a guide to - Greenlight Digital

O CTO B E R 2016 Christmas Campaign Planning

A GUIDE TO

www.greenlightdigital.com

CONTENTS 4

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HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (CAMPAIGN!) BY ANDREAS POUROS COO & Co-founder

GETTING YOUR SHOPPING CAMPAIGNS RIGHT FOR CHRISTMAS BY ANDY HUNT Senior Paid Media Analyst

Greenlight is a multiple award-winning digital marketing agency that designs, builds, deploys and measures marketing solutions and campaigns across Search, Content and Engagement, Display, Mobile, eCommerce, and more, with the unwavering objective of achieving dramatic growth for its clients. Greenlight promotes brands and products in 26 languages and 42 territories on behalf of such clients as Hiscox, ghd, Dixons Carphone, Millennium Hotels and Resorts, Laura Ashley and many more. Ready to grow? Call us on +44(0)20 7253 7000 or go to www.greenlightdigital.com/get-in-touch

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www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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TEN TIPS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR PAID SOCIAL THIS CHRISTMAS BY ASHLEY GILL Paid Media Manager

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RETARGETING: DON’T OVERSPEND THIS CHRISTMAS BY SIMON CLAASSEN Senior Media Trader

PAID SEARCH DO’S AND DON’TS: A GUIDE TO NAVIGATING ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT AT CHRISTMAS BY BECKY DUNFORD Paid Media Manager

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YOUR CHEAT SHEET TO A GREAT CHRISTMAS SEO STRATEGY

HOW AND WHEN TO TIME YOUR CHRISTMAS CONTENT CAMPAIGNS

BY STEFANIA ROMANELLI SEO Consultant

BY JAMES BROWN Senior Digital PR & Outreach Specialist www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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Introduction

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (CAMPAIGN!) BY ANDREAS POUROS, COO & CO-FOUNDER

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Christmas is one of the most exciting

are should there be a bump along the road. As part

peaks in any digital marketer’s calendar

of your contingency plan, it’s good to include internal

and, as with any other major event, planning starts early on. While it seems

resource restraints (such as staff availability) and budget confinements too so you don’t have to compromise at any stage.

unusual to consider festive campaigns in the heat of summer, this is second

KEEP YOUR MESSAGING CLEAR

nature to digital marketers. But there are

Here’s where things can go awry quite easily.

often many hurdles that come ahead of

When marketers and creatives get together to

a winning Christmas campaign, and it’s the approach that matters as much as the

brainstorm, there’s a likelihood that a core message could get lost in what’s ultimately a really cool campaign that doesn’t actually bring something

creative ideas when it comes to achieving

of value or relevance to its audience. Sure, it’s fun

great results.

and caught someone’s attention, but was there a clear call to action or particular brand association?

The most disappointing thing to witness during the

Unfortunately that’s sometimes unclear in

festive season is what seems like a good campaign

Christmas messaging - and while the campaign

that’s been backed up with some interesting

wouldn’t impede awareness or brand recognition, it

creative, but you can’t help but wonder if it could’ve

may not lead to actionable results from audiences,

been better with a few tweaks. Such scenarios

hindering KPIs and ROI. Before you start ideating,

happen frequently, but they’re completely avoidable.

have your core message and takeaway to mind,

At the heart of a memorable and relevant campaign

share this with everyone and then build on how that

is a good strategy. This may seem obvious, however,

can be amplified in your campaign.

more often than not, Christmas planning can be rushed and the focus left unclear. Over the years,

These tips are the building blocks to achieving

I’ve followed some simple steps which have helped

your goals, but beyond that, you can only reach the

keep overall goals, vision and teams aligned:

pinnacle of where you want to be through expert know-how. This magazine looks into the spectra

WORK BACKWARDS Visualise what you want to achieve (within reason!) in terms of the impact you want your campaign to have, on what audience, and any KPIs to measure that success. Then think about the time and resource you’d need to reach that outcome, and work your way backwards. This will help you recognise the steps required to get where you want whilst also allowing you to create a timeline and project plan.

of digital channels to cover you from all angles so you’re prepared for the Christmas period. Some disciplines, such as SEO, will mean that the advice in this magazine is more catered to your plan for next Christmas, whereas others like paid social can be implemented relatively quickly - what’s key is that you evaluate the areas you need to build on to enable your campaign to shine, and from there allow our experts’ advice to guide you on the path to what could your best Christmas campaign yet.

