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2016 Black Friday trading period – below are our top stats and ... iPhone (20%)6. • PS4 (20%)7 ...... the web, apps,
S E P T E M B E R 2017 Black Friday & Christmas

B L A C K F R I D AY

BLACK FRIDAY 2016: WHAT DO WE KNOW?

ENSURE MAXIMUM ENGAGEMENT THROUGH CONTENT

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10 PAID MEDIA TIPS TO DRIVE USERS FROM INTENT TO CONVERSION

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BLACK FRIDAY LOGISTICS: FROM PLANNING TO ACTION

Black Friday

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Greenlight is a multiple award-winning digital marketing agency that designs, builds, deploys and measures marketing solutions and campaigns across Search, C o n t e n t a n d E n g a g e m e n t , D i s p l a y, M o b i l e , e C o m m e r c e a n d m o r e , w i t h t h e unwavering objective of achieving dramatic growth for its clients. Greenlight

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promotes brands and products in 29 languages and 32 territories on behalf o f s u c h c l i e n t s a s g h d , D i x o n s C a r p h o n e , S u p e r d r y, L a u r a A s h l e y, M i l l e n n i u m H o t e l s & Re s o r t s , e B a y, H i s c o x , F o o t a s y l u m a n d m a n y m o r e . Re a d y t o g r o w ? C a l l u s o n + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 2 5 3 7 0 0 0 o r g o t o w w w. g r e e n l i g h t d i g i t a l . c o m / g e t - i n - t o u c h

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CONTENTS

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TG I B l a c k F r i d a y H a n n a h K i m u y u , D i r ec to r of Pa i d M e d i a

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B l a c k F r i d a y 2 0 1 6 : W h a t D o We K n o w ? B e c k y P o t t e r, J u n i o r D i s p l a y P l a n n e r B u y e r, D i s p l a y

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Generate Brand Exposure With Display B e c k y P o t t e r, J u n i o r D i s p l a y P l a n n e r B u y e r, D i s p l a y

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E n s u r e M a x i m u m E n g a g e m e n t T h r o u g h Co n te n t B e n C o o k- N o r t h r o p , C o n t e n t S t r a t e g i s t , C o n t e n t & E n g a g e m e n t

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1 0 P a i d M e d i a T i p s To D r i v e U s e r s F r o m I n t e n t To C o n v e r s i o n M a r i a B e s t a r d , Pa i d M e d i a A n a l y s t , Pa i d M e d i a

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Maximising Sales Through Organic Activity For Black Friday & Cy b e r M o n d a y J a k e Ro m a n - C a p o n , S e n i o r S E O C o n s u l t a n t , S E O

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B l a c k F r i d a y L o g i s t i c s : F r o m P l a n n i n g To A c t i o n E l e a n o r J o n e s , D i g i t a l A c c o u n t M a n a g e r, C l i e n t S e r v i c e s

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Optimising The Black Friday Experience Ke v i n M u r r a y, M a n a g i n g D i r e c t o r, G r e e n l i g h t C o m m e r c e

“Get your creative strategy and execution set well in advance to be ready and to make Christmas

the most impact. Be brave. Stick to your guns.” - Matt Garbutt, Creative Director

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INTRODUCTION

TGI BLACK FRIDAY

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Black Friday

HANNAH KIMUYU DIRECTOR OF PAID MEDIA —

While Black Friday marks the start of the holiday season

Effectively, thinking beyond the end date of any

for many, for retailers it’s arguably the biggest shopping

campaign is important, no matter what area of digital in

day of the year. A successful Black Friday campaign

question – it all comes down to whether people found

can lead to record sales, new customer acquisition and

value in your messaging, had a good experience (which,

greater brand recognition – but none of this comes

in turn, will reflect positively on brand sentiment), and if

without planning, reviewing insights, and understanding

they’d come back again. However, year in, year out, I see

how to maximise the value of various digital channels

campaigns which are let down by inconsistent messaging

for the occasion. Looking beyond what many deem as

or disparate online experiences, and it needs to stop.

dangerously low discounting1, it’s up to brands to have

We’re at a point now where brands can’t afford to get

a plan which spans beyond the day itself to ensure

the basics wrong, as this will put strain on their ‘share of

that they’re developing a sustainable and valuable

mouse’.

relationship with people who visit their site on the day that’s not wholly based on bargain-hunting.

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INTRODUCTION

Rather, we need to be delighting people and earning

audience and goals in focus – if there’s scope to add

the right to continue speaking with them beyond our

more, then do so, but don’t aim for the stars without

campaigns, and working towards loyalty and brand trust.

there being a logical reason to.

For me, this boils down to three stages:

REFLECT Look back on what worked and what didn’t when it comes to your Black Friday campaigns – what were the pain points that stopped you from achieving your goals? Had you planned effectively and allocated resource appropriately? Ironing out any kinks early on is key, so pick up on the areas you’re conscious need to be worked on for this year and make sure you cover them in your plan. If you haven’t done any Black Friday campaigns before, look to any other peaks in the year and take insights from those – you can’t move forward without understanding what could hold you back.

SET GOALS I can’t stress this point enough, you need to have clear, measurable objectives which align with your overall

Black Friday

strategy. Being bold and ambitious for Black Friday is great, but setting yourself extreme targets is a plan for failure. Hone down on what the campaign means for your brand, understand what’s realistic and set goals from there – if you only have a few but your plan for those is clear and achievable, that’s far better than having dozens and never achieving one.

KEEP IT SIMPLE Christmas

Simplistic doesn’t mean boring. In fact, when ideas and

If digital marketers take a step back and plan in such a way that they’re really taking into consideration user experience, journey and intent, then they’ll be on to a winner this Black Friday. Use this rationale at the start of your campaign, so you have a strong foundation to work from and to justify how you go forward. By making use of audience insights and aligning those with your goals, you’ll know what you can achieve from different channels and know where they come into play within the marketing funnel, and once you have this mapped out, you’ll be ready to build your campaigns – which, it goes without saying, will need to be relevant, valuable and timely for your audience to take notice amidst all the noise that’ll be surrounding them in the run up to Black Friday. Every year, digital marketers are faced with unique challenges to overcome when it comes to targeting, messaging and planning. I like to think our experts have been dealt pretty much every surprise in the pack when it comes to Black Friday, so we’ve made sure to cover every angle for this magazine to enable you to create something you’re proud of and that speaks to your audience. The fun part now is putting everything together and watching your campaign come to life to become something meaningful and strategically viable for your brand for months to come.

plans are stripped back, you’re actually opening the door for more creative thinking, so don’t think you need an

1.

http://www.techradar.com/news/black-friday-2017

all-singing all-dancing campaign for it to be effective. Get to the bones of what you want to do and identify appropriate channels in a way that always keeps your

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P R O G R A M M AT I C D I S P L AY

BLACK FRIDAY 2016: WHAT DO WE KNOW?

BECKY POTTER, JUNIOR DISPLAY PLANNER BUYER — We’ve worked with our key suppliers and partners to

• Samsung TV (18%)8

get primary data and search insights related to the

• Furniture (14%)9

2016 Black Friday trading period – below are our top stats and takeaways:

öö 61% of consumers planned to buy apparel over the holiday period, while 56% were looking for consumer

öö Retail sites’ total online spend reached £1.23 billion, marking a 12.2% increase from 2015

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electronics10 öö 43% were in the market for video games and 40%

öö 52% of users searched on a mobile device, compared to

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37% who searched on a desktop and 11% on a tablet2

wanted to shop for toys11 öö eCommerce metrics saw products viewed per user

öö Search volumes around Black Friday terms increased

go up 8% on smartphones, 5% on tablets and 2% on

towards the end of October, with the biggest uplift in

desktops, while add-to-basket rate increased by 19%

searches (bar Black Friday) occurring one week before3

on smartphones, 3% on tablets and 5% on desktops12

öö On Black Friday, searches rose by over 40,000%4

öö Conversion rates in general increased 9% on smartphones and 3% on tablets, while conversions de-

öö Key products that were searched for were:

creased 5% on desktops13

• Xbox One (28%)5

öö 30% of millennials started holiday shopping as early

• iPhone (20%)6

as September – compared to 23% for Generation X and

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• PS4 (20%)7

22% for Baby Boomers 14

1. www.netimperative.com

6. www.bgr.com

11. http://www.nielsen.com/uk/en.html

2. www.netimperative.com

7. www.gamespot.com

12. www.emarketer.com

3. Captify

8. www.marketwatch.com

13. www.emarketer.com

4. Captify

9. www.telegraph.co.uk

14. http://www.nielsen.com/uk/en.html

5. www.venturebeat.com

10. http://www.nielsen.com/uk/en.html

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P R O G R A M M AT I C D I S P L AY

