With the festive season just around the corner, brands have a golden opportunity to not just connect with customers, but to create memorable experiences, ignite sales, and amplify their market presence. This is the time for marketers to gear up with winning strategies for platforms like Amazon—prioritizing proactive planning, consistent messaging, and a well-rounded advertising approach to maximize success. 

Ready to make the most of this festive surge?

Here’s a comprehensive overview of key actionables that can help brands navigate the festive landscape effectively.

1. The Start Early: The Lead-Up Strategy

One of the most crucial points is the necessity to prepare well in advance of major sales events.

Many brands often wait for the event to start before activating their campaigns, leading to missed opportunities during the initial days of high traffic. 

Trends suggest that there is a significant drop in engagement during the first few days of an event because of delays in campaign setup.

Therefore, starting early not only increases visibility but also captures potential customers during crucial traffic spikes.

2. Build on Multiple Ad Formats

It becomes essential to employ various ad formats to enhance brand visibility. Relying solely on one method limits potential engagement.

Brands should consider running Sponsored Brand ads alongside Deals and Sponsored Display ads for a clutter-breaking impact.

One of the renowned brands integrated their deal offerings with a robust advertising strategy. They launched a specific ASIN with a deal while simultaneously running Sponsored Brand ads, resulting in a staggering uplift in visibility and sales during the festive period. This cohesive strategy not only drove sales but also improved brand recognition.

3. Stay Consistent Throughout the Season

Maintaining a consistent advertising presence throughout the festive season is essential. Advertisers who maintained their campaigns rather than playing pause and play with them throughout the event, saw nearly 6.8 times better results. 

Making frequent changes to bids and over-optimizing campaigns as per daily performance changes is not suggested.

Establishing performance-based rules that allow for budget increases during high-performance periods, ensuring campaigns remain active without the need for constant manual intervention, proves to be an effective strategy.

4. Optimize Your Brand Store Page

An essential aspect of enhancing brand health is optimizing the Brand Store Page. Brands should ensure aesthetically pleasing brand store pages, linking them to their ads for a seamless customer experience.

A well-structured Brand Store Page not only attracts customers but also contributes to improved brand searches and overall visibility.

Revamping your brand store page just before a major event is essential. Over the years, advertisers have witnessed an increase in customer engagement and higher conversion rates as shoppers found it easier to navigate their offerings and discover new products when the brand store pages are updated and optimized to be in line with the overall theme.

5. Tactical Budget Management

It is imperative to undertake effective budget management, especially during peak times. Instead of cutting bids or pausing campaigns due to budget constraints, it’s advisable to reduce bids while keeping campaigns live.

This approach ensures that brands remain visible in the auction system, particularly when competitors go out of budget.

Brands should opt to reduce bids instead of pausing campaigns. During a significant spike in traffic, their ads continued to surface, capturing a substantial number of clicks that they would have otherwise lost. This strategic decision allowed them to maintain a competitive edge.

6. Re-engagement Strategies

It is crucial to re-engage with customers post-event.

Leveraging remarketing capabilities through Sponsored Display ads can help maintain momentum and drive additional sales even after the peak event days.

By setting up remarketing campaigns, brands can effectively remind potential customers of their offerings and encourage them to complete their purchase journey. This strategy is especially valuable in the context of long decision-making processes, where consumers might take days to finalize their purchases.

Conclusion

As brands gear up for the festive season, these strategies offer a roadmap for success. By starting early, employing a mix of ad formats, maintaining consistency, optimizing Brand Stores, managing budgets wisely, and implementing re-engagement tactics, brands can maximize their impact and sales potential. 

The festive season is not just an opportunity to drive sales; it’s a chance to build lasting relationships with customers.