IF IT CAN GO WRONG, IT WILL This, of course, doesn’t always hold true, but it’s a good exercise to imagine what your biggest blockers would be, and make note of what your other options


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Paid Media

GETTING YOUR SHOPPING CAMPAIGNS RIGHT AT CHRISTMAS BY ANDY HUNT, SENIOR PAID MEDIA ANALYST

Google Shopping has experienced rapid growth over the last few years, seeing the channel establish itself as the predominant revenue driver for many retailers. The holiday period – which actually begins a lot earlier than you would assume, with 48% of holiday shoppers admitting that they did the majority of their shopping on or before Black Friday1 - places a strong emphasis on preparing a foolproof plan for Shopping campaigns.

“It’s easy to get ahead of yourself when planning: there’s no use looking at various testing and interesting innovations if you haven’t got a healthy product feed.“

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THE FOUNDATIONS OF A STRONG CAMPAIGN Here’s how to make sure your feed is in top shape: Automatic stock and price updates: some of the most common pitfalls when it comes to product feeds is inaccurate pricing and stock levels. While it’s important for these to be accurate at all times, it’s especially crucial during the Christmas shopping period. If you can enable automatic updates in the Merchant Center then do so to avoid getting caught out. Accurate data: make sure your feed quality is up to scratch by ensuring the data in the feed accurately represents the information on your site, while also paying attention to meet all of Google’s shopping feed requirements2. Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs): items with GTINs can drive up to 40% more clicks than those without, and there’s the added benefit of automatically getting a boost on competitors who have neglected to add them. Feed quality: the holiday season isn’t the time to be testing new product descriptions or optimising your product titles. Make sure your feed is fully

“Making sure you have enough budget to maximise impression share during the holiday period is pivotal to capitalising on customers’ higher purchase intent.”

optimised for search, verify that your products are correctly categorised as granularly as possible, and ensure you have high quality images in the feed. Go with your strongest set to date and back it to succeed over the Christmas shopping period.

FORECASTING While forecasting may seem obvious, it’s

Custom labels: label up your feed so you can group

often overlooked. Don’t limit your activity by

products by priority and category in your Shopping

underestimating your potential - this includes

campaigns - and to manage performance, it’s best

compensating for year-on-year growth in the

practice to distribute your budget to increase

Shopping channel in addition to growth scaling your

efficiencies and ROI.

own activity.


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Paid Media

SHOPPING IN A MOBILE-FIRST WORLD This section is justifiably dedicated to mobile due to its increasing dominance in search and Shopping. According to Google, mobile will be the main source of traffic in the run up to Christmas, and is due to make up 60% of overall searches. Furthermore, it’s been forecasted that mobile will contribute to a 140% uplift in clicks on Shopping during the holidays3, which further underlines the importance of mobile as a core channel for digital activity. In order to get the most out of your mobile Shopping campaigns, consider the following:

ATTRIBUTION Don’t just look at last click, attribute the value cross-channel and cross-device, and also consider adjusting your KPI’s by device to improve attribution.

BE VISIBLE This is key to apply for Shopping as well as search; having a bigger ad presence won’t necessarily lead to twice the clicks, but will help to ensure potential customers visit your site over competitors.

SELLER RATINGS Opt in to seller ratings for Shopping to increase your mobile presence.

PROMOTIONS These are a good way to get your brand noticed and to stand out from the crowd, but be sure to update your ad copies appropriately.

ALWAYS ON

“Shopping is a key tool in any

Retailers should ensure Shopping is optimised for

retailer’s arsenal, especially when it

and targeting top audiences as part of an ‘always on’

comes to a successful mobile strategy. “

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mobile devices, pushing best performing products strategy.

BID STRATEGIES Don’t overcomplicate things – a simple Return On Average Spend (ROAS) bid strategy can react a lot faster than you to calculate effective bid multipliers. We recently tested a ROAS target strategy and achieved fantastic results, improving ROAS by 151% in less than two weeks on a high volume retail Shopping campaign, so it’s certainly worth implementing. The key benefit of this approach is that it tailors

THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN I can’t place greater importance on a healthy, up to date product feed – this means daily updates and accurate information. There’s no point having a fully optimised feed that contains thousands of disapproved products for broken URLs, prices or stock. Identify the key problems with your feed, plan your strategy execution and enjoy a (relatively) stress-free holiday period.

the bid at the auction level, meaning that you’re always using the most up-to-date bids based on your ROAS target. It considers different bid multipliers by device and audience as well as other factors such as browser and time of day in order to work out the optimal bid for each auction. When setting these up, you need to consider four

1.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/infographics/5-holidayshopping-trends-to-watch-in-2015.html

2.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/infographics/5-holidayshopping-trends-to-watch-in-2015.html

3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZJ7Ukot6Yg&featu re=youtu.be

things:

ACCURATE DATA You’ll need accurate conversion data in AdWords before getting started, so take the time to review and refresh your data.