GENERATE BRAND EXPOSURE WITH DISPLAY BECKY POTTER JUNIOR DISPLAY PLANNER BUYER — The Black Friday period is saturated with brands and

Black Friday weekend may only be four days, but data shows consumers are scoping out offers as far ahead as October, so it’s important to ensure you’re featuring in the right spaces to connect with your audiences in the run up to it.

inventory expensive and, to a degree, inefficient. To

Most premium publishers have their end of year inventory

maximise returns, it’s important to develop a granular

sold out by September, so pre-planning will help you

and strategic approach to your activity planning. By

secure inventory ahead of the rush or, worse still, before

incorporating display as part of your wider digital strategy,

it’s gone. Similarly, by occupying site real estate for longer

you can gain both a strong share of voice during this

(for example, 1-2 weeks prior to the sales weekend), you

brand-congested period and deliver strong returns.

ensure that brand exposure is achieved during the key

Careful planning, creative strategy and audience insights

decision period.

saw us deliver an ROI of 443% for Superdry and 519%

What does this mean for brands? Start planning

for ghd during the Black Friday trading period, strongly

your activity in September, with the aim to get

marking display’s value for such campaigns. But what are

strategies signed off and inventory booked at the

the core tactics needed to deliver an impactful display

beginning of October.

strategy? Here are my three go-to’s:

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Black Friday

advertisers looking to maximise exposure, which makes

1. TIMING

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P R O G R A M M AT I C D I S P L AY

2. CREATIVE

or video, with an awareness message would

To ensure maximum engagement, and ultimately a strong return for your brand, think about your creative strategy. Talk to your target audiences differently, whether that be in relation to the types of audiences you’re targeting or regarding where they are in the Black Friday journey.

encourage interest and consideration among a relevant audience. This could then be followed up by product-focused banners or bumper videos (lasting approximately 6 seconds) with a stronger sales message over the weekend itself, which would cement conversions amongst those who had high purchase intent. Couple this with

You should consider a different call-to-action (CTA)

sequential ad messaging to ensure those exposed

as well as different formats for different parts

to the awareness activity then see the product

of this process. For example, in the lead up to

offers available, and you’re on to a winner.

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Black Friday

the event, making use of a higher impact format,

A W A R E N E S S C R E AT I V E

B L A C K F R I D AY C R E AT I V E

A W A R E N E S S C R E AT I V E

B L A C K F R I D AY C R E AT I V E

A W A R E N E S S C R E AT I V E

B L A C K F R I D AY C R E AT I V E

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P R O G R A M M AT I C D I S P L AY

3. ACCESS TO DATA Messaging can be made more effective by layering a data strategy into your activity. This can be done using a variety of data types, including floodlight and data management platform (DMP) data. Creating audiences in the weeks leading up to a sale allows for breadth and depth across targeting pools so that a large number of relevant users are reached during this period.

prioritised accordingly in order to optimise ROI. By serving different creatives to these audiences, you can similarly ensure that the right message is being sent at the right time via prospecting or retargeting strategies. Much in the same way, data and audiences can be re-used from prior display activity, so that previously exposed audiences are reconnected with the brand. This ensures your brand is capitalising on previous interest and allows

Audiences can be segmented by the period

marketers to make the most of “retargeting

since their last visit, the products they were

Tuesday” following the heavy sales weekend,

searching for, and whether they look like – or

allowing aftermath sales to still be pursued.

act like – previous converters, and can then be

DISPLAY TIMELINE Black Friday

Utilising time is one of the key ways to make your display activity a success. öö Start activity between 6-10th November and let it run until 24th November (Black Friday) öö Creative needs to be with your trafficking and AdOps team five working days before your activity live date öö You should allow five to ten working day for your

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creative build to happen

öö This should occur after a media plan has been put together, which can also take anywhere between five to ten days depending on the complexity of the brief öö To guarantee display activity going live in the run up to Black Friday, the team needs a brief by October 16th öö For guaranteed publisher takeovers with 100% share of voice on specific sites, a brief should be received as early as possible

“Start planning your activity in September, with the aim to get strategies signed off and inventory booked at the beginning of October.”

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CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT

ENSURE MAXIMUM ENGAGEMENT THROUGH CONTENT

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Black Friday

BEN COOK- NORTHROP CONTENT STRATEGIST, CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT —

In addition to amplification, brands should look to

For a reasonably dry subject area (with products at the

build engagement into their awareness strategy, which

heart), a marriage of creativity and data allows brands to

is where branded content comes in. From an SEO

break through the noise and ensure they’re appealing to

perspective, there are simple steps you should follow to

the correct audience in the most efficient way. But how

guarantee you’re ranking well for core related keywords

do you do this exactly? Here are some tried and tested

through your content; for example, this could be done by

strategies that could be undertaken in the run up to

using engaging and keyword-optimised content about

Black Friday:

the event itself. However, you can encompass these foundations via a content strategy which mixes both appealing and relevant content to create hype as well as relevancy.

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CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT

EVENTS STRATEGY

RESULTS

Combine offline activity with an event to create

Builds engagement and brand awareness while

brand advocates before the sales have begun.

driving links through to your site from attendees.

Invite influencers and journalists, as well as members of the public – potentially offered through a competition – to an exclusive Black Friday event where you showcase the types of deals people can expect in the Black Friday sales. This can also be an opportunity for attendees to try out (and be gifted with) new and exciting products, which they can then discuss or gift with their audience to potentially encourage future purchases.

SHOCK & AWE

Black Friday

STRATEGY

RESULTS

Taking inspiration from ‘there’s no such thing as

Significant brand awareness, additional site traffic

bad publicity’ (and twisting it slightly), there’s

and the potential for a large amount of links

always an opportunity to create a story around

through to your Black Friday-specific page well in

your brand which may shock the audience. For

advance of the day - further increasing your brand

example, launching with a ridiculously low Black

awareness, as well as people’s opinion of the

Friday sale on some products or services weeks in

brand. Win, win, win.

advance of the period, ‘accidentally’. Brands would need to subtly seed out this slip and allow the rumours to spread across a variety of publications

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as well as on social. It would appear to the public as a technological error; however, by planning in advance and ensuring only a set number of products could be sold while the price was so

low, you would drive additional traffic to your site without depleting your stock.

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CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT

PRODUCT DEAL REVEAL STRATEGY

RESULTS

Releasing a surprise product deal each day

Increases repeat site visits and traffic, in addition

encourages engagement with your customers

to continued brand awareness throughout the sale

both in the build-up and during the sale period.

period.

You could run this as a competition where some, or all, of the product is blurred and then gradually revealed, allowing consumers to guess what it could be before it’s finally revealed, or otherwise make the competition about guessing how much the product will cost on the day.

GAMIFICATION

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STRATEGY

RESULTS

Utilising site gamification such as a ‘random deal

Opportunity to cross-sell and upsell products, in

generator’ (which could be created as an inter-

addition to driving hype and site traffic around the

active tool designed to allow people to click or

sale season.

spin a button on-screen, and then be presented with a different deal each time) provides you with stand-out content to your competitors, while also offering the opportunity to upsell or cross-sell products. By including a placeholder on the page

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or giving people a chance to play a demo, you also increase hype and your chances of publications linking through before the day.

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CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT

EDUCATION STRATEGY

RESULTS

Create content that’s useful to your audience

Gain publication outreach for valuable links

before and during the day to ensure your brand

through to Black Friday pages, in addition to

is regarded as a trusted source. This could be in

further brand promotion.

the form of articles which detail product specs and give comparisons of similar products, as these help consumers make an informed decision on the day. A good example of this would be an interactive buyers guide, which allows the user to select options that have personal appeal to them, in addition to practical requirements.

“A marriage of creativity and data allows brands to break

correct audience in the most efficient way.”

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Black Friday

through the noise and ensure they’re appealing to the

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PA I D M E D I A

10 PAID MEDIA TIPS TO DRIVE USERS FROM INTENT TO CONVERSION

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Black Friday

MARIA BESTARD PAID MEDIA ANALYST —

Once awareness has been driven, it’s important to support your objectives with creative strategies that are aligned with consumers who are in the research phase of their journey. It’s at this stage that an optimised paid media strategy comes into play. To help you avoid the most common issues brands face around this, I’ve put together my top 10 paid media recommendations for a smooth and successful Black Friday.

