Every year when Q1 rolls around, many marketers find themselves in a position where they don’t have an ad campaign ready to launch in the new year. This happens for a number of reasons: budget hasn’t been determined, content planning is not complete, or sometimes it just takes a little bit of time to get going after the holiday lull.
Are you one of the many tech companies that didn’t have a digital campaign ready to launch in January? You’re not alone, but you better get moving to gain an edge on competitors that don’t have their advertising ducks in a row yet.
Here are the three primary reasons why you’ll want to get your ad campaigns ready to launch ASAP for Q1:
1. Less Competition Means Lower Ad Costs:
In theory, advertisers could see the same results from Q4 at half of the price if they launch a fleshed out ad campaign at the beginning of Q1.
For a performance-driven tactic that bases success on the return on ad spend (ROAS), why not invest your money when you’re likely to achieve the highest ROAS from your efforts? This is a deal sitting on the table advertisers should be ready to take!
2. Lower Cost Means More Premium Ad Inventory:
Not only are ads less expensive in Q1, but there’s more available inventory up for grabs. Lower costs and more inventory are key indicators of less competition in ad auctions.
With this additional inventory available, your ads are more likely to show up in front of your most coveted audience members in better placements than they would show in throughout the rest of the year. Advertisers get way more bang for their buck by taking advantage of low competition.
When there’s less competition, there’s less of a need for advertisers to increase their bids to compete against other advertisers, setting a more level playing field for advertisers with less budget that may not be able to bid as high in the ad auction.
3. Test Ad Concepts, Messaging & Targeting:
Digital advertising is a never-ending test of ad concepts, messaging and targeting. Proper testing requires data collection over a set period of time and analyzing that data to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
By testing ad variations in Q1, marketers have the opportunity to learn which digital tactics drive results in 2020 at a lower cost than they would through the rest of the year. This can set advertisers up to invest their ad spend more wisely to achieve a high ROAS, especially as competition rises throughout the year.
The knowledge gained from Q1 ad testing can differentiate your ads versus those of your competitors that may not be testing ads early in the year.
Planning Your 2020 Digital Ad Campaign
Now that you understand why you want to get your ad campaigns up and running in Q1, let’s explore how you can do this on an expedited timeline:
Keyword Research: Have a list of priority keywords that your buyers are searching for ready to reference.
Buyer Persona Development: Have a target persona developed that is actionable: it must contain clear demographics, psychographics and more to help build out ad targeting.
Clear Objectives: Have a desired outcome for your ad campaign so that it can be set up for success in contributing to your 2020 marketing goals, whether that’s awareness, lead generation or sales.
Ability to Outsource: Timely campaign execution may not be possible with only in-house resources. Find a capable agency as a partner that can help execute a well-designed campaign efficiently and quickly.
Need support implementing your Q1 or other 2020 digital ad campaigns? Alloy can help. Get in touch to learn more.