KPIs Ensure your KPIs are aligned with your bidding strategy, with the aim of maximising your ROAS targets by focusing on your best performing devices and campaigns. Be aware that your strategy could pull down bids and reduce traffic on a device that isn’t delivering on your ROAS target.

ROAS TARGET If you’re too ambitious with your initial target ROAS, this could be quite detrimental to volume, so it’s best to start off low and scale up.

CAMPAIGN SELECTION Choose the right campaign, something that’s budget constrained and has a below average ROAS.


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Paid Social

TEN TIPS

TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR PAID SOCIAL THIS CHRISTMAS BY ASHLEY GILL, PAID MEDIA MANAGER

Brands are investing more of their marketing budget in

The lead up to Christmas is a great time to launch your

paid social ads every year. Facebook and Instagram are

paid social activity, whether it’s already part of your

quickly becoming core channels in the digital marketing

marketing mix or whether you’re just keen to improve

mix; as are Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Pinterest for

your existing strategy, it’s an optimal time.

brands that are further along in their paid social journeys. With the largest reach, Facebook is a good place to start and, as your strategy evolves, you can introduce new

What’s key is to choose the social media channels that make sense for your business.

channels. Don’t feel you have to try everything at once, as you may end up spending a lot to learn a hard lesson. To achieve the best results in the run up to Christmas, I’ve put together my top ten tips to add a festive touch to your paid social ads and enhance performance.

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Paid Social

01.

KEEP YOUR MESSAGING FRESH AND TIME SENSITIVE #CHRISTMASISCOMING This may seem simple and rather obvious, but there are often ads served on Facebook with quite generic ‘evergreen’ ad copy. There’s nothing wrong with evergreen ads, especially if they continuously deliver good results. However, for the Christmas period you want to make sure that your ads stand out from the crowd. Create urgency with ‘limited time only’, ‘don’t miss out on’ or ‘offer ends

04.

THINK ABOUT DESIGN FOR SINGLE-IMAGE ADS Single-image ads don’t have to be one large image – in the lead up to Christmas, work with your design team to produce some interesting creatives. Retailers may want to showcase multiple items or, if you’re a fashion retailer, capsule wardrobes. Travel companies can create eyecatching collages of top-selling Christmas destinations or hotels. In such instances, single-image ads offer more flexibility in terms of design, so make use of this.

Sunday’ type messaging. Also, include references to Christmas and the upcoming festive season. Throw in some festive hashtags – you can research popular ones – and include them in your copy to maximise reach. But don’t go overboard, one or two are enough per ad.

02.

FOCUS ON GIFT BUYING

05.

AUDIENCES What is your goal for Christmas? Do you want to acquire new customers or do you want to encourage existing customers to convert? It’s likely you want to achieve both goals. Either way, you need to make sure your audience targeting strategy is suitable for your

If you’re a retailer, it’s time to shift the focus from

goal. When prospecting, don’t limit your reach by being

self-purchases to gift buying. Encourage users to start

too specific with targeting. Allow yourself to target a

planning their Christmas shopping early, for example by

broad audience (i.e focusing on age and gender) and

including countdown messaging along the lines of ‘50

refine this as you learn which segments perform best.

days to find the perfect gift’, ‘don’t leave it late this year’,

For remarketing – depending on your audience list

‘buy early and avoid the week before Christmas madness!’

sizes – try to segment the users so you can serve highly tailored messaging to each group. It can be hard to do

03.

CONSIDER YOUR AD FORMATS Are you utilising all the ad formats available? If you’re used to running carousel ads, or standard remarketing ads, think about testing some additional formats. If you have any video content, experiment with video ads. Single image ads can also be very effective if the image and messaging are appealing and highly targeted towards the specific audience.

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this if you don’t have much information from your CRM team, but do your best with the data you have. At the very least, try split your remarketing audiences by age, gender, and how recently they visited your site - and from there you can create specific ads for those people.

06.

09.