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PA I D M E D I A

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3

Extend your Black Friday period beyond the infamous

Make use of analysis and testing tools to ensure that on

day itself. In 2016, many brands began advertising their

Black Friday you’re showing the most engaging ad at the

promotions as early as Monday – and kept them running

lowest CPC possible in order to get optimum results. This

until Cyber Monday. These early birds were in a privileged

can be coupled with using bid adjustments, as these will

position against competitors, and also saw their return on

help when optimising your core bids and campaigns. That

investment increase as a result.

being said, it’s necessary to do all your testing months in advance so learnings can be applied across the Black

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Ensure all targeting audiences are created two months

Friday trading period.

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in advance; this ensures that target lists will be fully Make use of Google Display Network (GDN) remarketing

to have an optimum pool of relevant people to target.

via cross-selling campaigns for previous customers and

Consider your promotions and segment audiences

users who already know your brand – we saw brands gain

accordingly; for example, previously converted users

more than 200 orders in four days using this tactic last

could be introduced to similar or add-on items, or you

year. It’s also beneficial to run GDN Display campaigns

could expand on that pool using similar audiences. Once

two days before Black Friday to increase awareness and

all your segments have been defined, build a tailored

visibility of upcoming offers too, which will also drive an

remarketing strategy around them.

uplift in click-through rate (CTR). It’s worth testing this

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Black Friday

populated by the week Black Friday starts, allowing you

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PA I D M E D I A

strategy in markets where Black Friday is not as popular

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in order to identify the best creatives and messaging to apply, ideally among a similar audience set for optimum

Use your Shopping feed feature to show promotional

results.

messages and price drops. This can be done by adding two new columns to the feed which contain the

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Handle budget flexibly; last year, we found that

discounted price as well as when the sale ends – but be mindful to make sure the feed is amended in advance to avoid unexpected disapprovals.

upweighting budget when KPIs were met was a very successful tactic. It’s beneficial to incorporate this

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into your planning to ensure that additional budget is available should higher than expected demand occur,

Draw on promotional ad extensions; these are launched

so you can benefit from an uplift in conversions at key

for ad texts specifically over the Black Friday and Cyber

moments.

Monday trading period, and help to increase awareness on search engine results pages (SERPs) thanks to

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relevant extensions which make your offers clear and visible.

Create a detailed promotion calendar, signed off in advance, so that ad copy and scheduling can be

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Black Friday

implemented and approved to avoid last minute disapprovals. For social activity, all Black Friday ads

Avoid last minute technical changes on your site in the

should be in the interface a week before launch. This

week up to and during the Black Friday period – any

ensures ads aren’t missing any information and are

downtime or disruption is likely to cause poor user

approved by each platform in time (Facebook, Twitter,

experience or issues when viewing products, which could

Instagram, etc.).

cost you a lot in lost sales and frustrated users.

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7

“It’s important to support your

Make use of countdown ads which will automatically

objectives with creative strategies

show how many sale days are left. These will help

which are aligned with consumers

increase awareness and urgency, and we’ve found they generate a positive impact on conversion rates when

who are in the research phase of

applied.

their journey.”

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SEO

MAXIMISING SALES THROUGH ORGANIC ACTIVITY FOR BLACK

Black Friday

FRIDAY & CYBER MONDAY

JAKE ROMAN - CAPON SENIOR SEO CONSULTANT —

With traffic to retail websites expected to soar Christmas

over the sales period (Black Friday 2016 saw web traffic increase 220% compared to a normal sales day, while Cyber Monday traffic increased 155%1), it’s imperative that your on-page SEO is fully optimised to deliver successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns across all your digital activity.

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SEO

While the scope for site improvements is vast, there are a handful of areas that I recommend you focus on in the run up to Black Friday:

01.

04.

and Cyber Monday, which includes information related

days of mobile-first index are fast approaching, meaning

to ‘page title’, ‘H1’, ‘URL’ (minus the year to futureproof)

that mobile experience will impact authority and rank of

as well as engaging, informative, keyword-rich content

your page in a far greater way than before.

Create or update an optimised page for both Black Friday

Ensure your pages are mobile-friendly, especially as the

around the trading days. These pages could include the history of Black Friday or Cyber Monday, or previous year’s stats if you have any to hand, which can be used to drive interest and engagement. If you’re creating a new page, make sure it’s live at least 12 weeks prior to the actual trading period, and never disable, delete or redirect the page, as these will impede page authority gains which are garnered over time.

Conduct an internal link project to ensure Google understands the pages that are important. This includes adding a link in the main navigation (at least nine weeks prior) to ensure PageRank flow is optimal. If possible, one or two weeks later (depending on the nature of your

02.

site), add a link to your optimised Black Friday or Cyber

Black Friday pages with appropriate taxonomy logic

06.

Depending on your site, create subcategory specific Black Friday

05.

incorporated, meaning that all sub-pages sit beneath the main Black Friday or Cyber Monday page. This can help

Monday page from the homepage, as this will ensure maximum equity is transferred.

to rank for product-specific Black Friday or Cyber Monday

If you’re expecting a large volume of traffic, make sure

terms, which will drive far more traffic for your products2.

your site can handle it. Load test it well in advance as

Volume has increased for these terms; however, they’re

there’s no point doing all this work to rank high for your

still dwarfed by the volumes gained by Black Friday or

site just for it to crash on the day.

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Cyber Monday head terms.

03.

Keep your optimised pages live all year-round. This increases out-of-season relevancy, so also include a link to ongoing sales if you have any.

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SEO

LAST FEW MONTHS AND ON THE DAY

POST-EVENT

As you’re approaching the big day, it’s key to monitor

Don’t undo all your hard work - keep your optimised

ranks leading up to the month of November. From the

pages live all year-round to increase out-of-season

1st November onwards, keep an eye on ranks on a weekly

relevancy; this can be done by including links to ongoing

or, even better, daily basis. This will help identify ongoing

sales if you have any on.

performance and any need for maintenance or reviews.

While there are plenty of considerations and factors

One of the most important things to get right on the day

which need to be considered to create a winning

is to ensure that you’ve included plenty of call-to-actions

campaign, the above outlines the must-dos for any

which link to your actual deal pages – you’ll be penalised

retailer. So, make sure you plan in advance, select the

for not directing users to the relevant content or pages

appropriate products and pages to promote, and make

they intended to land on, so don’t get caught out here.

sure you continue to optimise right up until Black Friday to make the most of the busy trading day.

“It’s imperative that your on-page

1.

SEO is fully optimised to deliver

2.

https://econsultancy.com/blog/68587-black-friday-cyber-monday-2016ecommerce-stats-bonanza/ https://www.seo.com/blog/online-marketing-for-black-friday-the-ultimate-guide/

successful Black Friday and Cyber

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Black Friday

Monday campaigns.”

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ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

BLACK FRIDAY LOGISTICS: FROM PLANNING TO ACTION

ELEANOR JONES, DIGITAL ACCOUNT MANAGER — While having a tailored, cross-channel strategy for Black Friday is key, the next challenge is understanding how to go about making it all happen. The old adage ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’ certainly holds true for large-scale trading days such as Black Friday, so considering how you’ll execute your strategy in an Black Friday

effective and efficient way is just as important as the strategy itself. Each digital channel has its own deadlines and key dates you should be aware of to make your campaigns a success but, moreover, digital marketers need to look beyond Black Friday and also consider how it can impact their overall 2018 strategy. Here’s how to make the holiday season work for you: öö Think past Black Friday. We know that Black Friday Christmas

campaigns extend beyond the day itself, but how can the data and links you’re going to gather impact your work year-on-year? Make sure you consider how your campaigns will ultimately help strongly position your brand beyond the trading period, both with regards to the products you’re pushing as well as for visibility among core audiences.

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ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

öö Make sure everyone has a clear understanding of the plan. Look at creating a centralised planning document (that all delivery teams can edit, so Google Docs is ideal) where all campaign information is collated and has been signed off by relevant parties. This means that everyone knows where to look for information and there shouldn’t be any last-minute panicking. öö Make sure your website can cope. Can your site deal with the increase in visits it’s going to receive? The last thing you want to happen is no one being able to access your site due to issues with its bandwidth. Make sure you talk to your hosting provider to ensure you’re not at risk of crashing or slower load speeds. öö Keep an eye on your competitors and resellers. Are your competitors or resellers bidding on your brand terms? Are they showing a better offer? Being aware of the competition may explain any increases in CPCs or a drop in sales that you see over the period, so be mindful of this and be prepared for any fluctuations.

