How to work out a successful SEM strategy for Christmas campaigns

SEO and SEM 28 July 2023

Working a good SEM strategy for Christmas campaigns can be the perfect opportunity to increase your sales.

But, although it may seem easy, you need to take into account some factors, such as the fact that at this time of the year your competition will be betting much more and, therefore, if you do not work your campaigns well, you may get less results at a higher price.

At
Kiwop
we want your business to have a future, so we recommend you to keep reading this blog to learn how to work a successful SEM strategy for Christmas campaigns.

What are you waiting for?

What is SEM

But first of all, you need to know what SEM is and how it can help you. SEM or Search Engine Marketing is search engine advertising, that is, those results that appear under the label “Ad” above the organic results.

The great advantage of working with SEM is precisely that, contrary to what happens with SEO, the positioning at the top of the search results is practically immediate. In addition, by targeting by keywords, you appear to those users who are actively searching for what you offer.

Therefore, working well with SEM is a great opportunity to increase your company’s sales, attract quality traffic to your website and increase your brand recognition, as long as you follow our tips.

There are different platforms to work SEM, and each search engine uses its own. However, the most used platform is Google Ads, since Google is the most used search engine worldwide.

If you are interested in this topic, don’t miss the Blog about the
importance of SEM in your digital marketing strategy
.

Types of SEM campaigns

Now that you know what it is, what’s missing is the how. And that is, how to reach your target through SEM? There are different types of campaigns for this purpose.

Search campaigns

Search campaigns are the original campaigns that Google Ads started with. In them, you work with keywords and with titles and descriptions, since you appear as if it were an organic result.

It is very important that in this type of campaign you choose well the keywords you are interested in promoting, so you must put yourself in the users’ shoes and think about what they are looking for so that your products or services appear to them. Google Ads has a keyword planning tool that can help you.

On the other hand, the type of match is also key to choose which words can have a more open range in terms of search, or which other keywords should be more limited to reach only certain types of users searching for that term.

Ah! And don’t forget to negative those keywords for which you never want to appear or pay. Since, in the end, you must take into account that each click on your ad has an economic cost.

Display Campaigns

Display campaigns are those that appear on the sides of Google’s or its partners’ websites.

These ads are completely visual and, therefore, need a great deal of creativity in order not to go unnoticed.

Our advice is to use this type of campaign for remarketing, with CTAs and personalized messages, or if you want to increase the traffic or notoriety of your website.

SEM

Discovery Campaigns

Discovery campaigns are relatively new in Google Ads and are a new and more complete way to reach users, as they alternate descriptions, images and videos.

They may not be the best choice for advertising a large product catalog or a brand as such, but they are the best choice for specific products or communications.

Shopping Campaigns

Shopping campaigns are those that appear as a catalog when searching in Google Ads, even before the search ads! And they work very well for selling specific and relatively affordable e-commerce products.

To work with this type of ads, you need to create a Google Merchant Center account and link it to your website and your Google Ads account. Through this, you will be able to upload the products, either from the whole website or one by one depending on what you are looking to promote.

The novelty with this type of campaigns is that do not work with keywords or by audiences, Google Merchant Center uses the descriptions you incorporate to appear to those users who are looking for products like yours, so work well with your Merchant Center account text!

Video campaigns

Video campaigns are those in which you indicate which video you want to appear as an ad and, in this way, it will appear on the YouTube platform and other Google partners.

It is helpful to use videos that show how a product works or that are creative and attention-grabbing. It is important to keep in mind that, whatever the video is, we must attract attention in the first seconds so that they do not pass the video.

Another tip, segment well! In these campaigns, it is best to segment by related audiences or with purchase intentions.

Maximum Performance Campaigns

Peak Performance campaigns are the newest addition to Google Ads, and as the name suggests, they are like an all-in-one campaign. In other words, by creating this type of campaign you are already working with Discovery, Search, YouTube and Shopping ads.

They are the best option if you are looking for a quick way to advertise a large number of related products. In addition, you also reach Gmail and Google Maps.

If you want to learn more about SEM campaigns and how SEM works, don’t miss this Blog with the
definitive guide on SEM positioning
.

4 Christmas campaign ideas

And now that you know a little more about SEM and the types of Google Ads campaigns, you should also know that Christmas is a time of compulsive shopping. And this may go very well, as your sales increase, but it may not go so well, as there are thousands of advertisers wanting to boost their campaigns just like you.

That’s why we want to give you some ideas to highlight your Christmas campaign.

Offers and discounts

The offers and discounts are typical, but they work very well for those users who did not know how to take advantage of the Black Friday opportunity.

Establish special offers and discounts and, above all, associate your communication with the Christmas holidays.