If you’re not already using DPAs, then this is an essential

If you run multi-market activity and require campaigns

format to test this Christmas. They’re not only effective

in many languages, make sure you have planned well in

for retailers; as long as you have multiple products,

advance and have enough resource to cover the busy

services or content to showcase, you should see

period. Think about whether you’ll build everything in

good results. Users are becoming more familiar with

English and have it translated into other languages, or

remarketing methods and, to some extent, they almost

if you have the option, it’s recommended to ask native

expect to be served ads showcasing items and content

speakers to come up with original messaging for truly

they’ve previously viewed.

localised ad copies.

07.

10.

DPAs offer the opportunity to show products or services

Put together a rough budget plan, but allow it to

that complement the main item or are of a higher value,

be flexible based on performance. In the lead up to

therefore increasing the average order value which is

Christmas, social media traffic will fluctuate. Volumes

ideal for gift buying. Use these to strategically encourage

are much higher on mobile, so ensure your budgets are

customers to buy more or purchase a more expensive

upweighted accordingly, but keep an eye on performance

version of what they were looking at.

so you can re-allocate budget where needed.

DYNAMIC PRODUCT ADS (DPAs)

CROSS-SELL & UPSELL DPAs

08.

PLAN IN ADVANCE

KEEP YOUR BUDGETS FLEXIBLE

LOOK AT WHAT YOUR COMPETITORS ARE DOING

With all these tips, it’s important to keep testing

With paid social, it’s important to keep up to date with

is highly effective when taken on strategically

what your competitors are doing as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Pinterest are constantly changing and evolving. New features are regularly launched, with some only available in certain markets and languages.

(even if it’s just A/B testing a hashtag) until you have your strategy fully optimised. Paid social and with a degree of flexibility to allow for optimisation, and, with these tips to hand, you’ll be armed with the necessary insights to create a winning plan.

Don’t fall behind with your strategy, as competition will be high at Christmas, making it a time when you need to keep on top of things and anticipate change.


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Display

RETARGETING: DON’T OVERSPEND THIS CHRISTMAS BY SIMON CLAASSEN, SENIOR MEDIA TRADER

Christmas is no longer the only event on which to focus your entire marketing budget – the holiday season starts as early as a couple days before the US holiday of Thanksgiving and lasts well into mid-January, when the January sales are in full swing.

RETARGETING BEST PRACTICE AdRoll coined the term “Retargeting Tuesday” following on from Cyber Monday, and for good reason – according to eMarketer1, 74.3% of all shopping carts on the day are abandoned. Typically, only a small percentage ever return

sure pixels are placed strategically on your site in order to capture website behaviour so you can serve personalised ads to users and following that, there are multiple ways to then use that data to create a more relevant user experience.

to the site naturally. This leaves a huge opportunity to

The first option is to collect abandoned basket data, and

re-engage users with your brand and products, in which

then retarget users with the content of their basket. One

they’ve shown an interest.

could even take this a step further and analyse basket

In light of this, there are some best practices for retargeting which will help to re-engage audiences that have visited your site in order to make your Christmas campaign the most successful yet. There are some key dates in the calendar that should be noted and capitalised on; Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Retargeting Tuesday and Boxing Day are undoubtedly days that should’t be ignored – so having creative that speaks to consumers with specific messaging and a strong call-to-

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Segmenting your audiences is fundamental, as is making

content by automatically checking if the basket content is gifting or personal shopping oriented, and personalise the ad accordingly. Dynamic retargeting based on which products users have looked at is the next option, as it delivers high click-through rates (CTRs) and conversion rates (CVRs) by offering the option to retarget users based on which pages were visited and then serving ads focusing on those specific product categories.

action to instil a sense of urgency is key. But simply having

In turn, it’s possible to turn your past converters into

specially designed creative is only one step in the right

repeat purchasers by setting up effective loyalty

direction.

campaigns; bringing former customers back by enticing


them with deals similar to historic purchases, or simply targeting them with special offers. This can be done in a number of ways, from banners to mailers to text messages. It’s clear that there are various tactics to attract the attention of users, irrespective of whether they had a quick browse of your site, showed purchase intent, or were past customers. Segmenting your audience is key, as is tracking sales and attributing them to the various tactics so you can find the recipe for success for your target audiences.

CHRISTMAS LIFECYCLE PLANNING While the aforementioned important shopping days are important, they shouldn’t be the only focus; planning for those post-event days are as important in order to re-engage users that have dropped out. CPMs (cost per impression) are usually higher in the run up to and during the Christmas holidays, but it’s key to save for post-event retargeting too as CPMs will be lower and, most likely, users will have unused gift cards, making this period a perfect time to re-engage.