Black Friday

öö Be prepared for last minute changes...and I mean last minute. You’ll find your team most likely needing to make changes on the day and over the weekend due to low stock and changes to promotions. Be flexible and open to the possibility of change, and if time allows, have a contingency plan. Look to any pain points you experienced the previous year to help

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identify potential issues you may face again.

“Digital marketers need to look beyond Black Friday and also consider how it can impact their overall 2018 strategy.”

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COMMERCE

OPTIMISING THE BLACK FRIDAY EXPERIENCE

KEVIN MURRAY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, GREENLIGHT COMMERCE — Black Friday – two words that strike fear in the heart of even the most weathered retailer. It’s fair to say the adjustment to the Black Friday phenomenon has been difficult for retailers; we all remember the images from Black Friday

2013 of people fighting in shops, websites crashing and orders taking two weeks to be delivered. However, Black Friday 2016 was very different to the craziness of 2013 and 2014. Dare I go as far as to say it felt relatively calm? With a whopping £6.45 billion1 spent over the seven days of Black Friday week and very little in the news about issues, it’s clear that retailers have learnt a lot from previous years. They’re now planning well in advance –

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pouring over analytics, testing performance and ensuring fulfilment doesn’t fall over at the very last stage. And that wasn’t the only thing different about Black Friday 2016: what began as a one-day phenomenon started moving to a five-day event, and there was a significant shift from offline to online (with online sales over the period rising 36%2), with many shoppers choosing mobile over desktop.

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COMMERCE

SO, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM BLACK FRIDAY 2017? WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW Black Friday falls on 24 November – however, many

öö Do you offer an “expected” Black Friday experience?

retailers are now running sales for up to a week over this

This could be anything from clearly highlighting deals

period

on offer or offering a frictionless experience

öö Your website is going to see a huge spike in additional traffic, so you need to ensure you have more on-site

There are two main target markets on Black Friday

infrastructure capacity in place and to test your web

öö Loyal customers: Regular site visitors who have an

platform’s performance for different scenarios in

idea of what they want and wait for the sales to buy

advance

from their preferred retailers. They’re typically more

öö And above all: preparation is key!

focused and have an explicit idea of what they want (e.g. a particular handbag model).

There are also some not-so-obvious questions that need

only, and who track a number of different retailers for

to be answered: öö What is your journey profile on Black Friday? öö Are you attracting your regular customers, or new and/ or irregular bargain hunters?

the same product. They’re typically not as informed, and will buy an item either on impulse or to meet a general need.

OPTIMISING THE EXPERIENCE Today’s consumers expect to shop on their own terms: on

increasingly deliver sophisticated customer experiences

the device they want, where they want, when they want

to shoppers, there are times when a simplified option

– and all with a consistent experience. While retailers

might be exactly what the customer wants.

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öö Bargain hunters: Those who are loyal to the price

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COMMERCE

FOCUS ON SHOPPING CONVERSIONS As the key objective of Black Friday is selling more, it makes sense to increase site throughput by creating a more streamlined customer journey. REDUCE

REDUCE

REDUCE

RANGE

TIME SPENT BROWSING

TIME SPENT CHECKING OUT

Categories

Site Search Optimisation (SSO)

Single-click checkout

Products

Alternative navigation

Reduce complexity and options

WHY REDUCE RANGE?

WHY REDUCE BROWSING TIME?

öö Give customers what they want;

öö Maximise your system resources on öö During Black Friday, shoppers are

analyse data from previous years to understand what shoppers are typically looking to buy

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öö Curating a smaller range enables you to sell more quickly, while

what’s important for that period öö Look to Site Search Optimisation

WHY REDUCE CHECKOUT TIME?

more driven by price than by the intricacies of customer experience,

to improve UI and UX (site search

and are likely to get frustrated by

goes up 50% during Black Friday)

complex checkout processes

öö Consider alternative navigation

öö A sleek checkout experience is a

maintaining high control of stock,

options (e.g. by including a gift

standard goal for any retail site –

eliminating performance concerns,

finder)

yet still a common pitfall

and delivering a good end user experience

öö Key reasons cited for cart abandonment are unexpected shipping costs (28%), having to create an account (23%), concerns about security (13%), and confusing

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checkout design (12%)3 öö Single-click payments could be introduced for Black Friday to simplify and speed up checkout time

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COMMERCE

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS way for the Brexit effect

öö Evaluate if you can afford to turn off any personalisation steps or settings for Black Friday to minimise users being deterred from checking out

öö Make sure that any changes made solely for Black Friday are easy to revert afterwards

öö Don’t forget mobile experience – more than three

öö Plan beyond Black Friday to ensure you develop a

fifths of Black Friday sales conversions took place on

longstanding relationship with new customers

mobile in 20164 öö Factor in more international order options to pave the

YOUR BLACK FRIDAY ARCHITECTURE The day itself isn’t just about hosting and site capacity, so take a holistic approach when it comes to planning and keep these points in mind: öö Focused merchandising: don’t forget to highlight deals to customers öö Site feature relevance review: turn off or remove anything not relevant to Black Friday sales

öö Optimise experience for the event: make it easy to find and buy products öö Hosting and capacity still has a place: be prepared to bring in more processing power, but try to use what you have efficiently öö Consider creating a microsite just for Black Friday: this may align better with your brand and product priorities by avoiding tinkering with your existing site

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Most modern enterprise eCommerce platforms provide the capability to scale for peak periods, provide a seamless checkout experience and allow you to easily reduce your range and revert back; however, if your platform doesn’t make it easy for you to make short-term changes, maybe it’s time to consider upgrading to get more out of peak trading periods.

1. 2.

http://www.techradar.com/news/black-friday-2017 http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-blackfriday/uk-black-friday-online-spend-jumps-36-percent-to-1-1-billion-pounds-experian-imrg-idUKKBN0TJ1HQ20151130 https://www.emarketer.com/Article/How-Take-Advantage-of-Shopping-Cart-Abandonment/1011802

4.

https://econsultancy.com/blog/68587-black-friday-cyber-monday-2016-ecommerce-stats-bonanza/

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3.

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CHRISTMAS

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LIT TLE CHRISTMAS (CAMPAIGN!)

Christmas

Black Friday

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RETARGETING: DON’T OVERSPEND THIS CHRISTMAS

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HOW TO MAKE SURE YOUR CHRISTMAS CONTENT MARKETING CAMPAIGN CUTS THROUGH THE FESTIVE NOISE

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YOUR CHEAT SHEET TO A GREAT CHRISTMAS SEO STRATEGY

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26

CONTENTS

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H a v e Yo u r s e l f A M e r r y L i t t l e C h r i s t m a s ( C a m p a i g n ! ) A n d r e a s Po u r o s , C E O & Co - fo u n d e r

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H o w To M a k e S u r e Yo u r C h r i s t m a s C o n t e n t M a r k e t i n g C a m p a i g n C u t s T h r o u g h The Festive Noise B o g d a n M a r i n e s c u , D i g i t a l P R S p ec i a l i s t , Co n te n t & E n g a g e m e n t

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Re t a r g e t i n g : D o n ’ t O v e r s p e n d T h i s C h r i s t m a s S i m o n C l a a s s e n , D i s p l a y C a m p a i g n M a n a g e r, D i s p l a y

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F i v e T i p s To G e t Yo u r A f f i l i a t e M a r k e t i n g R i g h t T h i s C h r i s t m a s Matt Brown, Head of Affiliates

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G e t t i n g Yo u r S h o p p i n g C a m p a i g n s R i g h t A t C h r i s t m a s A n d y H u n t , P a i d M e d i a M a n a g e r, P a i d M e d i a

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Getting Paid Social Right At Christmas M a r i a B e s t a r d , Pa i d M e d i a A n a l y s t , Pa i d M e d i a

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P a i d S e a r c h D o’s A n d D o n ’ t s A t C h r i s t m a s E w e l i n a Le d o , P a i d M e d i a P e r f o r m a n c e D i r e c t o r, P a i d M e d i a

Black Friday

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Yo u r C h e a t S h e e t To A G r e a t C h r i s t m a s S E O S t r a t e g y S t e f a n i a Ro m a n e l l i , S e n i o r S E O C o n s u l t a n t , S E O

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S E O C h a l l e n g e s : I t ’s N e v e r To o L a t e B e a Pa t m a n , H e a d of S E O

“Preparing for Black Friday and Christmas in the

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summer months may feel crazy – but it’s never too early to be planning for two of the key trading periods of the year. Attention to detail is key.” - M a t t W h i t e w a y, C l i e n t S e r v i c e s D i r e c t o r

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INTRODUCTION

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (CAMPAIGN!)

