is why using extra AI tools is crucial.

For example, with BrightBid AI, you get an ad optimization toolkit designed to harness the full potential of Google’s and Microsoft’s (Bing’s) AI technology. Built with attention to how Google’s and Microsoft’s AI work, it empowers you with the ability to automate your ads with precision and make well-informed decisions.

2. Dynamic Ad Copy Generation

Utilize AI-powered tools to create dynamic and personalized ad copies for Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. These tools can analyze user behavior, preferences, and intent to generate ad content that resonates with individual users. This ensures that your ads remain fresh and relevant, even during the hectic holiday rush.

Depending on the scale of your business and sales operations, you can

• implement a hybrid approach, where you manually enter and execute AI prompts to create ad copy and then implement the results in your Christmas ad campaigns—read this blog post for more tips on how to do AI prompts for PPC ad copy with ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing Chat
• fully automate the ad copy creation and translation, which is a must for businesses operating on a large scale—read this success story showing how we helped a company quickly tap into a bunch of new markets with automated ad copy creation and translation.

Also, check this blog post for tips on how to boost conversions with AI-generated ad copywriting.

3. AI-Enhanced Audience Targeting

Refine your audience targeting on Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising using AI-driven insights. Machine learning algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to identify audience segments that are most likely to convert. This precision targeting ensures that your budget is optimized for maximum impact, reaching potential customers actively searching for last-minute holiday deals. Check this post for more tips on how to target the right audience with AI-driven customer segmentation.

4. Real-Time Ad Performance Analysis

AI analytics tools can provide real-time insights into the performance of your Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising campaigns. Monitor key metrics, such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost-per-click, with AI-generated reports that highlight areas for improvement. This allows you to make data-driven adjustments on the fly, ensuring your ads are consistently optimized for maximum impact.

5. Adaptive Budget Allocation

Allocate your advertising budget strategically with the help of AI algorithms. These tools can dynamically adjust budget allocations based on the performance of individual campaigns and keywords. By automatically directing more budget towards high-performing ads, you can maximize the impact of your last-minute push without manual intervention.

6. Strategic Keyword Recommendations

AI tools can analyze search trends, keyword seasonality, and user behavior to generate strategic keyword recommendations for Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. Ensure that your campaigns are leveraging the most relevant and high-impact keywords for the holiday season. This can help you increase the visibility of your ads and drive targeted traffic to your website.

How to Avoid Stepping On a Rake With Last-Minute Christmas Ad Campaigns

With the clock ticking and the holidays just around the corner, it’s time to kick your Christmas campaign into high gear. But do not scoot off to the campaign launch button too soon. Remember to do this: 

• Plan: You might be running out of time but you should rush with firing up a Christmas campaign just for the sake of it. Before you dive into the Christmas festivities, take a moment to plan, even if Christmas is 10 days ahead. Having clear goals, a budget, and a strategy for where you’ll be spreading holiday cheer will make the season even more magical.
• Know Your Audience: Your holiday squad is your audience. Take the time to understand them, craft messages that resonate with them, and spread that joy where it matters most.
• Spend Wisely: Don’t go overboard with your budget like the Griswolds. Set a budget, stick to it, and avoid any financial stress when the bills start rolling in. Remember, AI can help you spend your ad budget with efficiency.
• Measure, Measure, Measure: Just like Santa checks his list twice, you should also measure your results. Keep track of your performance and make adjustments to ensure smoother marketing efforts. Before launching the Christmas campaign, check if your data tracking flow is working correctly, especially server-side tracking and the first-party data collection flow.

Conclusion

So there you have it—your guide to achieving last-minute Christmas success. As you sail through the remaining days of the holiday season, incorporating AI-powered tactics into your Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising campaigns can make all the difference. 

By optimizing bidding strategies, crafting dynamic ad content, and honing in on your target audience, AI guarantees that your last-minute endeavors are not just impactful, but also in sync with the ever-changing trends of online advertising. Embrace the potential of AI to enhance your campaigns and ensure that this festive season becomes a triumphant success for your brand.