Retargeting can be a very effective tactic – but don’t get carried away and spam your audience. If, say, a user browsed your site and looked at a product a few months ago but didn’t complete a purchase, they’ve most likely either purchased it elsewhere or aren’t interested. In short, don’t target them – it’ll be a waste of your marketing budget. The key is to target users who’ve shown high intent in a subtle way, without alienating or bombarding them so you can protect you brand image. All too often users are subject to retargeting overkill, and eventually brand image will suffer as users are unlikely to return, so it’s crucial to frequency cap and retarget in a responsible manner.


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Display

Most users will convert in the first week of having visited your site, so don’t target the same user with an ad four weeks later.

In short, decide on one or multiple strategies when segmenting your audiences, but above all, plan ahead and keep the following points in mind when planning:

1.

Developers usually have a coding freeze for pixel implementation ahead of important shopping periods in order to avoid website crashes

2. Creatives need to be designed, built and trafficked, which often takes more time than expected 3. Keep your messaging fresh and your creative updated to avoid ad fatigue 4. Keep a tab on frequency capping to avoid overserving and ostracising users 5. Have a strategy in place for those high volume shopping days when CPMs are high, and equally for the aftermath when CPMs are lower.

Ultimately, the rules are simple: there’ll always be someone that’s interested in your product. Engage those audiences in a non-intrusive way, and that’s your ticket to a repeat customer.

1.

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http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Three-Quarters-of-WorldsShopping-Carts-Abandoned/1013966

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Paid Search

PAID SEARCH DO’S AND DON’TS A GUIDE TO NAVIGATING ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT AT CHRISTMAS BY BECKY DUNFORD, PAID MEDIA MANAGER

For online retailers, Christmas is peak season with spending increasing year-on-year and sales last year hitting a whopping £24bn in the UK alone. We know that the demand is there, and so your marketing strategy must adapt in order for you to capitalise on each and every individual sale. Whilst most businesses have been planning key products, stock levels and Christmas logistics since the beginning of the year, marketing budgets and paid search strategy can often be an afterthought and rushed. As we’re moving ever closer to the Christmas period and the shopping madness that is December, it’s time to think about some key do’s and don’ts to take a look at the key areas of paid search account management to consider in order to be prepared for what’s to come

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DONT’S DO’S

DONT’S

Make sure that you’ve allocated increased

Be wary not to use all your budget in the first three

campaign budgets for the Mondays in December

weeks of December; post-Christmas sales are

before Christmas. These days are heavy shopping

huge revenue drivers so you’ll need good visibility

days and can drive the core of your Christmas

in this peak period.

revenue, so don’t let bid-modifiers or budget caps limit your traffic and, subsequently, your sales.

It’s key not to forget the weekends; any ad scheduling which has been optimised towards

Optimise your ads and extensions so that you’re

conversions and CVR’s throughout the year can

driving good quality traffic. Consider:

often be thrown out of the window during the

• Creating compelling ads that are seasonal and

holiday period. Remove some of your weekend

product specific • Including last delivery dates before Christmas;

restrictions to allow for increases in search and increases in conversion rates.

countdown ads can work really well to drive urgency • Building sitelinks for gifting, gift vouchers and

key bestsellers for cross-selling

Never underestimate the power of mobile traffic during Christmas, which continues to increase in tandem with rising conversions. We predict that this December we’ll see the highest sales rates

Remarket to users who’ve previously been to your

and revenue driven by mobile than ever before; so

site, and specifically those that haven’t converted.

don’t miss out by limiting your traffic through

All of the hard work dedicated to branding activity

down-bidding on mobile.

can pay off in the three weeks before Christmas, so retarget them using dynamic product

Avoid making any significant changes to your

remarketing, RLSA and display remarketing.

account structure, Shopping feed or keyword set; stick to what works and build visibility on those

Keep on top of the weather; we all remember the

terms and products.

Christmas of 2010 when half our online shopping orders were stuck in depots across the country due to heavy snowfall. With that in mind, keep your customers informed of any changes to last shipping dates, and start this conversation by updating your ad copy or sitelinks. Maintain a healthy Shopping feed that’s accurate with no disapprovals. Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are going from strength to strength, and December

Whilst 2016 online Christmas spending is likely to significantly eclipse that of last year, paid search sales aren’t going to just fall into your lap. By looking at the detail and by considering all eventualities, you’ll be prepared and have a strong plan in place for peak season in order to drive the traffic and sales you’ve been working so hard all year to capitalise on.

isn’t the time for feed disapprovals or inaccurate products to be displayed.