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Black Friday

ANDREAS POUROS CEO & CO - FOUNDER —

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INTRODUCTION

Christmas is one of the most exciting peaks in any digital

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

marketer’s calendar and, as with any other major event,

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

planning starts early on. While it seems unusual to

resource restraints (such as staff availability) and budget

consider festive campaigns in the heat of summer, this

confinements too so you don’t have to compromise at any

is second nature to digital marketers. But there are often

stage.

many hurdles that come ahead of a winning Christmas campaign, and it’s the approach that matters as much as the creative ideas when it comes to achieving great results. The most disappointing thing to witness during the festive season is what seems like a good campaign that’s been backed up with some interesting creative, but you can’t help but wonder if it could’ve been better with a few tweaks. Such scenarios happen frequently, but they’re completely avoidable. At the heart of a memorable and relevant campaign is a good strategy. This may seem obvious, however, more often than not, Christmas planning can be rushed and the focus left unclear. Over the years, I’ve followed some simple steps which have helped keep overall goals, vision and teams aligned:

KEEP YOUR MESSAGING CLEAR Here’s where things can go awry quite easily. When marketers and creatives get together to 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 of value or relevance to its audience. Sure, it’s fun and caught someone’s attention, but was there a clear call to action or particular brand association? Unfortunately that’s sometimes unclear in Christmas messaging ­— and while the campaign wouldn’t impede awareness or brand recognition, it may not lead to actionable results from audiences, hindering KPIs and ROI. Before you start planning, have your core message and takeaways to mind, share this with everyone and then build on how that can be amplified in your

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campaign.

WORK BACKWARDS

These tips are the building blocks to achieving your

Visualise what you want to achieve (within reason!) in

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

terms of the impact you want your campaign to have, on

of where you want to be through expert know-how. This

what audience, and any KPIs to measure that success.

magazine looks into the spectra of digital channels to

Then think about the time and resource you’d need to

cover you from all angles so you’re prepared for the

reach that outcome, and work your way backwards. This

Christmas period. Some disciplines, such as SEO, will

will help you recognise the steps required to get where

mean that the advice in this magazine is more catered

you want whilst also allowing you to create a timeline

to your plan for next Christmas, whereas others like paid

and project plan.

social can be implemented relatively quickly - what’s key is that you evaluate the areas you need to build on to

IF IT CAN GO WRONG, IT WILL This, of course, doesn’t always hold true, but it’s a

enable your campaign to shine, and from there allow our experts’ advice to guide you on the path to what could be your best Christmas campaign yet.

good exercise to imagine what your biggest blockers would be, and make note of what your other options

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CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT

HOW TO MAKE SURE YOUR CHRISTMAS CONTENT MARKETING CAMPAIGN CUTS THROUGH THE FESTIVE NOISE

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BOGDAN MARINESCU DIGITAL PR SPECIALIST —

Christmas is that time of year when people spend time

well as supporting agencies - need to perform under

with families and friends, rejoice, and then panic about

pressure in order to achieve targets. Given all of the

how they`ll manage to shed all that extra weight in

digital noise at Christmas time, it’s important to develop

January! It’s also a time when retailers and suppliers aim

a content marketing campaign that can cut through the

to highly increase sales figures. With Christmas sales

festive clutter - to do just that, here are my tips to help

accounting for anything between 20-40% of a retailer’s

your campaign stand out among the fierce competition

annual revenue, functions like sales and marketing - as

this Christmas.

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CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT

CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC CAREFULLY Forward planning and preparation go a long way to

GIVE PUBLICATIONS WHAT THEIR READERS WANT AND NEED

ensure a campaign’s success. Trust your instincts but

“I’ve got the perfect story your readers will love”. No, you

don’t forget to carry out a thorough due diligence process

don’t. There’s nothing that puts off a journalist more

to make sure your idea is original, solid and capable of

than the arrogant attitude of someone who pretends to

generating the desired results. Topics and ideas should

know their audience as well as (or better than) they do.

be explored with different team members to make sure

PRs should provide facts, and journalists will decide if

they’re properly screened. For example, if the end goal

these make a story or not. With the audience and time

is to earn links, it’s a good idea to run the concept past a

of year in mind, try to provide information readers will

few warm media contacts to understand its potential.

truly appreciate. There are three types of content you can explore around Christmas to make sure your outreach

REVERSE ENGINEER YOUR CAMPAIGN One way to ensure your campaign is poised for success is to reverse engineer it. If your objective is to earn links

Black Friday

from relevant, authoritative domains (e.g. national and

öö Heart-warming stories of love and festive cheer (think John Lewis, Waitrose, Burberry) öö Products (think Christmas gifting guides)

regional news websites or magazines), try to come up

To catch potential customers searching for “Christmas

with a headline or concept that would be a perfect fit

gift ideas” or “top gifts for him”, make sure you pitch

for that outlet; and work your way backwards until you

a selection of your client’s products to relevant

define the type of asset required to generate the desired

journalists by compiling Christmas gift guides (media

result.

databases such as Gorkana and ResponseSource will

CAPITALISE ON THE FESTIVE FEEL, BUT DON’T OVERDO IT With festive campaigns, it’s important to get the right tone for your content without making the commercial message too obvious. Feel free to link your campaign to topical events or anniversaries, but don’t be afraid to go against the tide either. For example, at the end of last year, Spotify crunched big data in a fun, amusing

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campaign starts yielding results:

and highly localised ad campaign that featured poster headlines such as “Dear 3,749 people who streamed ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It’ the day of the Brexit vote, hang in there” and “To the person in NoLita who

compile bespoke lists of journalists ahead of time). öö Information If you don’t have an eCommerce client or a heartwarming story to share with your audience, you can still tap into a variety of data sets to craft a relevant and interesting content marketing campaign that puts readers’ needs at its core. For example, if your client is an accountancy firm, provide targeted readers with tips on how to maintain cashflow over Christmas; if your client is in the delivery business, create tips on how to make sure cards and presents will arrive on time, and if it’s a specialist HR firm, you may want to create a Christmas party survival guide for employees.

started listening to holiday music way back in June. You really jingle all the way, huh?”.

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Black Friday

CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT

TIMING IS EVERYTHING Journalists start preparing their Christmas content as Christmas

early as July. So you shouldn’t assume that because you’re targeting a digital publication, they’ll be able to publish content as soon as they receive it. Bear in mind that most valuable outlets will follow an editorial calendar and if deadlines for submissions are missed, results will suffer. Therefore, it’s useful to know your target publications’

lead times and cut-off dates for submissions, which can be up to 12 weeks prior to content going live. This means that if you’re looking to secure coverage around Christmas time, you may need to pitch your campaign to publications as early as July or August. If you don’t feel comfortable with offering media information ahead of a finalised campaign, you can always choose to offer the assets or information under embargo.

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P R O G R A M M AT I C D I S P L AY

RETARGETING: DON’T OVERSPEND THIS CHRISTMAS

BY SIMON CLAASSEN DISPLAY CAMPAIGN MANAGER — 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

Black Friday

are abandoned. Typically, only a small percentage ever return to the site naturally. This leaves a huge

making 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.

opportunity to retarget users with your brand and

The first option is to collect abandoned basket data,

products, in which they’ve shown an interest.

and then retarget users with the content of their 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. The key dates in the calendar that should be noted

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Segmenting your audiences is fundamental, as is

and capitalised on are Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Retargeting Tuesday and Boxing Day – so having creative that speaks to consumers with specific messaging and a strong call-to-action to instil a sense of urgency is key. But simply having specially designed

You could even take this a step further and analyse basket 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.

creative is only one step in the right direction.