Feelings always work

Sentimentality and advertising often go hand in hand, and Christmas is the best time to awaken people’s feelings, take advantage of it!

To do so, you can always resort to eye-catching creatives that awaken the sentimental side of users with nostalgic copy and descriptions.

Specialty products

You probably have products in stock that can be very useful for Christmas, or you can even take advantage and launch a new product line just before Christmas.

If you add these special products to the users’ need to buy, you have the perfect mix to increase your sales.

Gift ideas

Another type of campaign that can work very well is to focus on recommendations or gift ideas. You can promote this type of content in Google Ads through campaigns such as search or Discovery.

That’s right! Don’t forget to include a button or CTA that leads to each of the products.

If you like these ideas, don’t miss this Blog about
how to build a successful SEM campaign
.

Online advertising

10 tips for a Christmas SEM strategy

You already have the operation, the campaigns and the ideas. Now we give you the best tips to make your campaigns perfect.

Start with plenty of time

This is essential if you want your campaigns to be well optimized for the holiday season. Our recommendation is that you start at least two months before the launch of the Christmas campaigns.

You must think that this is one of the times of the year when the most is invested in advertising and there is more competition

In addition, platforms like Google Ads need a minimum time to start displaying the campaign as it should so that you can optimize it.

If you start early, your campaigns will be at the top by December, and you will be able to reach many more users than your competitors.

Focus on what you want to communicate ❓.

Users are looking for clear messages and products. If you offer a discount, pack, gift and code, they will get lost among so many offers. Therefore, focus on a single, easy and eye-catching message to capture your target’s attention.

Define who you are targeting and your keywords

This point is also important. And beyond your target, in Christmas campaigns you may have certain products that are more specific for other types of people.

So, create Buyer Personas, and if you have already done so, do it again focusing only on the campaigns of this era. Once you have who you want to target, build audiences and define keywords to reach them.

For keywords, take into account the factors we have already mentioned, such as the types of concordance and negative words. The more you filter by results, the more optimization you will achieve.

Establish KPIs and objectives

If you already have previous experience in this type of campaign, it will be easier for you to establish KPIs and concrete objectives.

If this is not the case, don’t worry! Define which KPIs you want to take into account to achieve your objectives; number of clicks, number of conversions, CPA, web traffic, ROI, etcetera.

Work well on creative and copy ✍.

As we have already mentioned, creatives and copy are one of the keys to the good performance of campaigns, especially during the Christmas season.

If you opt for a special offer, exclusive products or a communication focused on Christmas, choose your descriptions and images very well, and don’t forget to match your brand identity.

Take into account the offers

If you are going to promote an exclusive offer or discount, communicate it very well! Leave no doubt for your users; minimum amount, dates, type of discount, etcetera.

And for your SEM campaigns, incorporate an account-level promotion extension. This way, even if you have a special campaign dedicated to that particular offer, you will have the opportunity to communicate it to all users who see your other ads and expand your sales opportunities.

Remarketing never fails

Remarketing can be the perfect opportunity to reach your most loyal users and offer them special communication, offers or exclusive products.

The positive points are that they already know you, they interact with your content, and you also offer them products that may be of interest to them.

Remember to customize CTAs and descriptions as much as possible. They know you, let it be known that you know them and they know you too!

Divide the budget well

Budget is another key factor in Christmas SEM campaigns. Reserve a good amount of investment for these campaigns, as this is when you will find the most competition.

And if you heed our previous advice and optimize your campaigns ahead of time, you will be able to split your budget according to the campaigns that work best for you. In this way, you will bet on those where conversions and ROI are higher.

Benchmarking

Don’t forget to look at your competition when it comes to campaigning. Analyze what they do, what they achieve, why they do it that way and extract lessons learned from what can benefit you or from other actions to avoid.

Based on reports and analytics

If you normally extract analytics and reports for your campaigns, do it even more for Christmas campaigns. Draw conclusions in time to implement the necessary changes in your SEM strategy for Christmas and, as far as possible, update your analytics weekly to optimize your campaigns as much as possible during this period.

If you want to perfect your SEM strategy for Christmas, we recommend that you consult with a specialized SEM team.
specialized SEM team.
.

Start your Christmas SEM campaigns now

If you want to take advantage of the full potential of SEM to increase your sales during the Christmas campaign, what are you waiting for?

Now it’s your turn.

If you need help or want us to answer any questions related to your business, we will be happy to help you.


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At 
Kiwop
we are specialists in 
content writing

digital marketing

web development
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e-commerce
.

Cheer up and…

Don’t miss the opportunity to take advantage of the full potential of SEM campaigns for Christmas!

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