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SEO

YOUR CHEAT SHEET TO A GREAT CHRISTMAS SEO STRATEGY BY STEFANIA ROMANELLI, SEO CONSULTANT

Oh, Christmas! The decorations, Christmas carols, family time, snow and… the shopping rush. If you’re on the other side of the fence and need effective SEO tips for your eCommerce website in time for the upcoming holiday season, there’s some sad news: it’s probably too late. What you need to remember when it comes to SEO is the amount of time and effort required to get the most out of the festive period is massive, and ideally everything should start the year before – or at the very least, six months in advance. But don’t despair, this cheat sheet will highlight the areas to focus on to get everything optimised for next Christmas (or simply for your next peak season!).

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IDENTIFY AND CATEGORISE THE KEYWORDS YOU WANT TO TARGET

1 YEAR TO 6 MONTHS IN ADVANCE

identified keywords and make sure keywords are included in your content, headings, title

for seasonal or gift-related keywords.

tags and meta descriptions (without unnatural

Then take a look at your competitors: what

repetitions). To add to this, ensure your pages

keywords are they targeting? Who’s ranking revolve around? What does Google Trends or the Google Keyword Tool show for your niche? Once you have an answer to all these

LANDING PAGES Create your landing pages based on your

Start by taking a look at your existing rankings

first? What kind of content does their website

CREATE OR REVIVE YOUR

are unique, engaging and relevant to your 5 TO 6 MONTHS IN ADVANCE

users’ tone of voice and intent so that each landing page serves a clear purpose. If you have a wide range of gifts, for example,

questions, you can start putting together your

it’s always a good idea to create a landing

final list of keywords to target for the next

page with all Christmas offers and gift types

year, which should continuously be reviewed

displayed. Also, think about producing

and monitored thereafter to accommodate for

Christmas buying guides for separate product

any changes. Remember to include as many

types as these will help with navigation and

variations as possible that could cover short

categorisation on your site.

and long-tail searches for generic terms as well as specific products.

Don’t forget to plan your edits for product pages at this stage, particularly for

Finally, don’t just stick to what you have on

descriptions and images, and be sure to

your website, but also consider content that

optimise your schema markups (especially on

may be added to your website later. Once

product pages) around this time too so your

you have your keyword list, it’s best practice

pages are visible in the search engine results

to categorise it further so it aligns with your

pages (SERPs).

landing or product pages, which will help with housekeeping and any future updates.

If you’ve already got a Christmas URL and landing pages, you should re-use them and just make any appropriate updates or copy changes instead of creating new ones. Why you ask? Because deleting seasonal pages from your website would mean you’d need to rebuild any authority previously gained on those pages from scratch, as opposed to building on previous years’ value. As there are plenty of ways to hide pages without deleting them, this needn’t be a worry or hard to implement. One of the simplest solutions is to remove any internal links pointing to the seasonal landing pages or even just adding a 302 redirect to a different (but appropriate!) URL until next year.


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SEO

PAY ATTENTION TO INTERNAL LINKS AND REPRIORITISE YOUR HIERARCHY You may know that the higher up a page is in your website hierarchy, the more important it’s considered by search engines. Analyse what categories and products are your bestsellers during Christmas and, while also allowing enough time for PageRank to flow, make your landing pages visible and create direct links

2 TO 3 MONTHS IN ADVANCE

GIVE YOUR WEBSITE A HEALTH AND UX CHECK So, now your content is ready for the Christmas rush, but is your site? At this stage, you need to ensure your website and servers can handle the expected influx of traffic over the holiday season and that they’re fast enough to respond and load. PageSpeed Insights1 by Google is always a good place to start when considering load times and areas of

from your master navigation and homepage to

improvement.

the corresponding reviewed landing pages.

For optimal site health, it’s best practice to

Your homepage can also be optimised for

check there aren’t any broken links lingering

Christmas deals and lead directly to your most beloved categories and products through banners and buttons. If you do opt for this, remember not to remove big chunks of your website’s existing content - you don’t want to gain seasonal rankings while harming the results gained during the rest of the year. Additionally, don’t forget to enhance internal linking to the seasonal pages from other

as these can be damaging from a search perspective. Finally, review key UX touchpoints such as purchase buttons (these are your ‘add to cart’ and ‘checkout’ buttons) are visible, work well and are simple to use. After all the months of hard work put into optimising your site, you don’t want to lose people at the final hurdle and put them off coming back to your site.

website locations as well – this will improve user journey and help conversions.