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P R O G R A M M AT I C D I S P L AY

It’s possible to turn your past converters into repeat purchasers by setting up effective loyalty campaigns; this can be done by bringing former customers back by enticing them with deals similar to historic purchases, or simply targeting them with special offers. This can be executed 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

The key is to target users who’ve shown high intent in a subtle way, without alienating or bombarding them so you can protect your 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. 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:

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

öö Developers usually have a coding freeze for pixel implementation ahead of important shopping periods

target audiences.

CHRISTMAS LIFECYCLE PLANNING

in order to avoid website crashes öö Creatives need to be designed, built and trafficked, which often takes more time than expected

While the aforementioned shopping days are important, they shouldn’t be the only focus; planning for those

öö Keep your messaging fresh and your creative updated

post-event days is 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

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Christmas holidays, but it’s key to save for post-event retargeting too as CPMs will be lower and, most likely,

to avoid ad fatigue öö Keep a tab on frequency capping to avoid over-serving and ostracising users öö Have a strategy in place for those high volume shopping days when CPMs are high, and equally for the

users will have unused gift cards, making this period a

aftermath when CPMs are lower.

perfect time to re-engage.

Ultimately, the rules are simple: there’ll always be

“Retargeting can be a very effective

someone that’s interested in your product. Engage those

tactic – but don’t get carried away

a repeat customer.

audiences in a non-intrusive way, and that’s your ticket to

and spam your audience.” 1.

If, say, a user browsed your site and looked at a product

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

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.

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P R O G R A M M AT I C D I S P L AY

“Most users will convert in the first week of having visited your site, so don’t target

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the same user with an ad four weeks later.”

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A F F I L I AT E S

FIVE TIPS TO GET YOUR AFFILIATE MARKETING RIGHT THIS CHRISTMAS

MATT BROWN HEAD OF AFFILIATES — Each year, affiliate marketers gear up for one of the biggest trading periods in the calendar – Christmas. Having a clear action plan and understanding what to prioritise paves the way for a successful strategy – but often many still don’t hit the nail on head. With these five tips, you’ll be armed with the knowledge to overcome areas that marketers tend to fall over on when it comes to affiliates.

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1

PLAN NOW

2

LOOK AT LAST YEAR’S PERFORMANCE

It’s September, I know, but you have to get your

What worked? Where did you see uplifts? Replicate

Christmas plans locked in early. A lot of affiliates lock

areas of your strategy that worked well last year, and

down their sites by Halloween, so you need to have

learn from any pain points and adjust accordingly

everything ready at least eight weeks in advance. The

to ensure improved results. By analysing past

earlier you get your plan in place, and any incentives or

performance, you’ll be able to make the call on whether

paid for placements booked, the more likely you’ll be to

the additional outlay on top of commissions and

secure optimal positions in key categories at attractive

voucher codes delivers a target ROI (keeping in mind

rates.

that affiliates charge a serious premium for paid for placements over Christmas).

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A F F I L I AT E S

3

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT CHRISTMAS

5

SEASON RELEVANT CREATIVE & MESSAGING

Be clear on all the big sales dates; after Halloween

Prepare your Christmas (and any other before or

you’ve got Singles Day on the 11th November (the single

after) offers now, making sure to get all assets into

biggest shopping day on the planet), followed by Black

development as early as possible – including logos, text,

Friday, Cyber Monday, ‘free shipping day’, the Christmas

as well as any gift guides. The sooner you have your

run up, ‘last post day’, and post-Christmas sales (which

assets ready and out to your affiliate base, more of them

frequently start immediately after last post day). Be

will take you seriously.

aware of all these events, and have a plan.

4

ENHANCED TRACKING & FUNCTIONALITY

If you don’t have it in place already, it’s time to add the following tracking and reporting functionality: voucher code tracking, product level tracking and attribution tracking. These will allow you to optimise your voucher code strategy without paying out commissions to unapproved affiliates, but rather allowing you to pay out different commissions based on product margin, report at a transaction level, and understand the sales funnel

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better.

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PA I D M E D I A

GETTING YOUR SHOPPING CAMPAIGNS RIGHT AT CHRISTMAS

ANDY HUNT PAID MEDIA MANAGER —

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 Black Friday

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

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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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PA I D M E D I A

THE FOUNDATIONS OF A STRONG CAMPAIGN Here’s how to make sure your feed is in top shape: öö 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 import-

a boost on competitors who have neglected to add them. öö Feed quality: the holiday season isn’t the time to be

ant for these to be accurate at all times, it’s especially

testing new product descriptions or optimising your

crucial during the Christmas shopping period. If you

product titles. Make sure your feed is fully optimised

can enable automatic updates in the Merchant Center,

for search, verify that your products are correctly cate-

then do so to avoid getting caught out.

gorised as granularly as possible, and ensure you have

öö Accurate data: make sure your feed quality is up to

high quality images in the feed. Go with your strongest

scratch by ensuring the data in the feed accurately

set to date and back it to succeed over the Christmas

represents the information on your site, while also

shopping period.

paying attention to meet all of Google’s Shopping feed requirements2. öö Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs): items with GTINs

öö Custom labels: label up your feed so you can group products by priority and category in your Shopping campaigns - and to manage performance, it’s best

can drive up to 40% more clicks than those without,

practice to distribute your budget to increase efficien-

and there’s the added benefit of automatically getting

cies and ROI.

impression share during the holiday period is pivotal to capitalising on customers’ higher purchase intent.’’

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‘‘Making sure you have enough budget to maximise

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PA I D M E D I A

FORECASTING While forecasting may seem obvious, it’s often overlooked. Don’t limit your activity by underestimating

to twice the clicks, but will help to ensure potential customers visit your site over competitors. AUDIENCES

your potential - this includes compensating for year-on-

öö Apply audiences to see how different users interact

year growth within the Shopping channel, in addition to

with your campaigns, which will maximise your

growth scaling your own activity.

efficiencies, stretch your budgets and shape your strategy.

‘‘Shopping is a key tool in any

SHOWCASE SHOPPING ADS

retailer’s arsenal, especially

öö Support your revenue-driving campaigns with a

when it comes to a successful mobile strategy.”

more brand-focused campaign by making use of Showcase Shopping ads. SELLER RATINGS öö Opt-in to seller ratings for Shopping to increase your

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

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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

mobile presence. PROMOTIONS öö These are a good way to get your brand noticed and to stand out from the crowd, but be sure to update your ads’ copy appropriately. ALWAYS ON öö Retailers should ensure Shopping is optimised for mobile devices, pushing best performing products and targeting top audiences as part of an ‘always on’ strategy.

out of your mobile Shopping campaigns, consider the following: AT TRIBUTION

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öö 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 öö This is key to apply for Shopping as well as search; having a bigger ad presence won’t necessarily lead

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PA I D M E D I A

BID STRATEGIES Don’t overcomplicate things; a simple Return On

ROAS TARGET öö If you’re too ambitious with your initial target ROAS, this could be quite detrimental to volume, so it’s best

Average Spend (ROAS) bid strategy can react a lot

to start off low and scale up.

faster than you to calculate effective bid multipliers. We recently tested a ROAS target strategy and achieved

CAMPAIGN SELECTION

fantastic results, improving ROAS by 151% in less than

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

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 bid at the auction level, meaning that you’re always

THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN

using the most up-to-date bids based on your ROAS

I can’t place greater importance on a healthy, up to date

target. It considers different bid multipliers by device

product feed; this means daily updates and accurate

and audience as well as other factors such as browser

information. There’s no point having a fully optimised

and time of day in order to work out the optimal bid

feed that contains thousands of disapproved products

for each auction. When setting these up, you need to

for broken URLs, prices or stock. Identify the key

consider four things:

problems with your feed, plan your strategy execution

ACCURATE DATA

and enjoy a (relatively) stress-free holiday period.

öö You’ll need accurate conversion data in AdWords before getting started, so take the time to review and Black Friday

refresh your data.

1.

trends-to-watch-in-2015.html 2.

KPIs öö Ensure your KPIs are aligned with your bidding

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/infographics/5-holidayshoppinghttps://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/infographics/5-holidayshoppingtrends-to-watch-in-2015.html

3.

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

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

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isn’t delivering on your ROAS target.

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PA I D S O C I A L

GETTING PAID SOCIAL RIGHT

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AT CHRISTMAS

MARIA BESTARD PAID MEDIA ANALYST —

Paid social advertising has grown massively in the past

channels for advertisers who are already further along in

few years, and brands are allocating greater amounts of

their paid social journeys.

their budget into this activity. Facebook and Instagram Christmas

are the core channels currently, and host the biggest audiences – so if you’re not advertising on social yet, this is a great place (and time of year) to start. That being said, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Pinterest are perfect

For those who have already integrated social into their marketing mix as well as those who are thinking about it, Christmas is the perfect time to launch your social activity – or to improve your existing strategy.