GET YOUR BESTSELLERS RANKING WITH LINK ACQUISITION Make a list of the products and categories that you’re most interested in seeing ranking and start link acquisition campaigns targeting them. The earlier you start, the more edge you’ll gain over your competitors.

“SEO doesn’t exist in a vacuum and, for the best results, you need to integrate the channels you’re using as much as possible.”

here, if you update one, you need to update

DON’T FORGET MOBILE If you want to increase footfall to your store during the Christmas season, your site needs to work well across all devices. Mobile has overtaken desktop in search volumes in many markets, and whether you’re targeting people who are starting to research a gift purchase or

ALWAYS

them all. Finally, reinforce your local business with reviews - and don’t be shy to ask happy customers to provide them. These can really boost credibility and enable you stand out from the crowd.

actively shopping, mobile is one of the most important channels to be visible on. Put effort into meeting the basic mobile requirements, such as making your site responsive and complying with Google recommendations2 on annotations, font size and spacing to help optimise for mobile.

“Social integration can seriously boost your SEO campaign success – and the same goes for effective PPC – just make sure

DON’T FORGET TO THINK LOCAL

paid traffic is not cannibalising

Nowadays, there’s a big overlap between

organic traffic.”

online and offline user journeys; it’s commonplace for purchases to start through a search online and end in a store and vice versa. This is precisely why brands which have high street shops need to keep local SEO top of mind and avoid missing out on footfall and ranking for local searches in the SERPs. To get local search right, start by making sure you have great location pages. Think about what your customers would need to know to contact you, such as your address, location on a map, directions, phone number, contact emails, and, finally, add schema markup to improve visibility. You should frequently review elements which are important to your customers, such as updating addresses and amending changes to opening hours, and add these to Google Maps and across your social media platforms. Also, ensure you claim your Google+ or MyBusiness page and make any needed changes to the data, as these will also impact search results and rich snippet content – consistency is key

When it comes to improving your SEO, sadly there are very few quick wins. However, if you follow this guidance throughout the year and apply key changes in time for traffic spikes, you’ll be reaping the benefits for time to come. Above all, it certainly pays off to dedicate time and thought to your SEO processes. 1. 2.

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/ insights/ https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobilesites/

Content & Engagement

HOW AND WHEN TO TIME YOUR CHRISTMAS CONTENT CAMPAIGNS BY JAMES BROWN, SENIOR DIGITAL PR & OUTREACH SPECIALIST

If your piece of content is a snowflake, unique and beautiful in its own way, then the land is covered in great snow drifts of rival campaigns as you’re all competing for attention. Most are left to melt in the sun, while only a few get made into beautiful snowmen. Snow metaphors aside, Christmas is actually a great opportunity for you and your brand. For a start, every brand has a right to talk about it. From finance to family, entertainment to insurance, every industry has relevance. It also happens the same time every year, so there’s no excuse to miss out. As with any content marketing, however, pitching it with the right content, tone and timing is crucial.

24


“Christmas can be a testing time for any content marketer, as they compete with thousands of other brands to get noticed in the most crowded of markets.”

Similarly, brands might create informative

DRIVING HOME YOUR

articles or data-led pieces about Christmas.

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

For example, they might study who spends the most at Christmas, as done by PWC4

So you’ve decided you’re going to create your killer Christmas campaign, one that’s

which managed to achieve coverage in the

going to cut through the noise and garner

Telegraph and This is Money.

brand visibility. The next step is to consider

Some go for big experiential campaigns like

what type of content you’re going to create,

an event or a public stunt5. Last year,

with what tone of voice.

Carlsberg erected a huge beer-dispensing

Christmas is an emotional time and many

Christmas tree on London’s South Bank

brands tap into this, associating

complete with beer baubles. Meanwhile

themselves with the spirit of the season .

Not on the High Street put a gift dispenser

John Lewis is the most famous example of

in Paddington Station, activated by a tweet.

1

this with its emotive television advertising

In both of these examples, location was

campaigns, but many charities also use

very important, so it’s worth considering

this method. Take care with this approach,

popular tourist areas, shopping centres and

as it can look disingenuous if not well

stations which all have good footfall

thought through.

Christmas is a time of wishes, hopes and

The opposite approach is to employ

dreams, and competitions to win a trip to

humour, or even cynicism about Christmas.

Lapland or to see the Northern Lights, for

Currys PC World’s ‘Spare the Act’

example, are a great way to tap into

2

aspirations.

campaign in 2015 amusingly tackled the issue of people pretending they like their

Lastly, one thing every brand can make the

gifts. Again, be sure to use this

effort to do is wish their customers a Merry

appropriately – timing is everything!

Christmas, via email, social media or

Continuing to send out cynical messaging

another creative way.

on Christmas Day itself won’t capture the mood of the nation.

IT’S THE MOST

Many brands choose to create smart,

WONDERFUL TIMING OF

helpful guides or hacks around the big

THE YEAR

event. For example, commercially-led gift guides can be practical but stay fun; this

When should you launch your Christmas

was nicely done by Tesco through its

strategy? John Lewis is known to film its

Secret Scan-ta campaign, which allowed

adverts in January, a full 11 months in

you to input your friend or relative’s

advance! While being super prepared is

3

Clubcard number and get gift

ideal, in reality this is not always possible.

recommendations based on their purchase

Nevertheless, we advise finalising your

history!

strategy by summer at the latest - State of Digital argues Christmas really does start in July6.


25

Content & Engagement

WHEN SHOULD THINGS

CHRISTMAS HACKS

SHOULD BE PUT LIVE?

These should start from mid-

As a rule of thumb, most content should be published post Black Friday. This huge retail event now dominates the landscape of late November so it is inadvisable to try

November onwards; as many people are planning in advance at

Day; each has its advantages so no need to get hung up on one or the other.

this point, hacks come in handy

ALL I WANT FOR

relatively early on.

CHRISTMAS IS YOU... TO FEATURE MY CONTENT

to take this on. However, timings

EXPERIENTIAL EVENTS

depend on the type of content

Don’t hit shoppers and commuters

you’re doing.

content! We’ve seen examples of

before they consider it to be

how getting your tone, content type,

“Christmas time.” Going

And with that, go forth and create

location (if applicable) and timing

Christmassy too early may incur the

right is of utmost importance to a

wrath of those who consider

Christmas campaign – after all, it

Christmas to be getting

only goes on for so long.

unacceptably earlier every year!

Antoni Swidlicki, Content Strategist at Greenlight Digital, gave us some advised timings based on different campaigns:

If you get all of those things right,

EMOTIONAL PLOYS

create something original, pair it

Keep these to the last few weeks

with social activation and, if

before Christmas, when the spirit of

possible, paid media, you’re on your

the season starts to set in. Or,

way to a Christmas Number One.

unless you’re running… Good luck, and may all your

CHARITY APPEALS

Christmases be white (hat)!

October onwards, as the cold

COMPETITIONS An exception to the Black Friday rule, you’ll want more time to get this off the ground. If it’s a big Christmas prize, begin these late October onwards, so that the prize can be delivered before Christmas.

weather and dark nights come in, so too do our feelings of empathy for

1.

those who don’t live in comfort. 2.

FACT OR DATA-BASED CONTENT

3.

Launch in early December while publishers’ offices are still relatively

BUY MY PRODUCTS Start these towards Black Friday and continue through December

26

full.

4.

CHRISTMAS WISHES

while people are Christmas

Done in December, scheduled for

Shopping, get in front of your target

social media for midnight on

market while they agonise over

Christmas Eve, early on Christmas

what to buy for their loved ones.

Day morning or later on Christmas

5.

6.

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1372103/christmas-2015-john-lewisburberry-mog-cat-watch-best-ads http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/ currys-pc-world-spare-act-abbott-meadvickers-bbdo/1371307 http://www.thedrum.com/ news/2014/11/20/tesco-clubcardlooks-find-perfect-presents-twitterthrough-secret-scan-ta http://pwc.blogs.com/press_ room/2014/12/santanomics-uk-topschristmas-spend-among-major-westerneconomies.html https://econsultancy.com/blog/67364my-10-favourite-christmas-experientialmarketing-campaigns-of-2015/ http://www.stateofdigital.com/are-youready-for-christmas/

Greenlight is a multiple award-winning digital marketing agency that designs, builds, deploys and measures marketing solutions and campaigns across Search, Content and Engagement, Display, Mobile, eCommerce, and more, with the unwavering objective of achieving dramatic growth for its clients. Greenlight promotes brands and products in 29 languages and 42 territories on behalf of such clients as Hiscox, ghd, Dixons Carphone, Millennium Hotels and Resorts, Laura Ashley and many more.

Ready to grow? Call us on +44(0)20 7253 7000 or go to www.greenlightdigital.com/get-in-touch

www.greenlightdigital.com The Varnish Works, 3 Bravingtons Walk, King’s Cross, London, N1 9AJ +44 (0)20 7253 7000 [email protected]