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PA I D S O C I A L

Regardless of where you are in your social journey, here are my top 10 tips you shouldn’t miss for a perfect Christmas paid social campaign. 1

KEEP YOUR MESSAGE UPDATED

It sounds obvious, but some advertisers serve quite generic ‘evergreen’ ad copy on Facebook during big purchase periods, so be sure to take advantage of this Christmas by planning your strategy around a storytelling

is becoming an increasingly popular format that users are consuming more and more). Use standard video ads or test the Collection ad format on Facebook, which includes a video and a shopping carousel beneath which displays the items showed in the video.

angle. Campaigns that tell a brand story before asking people to buy something are significantly more effective

4

than ones that focus on encouraging users to purchase immediately. This approach will also help to keep your messaging fresh and to stand out from the crowd. During Christmas, you can leverage on any intent you’ve generated previously and drive sales through paid social.

ALIGN ALL YOUR MARKETING MESSAGES

In case you’re advertising on more than one channel, make sure your paid media strategies complement your other marketing messages – consistency across channels is key.

Sequenced ads are perfect to present your product to people in stages based on reach and frequency.

5

DEFINE YOUR CHRISTMAS GOALS

Are you looking to raise brand awareness? To drive clicks 2

GIFTING FOCUS

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It’s time to shift the scope from self-purchase to gift buying, and perhaps even encourage your audience to buy earlier to stagger sales. How? You can include urgency messaging such as ‘for a limited time only’, or consider using countdown ads or showing the last delivery date before Christmas Day.

to your site? Or would you like to build your customers’ knowledge base? Whatever your goal when creating a campaign, you need to make sure you target the right audience. Should you want to reach new customers, go broad and don’t limit your prospecting campaigns. Once you’ve got enough data, you can then refine the audience and split your campaigns by the best performing segments.

3

CHOOSE THE RIGHT AD FORMAT 6

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Decide the message you want to communicate to your

USE DYNAMIC PRODUCT ADS FOR UPSELLING & CROSS - SELLING

audience and choose the most effective ad format for it. It’s ideal to use single images if you’re launching a new

On Facebook, you can make use of remarketing Dynamic

product or a special offer you want to highlight; use the

Product Ads (DPAs) to sell related or upgraded products

carousel format if you want to show a range of products;

to your existing customers, otherwise a new broader

and opt for video to showcase product functionality (this

audience feature is being rolled out, which can reach users

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PA I D S O C I A L

beyond those who’ve already been to the website. This type of targeting puts an advertiser’s product in front

8

EXPLORE NEW PLATFORMS

of those who’ve browsed for similar products across

Snapchat, Pinterest, and Instagram stories are perfect

the web, apps, related pages and Facebook ad clicks. Go

platforms to get users enthusiastic about Christmas

the extra mile by tailoring ad copy to be gift-related for

ahead of the actual holidays. It’s less about direct selling

higher relevancy.

and more about sending little hints or reminders to your audience to grab their attention and let them know that your brand is getting ready for the big Christmas period.

7

KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR COMPETITORS

The benefit of these platforms is that you can grab

Social media is constantly changing and evolving, so it’s

their attention with your message if they’re not familiar

important to be aware of the latest updates on Facebook,

with your brand or the types of products you offer, and

Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest so you

avoid being repetitive in the weeks up to the day itself.

don’t fall behind your competitors. Check what they’re

Use them to build a trusting and mutually beneficial

doing before planning your Christmas strategy, uncover

relationship with your audience, showing them Christmas

what ad formats they’re using and also how they’re

gift hacks or combinations. But be aware, these platforms

communicating. Christmas is a peak period, so expect

require strong content and creative strategies to engage

your competitors to be aggressive – and on your side,

your audience.

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keep on top of things and anticipate change!

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PA I D S O C I A L

9

PLAN IN ADVANCE

10

FLEXIBLE BUDGETS

With Christmas being one of the peak trading periods

It’s well known that during Christmas, social media

of the year, it’s worth developing a detailed and clear

traffic fluctuates quite a lot, so it’s recommended to

promotional calendar – and getting it signed off at least

have a flexible budget plan so your campaigns can be

two months in advance is an absolute must. This will

optimised based on performance. This allows you to

help to implement campaigns and get the ads approved

allocate more budget towards higher demand campaigns

beforehand, and avoid any last minute disapprovals.

and to take advantage of an uplift in sales for specific

If you’re running campaigns across channels and/or

campaigns.

markets, ensure you’ve planned ahead and allocated enough resource to cover this activity on time.

Remember to set up the right tools, gather data, develop audience segments, and test your creative strategy – having a structured strategy to support all these tips will see you

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deliver a successful Christmas campaign.

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PA I D M E D I A

PAID SEARCH DO’S AND DON’TS AT CHRISTMAS

EWELINA LEDO PAID MEDIA PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR —

Most people don’t think about Christmas until after

go back and look at your historical data to get an idea

Halloween and Bonfire Night. However, online retailers

about the level of spend you can expect during this

need to review the key areas of paid search account

time.

management around summer time in order to be fully prepared for the shopping madness that is December – and the earlier that PPC begins being planned, the Black Friday

better.

forecast your holiday budget, use Google AdWords Keyword Planner and Google Trends1 to see what the search volumes and trends within your industry are like,

Here’s how to make sure your PPC campaigns are

and learn what people are searching for during this

geared for success this holiday season:

time of year. Finally, even after predicting your budget, it’s important

SET ASIDE A HIGHER BUDGET There’s a very good chance that your PPC traffic is going to increase due to a higher demand over the festive season – this means you can expect to spend more in Christmas

If you have no historical data at your disposal to

to stay flexible, as search trends and online behaviour may change. So, make sure that you monitor your budget and act quickly by not letting bid-modifiers or budget caps limit your traffic and, subsequently, your sales.

December than in any other month throughout the year. To help ensure that you have sufficient budget to cover the cost of clicks throughout the holidays, you should

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PA I D M E D I A

REACTIVATE YOUR SEASONAL KEYWORDS

MAKE YOUR AD COPY FESTIVE To capture searchers who are in the market for

An important step in preparing your paid search activity

Christmas gifts, make sure that your ads are product

for Christmas is to revisit your keyword coverage and

specific and reflect the holiday season by using

strategy to ensure these are aligned with the changing

descriptive words and promotions, such as ‘Christmas’,

search trends in the build-up to the holiday season.

‘holidays’, ‘free holiday delivery’ or ‘Christmas special’.

Holiday-related terms such as ‘Christmas gift ideas for him’ or ‘Christmas jumpers’ that don’t see much traffic during the year peak in interest during the festive period. The inclusion of these seasonal keywords is a great way to help retailers capture that holidayprompted traffic and drive incremental sales. In addition, with Google reporting a 55% increase in location searches such as ‘near me’, ‘closest’ and ‘nearby’ during both Christmas and New Year’s2, it’s important that these terms are part of your holiday keyword inventory as well. To fully optimise your PPC campaigns for local searches, combine your local keywords with

To drive urgency and inject a little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) into your messaging, consider using countdown ads (to show the days or hours left until your sale ends) and phrases such as ‘running out of stock - buy now’ or ‘hurry, offer ends soon’. You should also make use of as many relevant ad extensions as possible. To increase your real estate in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and highlight your holiday offers, gift vouchers, bestsellers, store location or product reviews, you should consider using sitelinks, callouts, promotion extensions, price extensions, location extensions or review extensions.

location extensions and geo bid adjustments to show Black Friday

your ads only to people who are within a certain distance from your shop.

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“It’s important to stay flexible, as search trends and online behaviour may change.”

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PA I D M E D I A

INCREASE HOLIDAY SALES THROUGH RETARGETING

During the past holiday season, mobile searches related

With more people turning to online shopping than

to ‘best gift’ grew 70% year-on-year3, so having a

ever, researching products has become more important

mobile-first strategy will therefore be key to capitalise

(compared to impulse purchases) – and retailers should

on this growing trend.

be capitalising on this trend by tapping into retargeting.

We expect this December to see the highest sales rates

Display Remarketing and Remarketing Lists for Search

and revenue driven by mobile devices than ever before,

Ads allow you to target and re-engage with your past

so don’t miss out and make sure you’re ready for this by:

visitors – and with the right incentive, convert them into new customers. Both functionalities can also help drive repeat purchases from previous customers looking for Christmas gift ideas.

öö Optimising your mobile bids to target the most profitable ad positions on mobile. öö Tapping into the Google AdWords IF function to adjust ad messaging for mobile device users and make

For an even bigger impact, use Dynamic Product

your ad copy look more mobile-friendly (for instance,

Remarketing to show previous visitors ads that contain

by saying ‘free delivery on mobile orders’).

products they viewed on your website. By staying at the top of your potential customer’s mind, you have a better chance of bringing them back to your site and to complete what they’d started.

öö This goes without saying, but make sure you’re driving your traffic to a mobile-friendly site to maximise user engagement. öö If a lot of your sales occur over the phone, you may

Thereafter, Customer Match is a great way to leverage

also want to leverage call only ads, call extensions

your customers’ email addresses from your CRM

and call tracking.

database and make them aware of your holiday offers on Google Search, YouTube, and Gmail.

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FOCUS ON MOBILE

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PA I D M E D I A

ENSURE YOUR SHOPPING CAMPAIGNS ARE IN GOOD SHAPE

AUTOMATE There’s a wealth of automated rules and solutions

Shopping ads on both Google and Bing are a revenue

offered by Google AdWords and Bing Ads and most

driving force for many retailers , so to get the most out

bid management tools to help you save time spent on

of your Shopping activity this holiday make sure that:

manually performing certain tasks and alleviate some

4

öö Your product feed is up to date and reflects accurate products prices and stock levels. Enabling automatic

of the pressure and stress that comes with the holiday season.

updates in the Google Merchant Centre will help you

You can use automated rules to activate your

avoid issues relating to price and stock discrepancies.

campaigns and ads around specific promotions or

öö The quality of your feed is up to scratch and in line with Shopping best practice. It’s important that your

events, pause underperforming terms and ads, or raise bids when your ads drop in position.

product titles and descriptions are fully optimised and your product taxonomies (product types and categories) are as granular as possible. öö Custom labels are utilised to segment your inventory by bestsellers and high margin products. Prioritise these above anything else, so you can drive further

https://www.google.com/trends/

2.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/i-want-to-gomicro-moments/

3.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/data-gallery/detail/holiday-seasonmobile-search-best-gift/

4.

http://www.greenlightdigital.com/blog/magazine/guide-to-google-shopping-developing-a-customer-centric-strategy/

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efficiencies through your Shopping activity.

1.

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SEO

YOUR CHEAT SHEET TO A GREAT CHRISTMAS SEO STRATEGY

STEFANIA ROMANELLI SENIOR 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 that 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

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Christmas (or simply for your next peak season!).

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SEO

1 YEAR TO 6 MONTHS IN ADVANCE

IDENTIFY AND CATEGORISE THE KEYWORDS YOU WANT TO TARGET

CREATE OR REVIVE YOUR LANDING PAGES Create your landing pages based on your identified

Start by taking a look at your existing rankings

keywords and make sure keywords are included

for seasonal or gift-related keywords. Then take

in your content, headings, title tags and meta

a look at your competitors: what keywords are

descriptions (without unnatural repetitions). To add

they targeting? Who’s ranking first? What kind of

to this, ensure your pages are unique, engaging and

content does their website revolve around? What

relevant to your users’ tone of voice and intent so

does Google Trends or the Google Keyword Tool

that each landing page serves a clear purpose.

show for your niche? Once you have an answer

If you have a wide range of gifts, for example, it’s

to all these questions, you can start putting together your final list of keywords to target for the next year, which should continuously be reviewed and monitored thereafter to accommodate for any changes. Remember to include as many variations as possible that could cover short and long-tail searches for generic terms as well as specific products. Black Friday

5 TO 6 MONTHS IN ADVANCE

Finally, don’t just stick to what you have on your website, but also consider content that may be added to your website later. Once you have your keyword list, it’s best practice to categorise it further so it aligns with your landing or product pages, which will help with housekeeping and any future updates.

always a good idea to create a landing page with all Christmas offers and gift types displayed. Also, think about producing Christmas buying guides for separate product types as these will help with navigation and categorisation on your site. Don’t forget to plan your edits for product pages at this stage, particularly for descriptions and images, and be sure to optimise your schema markups (especially on product pages) around this time too so your pages are visible in the search engine results pages (SERPs). 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

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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

2 TO 3 MONTHS IN ADVANCE

PAY AT TENTION TO INTERNAL LINKS AND REPRIORITISE YOUR HIERARCHY

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So, now your content is ready for the Christmas

You may know that the higher up a page is in

rush, but is your site? At this stage, you need to

your website hierarchy, the more important it’s

ensure your website and servers can handle the

considered to be by search engines. Analyse what

expected influx of traffic over the holiday season

categories and products are your bestsellers

and that they’re fast enough to respond and load.

during Christmas and, while also allowing

PageSpeed Insights1 by Google is always a good

enough time for PageRank to flow, make your

place to start when considering load times and

landing pages visible and create direct links from

areas of improvement.

your master navigation and homepage to the

For optimal site health, it’s best practice to check

corresponding reviewed landing pages.

there aren’t any broken links lingering as these

Your homepage can also be optimised for

can be damaging from a search perspective.

Christmas deals and lead directly to your most

Finally, review key UX touchpoints such as

beloved categories and products through

purchase buttons (these are your ‘add to cart’ and

banners and buttons. If you do opt for this,

‘checkout’ buttons) are visible, work well and are

remember not to remove big chunks of your

simple to use. After all the months of hard work

website’s existing content - you don’t want to

put into optimising your site, you don’t want to

gain seasonal rankings while harming the results

lose people at the final hurdle and put them off

gained during the rest of the year.

coming back to your site.

Additionally, don’t forget to enhance internal linking to the seasonal pages from other website locations as well – this will improve user journey and help conversions.

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GIVE YOUR WEBSITE A HEALTH AND UX CHECK

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

“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.”

link acquisition campaigns targeting them. The earlier you start, the more edge you’ll gain over your competitors.

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SEO

ALWAYS

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 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.

DON’T FORGET TO THINK LOCAL

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Nowadays, there’s a big overlap between 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

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 My Business page and make any needed changes to the data, as these will also impact search results and rich snippet content – consistency is key here, if you update one, you need to update 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.

“Social integration can seriously boost your SEO campaign success – and the same goes for effective PPC – just make sure paid traffic is not cannibalising organic traffic.”

out on footfall and ranking for local searches in the SERPs.

When it comes to improving your SEO, sadly

To get local search right, start by making sure

there are very few quick wins. However, if you

you have great location pages. Think about what Christmas

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.

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.

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/ insights/ 2. https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mo1.

bile-sites/

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SEO CHALLENGES: IT’S NEVER TOO LATE

BEA PATMAN HEAD OF SEO — counsel – just think about how much planning, strategy,

as traditional as decorating the tree or roasting a turkey

technical development, content production and outreach

in recent years: if you’re just starting to think about it

negotiation are required to launch and successfully

as the weather turns cold, you’re already too late. There

optimise, say, a new Christmas category and product

are plenty of good reasons for this somewhat fatalistic

ranges.

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The standard SEO advice at Christmas has become about

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SEO

For many retail brands there’s also the issue of code

current news and events. Provided the brand content

freezes around peak periods forcing any seasonal

already exists, there’s no reason not to be looking out

changes to be implemented weeks or months in

for Christmas-related PR opportunities right up to the

advance. But does it ring true when I think about the

big day (and beyond into sales season).

kind of work we often find ourselves doing around the Christmas period these days? Well, not really. To be absolutely clear, I’m by no means advocating for a last minute approach!

And there are on-page opportunities too. If you’re trying to promote new seasonal content on your site quickly, for example, our consultants can engineer an internal linking strategy that quickly helps to grow page

When it comes to researching opportunities, creating

strength and relevancy in a very short period of time.

new content and marketing it online, a long, carefully-

So, if you haven’t given any thought to your organic

considered plan is still the only recommended course

Christmas strategy, don’t be deterred by the usual

of action. However, there’s also a lot these days that

guidance about getting it done in summer – there are

we can do very reactively. I’m thinking here about

plenty of opportunities still open to you in the closing

our digital PR team, who are experts at spotting

months of the year.

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opportunities to involve our clients’ voices in highly

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