Google Ad campaigns for the ups and downs of a seasonal business

Is your business seasonal? Do you have clear peaks and troughs of trading? Or do your products and strategies change depending on the time of year? Then these top tips are most certainly for you! 

To ensure that we don’t mislead our customers, damage our performance or waste that all important budget, there are a few things to consider when planning Google Ad campaigns to compliment a seasonal business. 

Planning seasonal campaigns effectively can not only help you reduce spending, but also actually improve the effectiveness and Return on Investment (ROI) on the budget you DO spend. Below are some top tips of how to make your seasonal campaigns as effective as possible:

1. Double check your keywords

Keywords are the words and phrases that people type into search engines to find what they're looking for. If you have a seasonal business, then you may find that these keywords change throughout the year. It’s important to do fresh research before proceeding with any campaigns. You can complete your keyword research through Google Keyword Planner.

Imagine it’s June, and you run children’s holiday camps. You may find your keywords have changed from when you last checked them in January. Rather than searching ‘Children’s Easter camps’, your customers are now searching ‘Children’s summer camps’. Pull together a little shopping list of your top keywords, and move on down to step two.

2. Tailor your ad copy

Now you’ve done your keyword research, you need to embed these words into your ad copy. You need to ensure that your ad copy clearly reflects what your customers are searching for. And they also need to truly represent the information on the landing page for Search Engine Optimisation purposes. Check out our recent article on how to use your keywords effectively.

For example, you may update your ad copy to say ‘Exciting children’s summer camps in Oxfordshire’. But if the customer clicks on this ad and is taken to a webpage with information about Easter camps, then don’t expect to be in Google's good books when they next crawl your site.

3. Identify any ‘negative keywords’

Sometimes Google may display your ad in search results for a query that isn’t quite relevant. To prevent wasting your budget on these irrelevant customers (because you aren’t offering what they are looking for), you can exclude certain keywords from your seasonal campaign. 

For example, customers may be searching for October half term camps. You’re not running half term camps but your ad for summer camps is still appearing. So, what you can do is exclude ‘october’ or ‘half term camps’ from your campaign. Meaning that your ad now won’t display when these words are entered into the search bar. 

4. Review your historic trends and data

If you do have peaks and troughs in trading, then it is important to review historical web traffic data and ad campaign results. This can give you a really good insight into when those peaks come around and also when they begin to tail off. Once you have this data, you can plan your budget accordingly to increase its effectiveness, meet increased search demands and rank higher up the page during those crucial trading points.

5. Adjust your budgets accordingly

Now you’ve got your historical web traffic data, you can make more sensible estimates for your budget. For example, if web traffic for children’s summer camps is dead to the ground in April, then you can apply just the minimal amount of budget required. But if this demand then shoots up in early June, then you can apply most of your budget here.

6. Automate your ad timings, budgets and dates

Google Ads have various automation tools that can help you automate your campaigns. This is perfect for businesses like you that are time-sensitive. You can program when to start, pause, resume or end campaigns depending on your marketing calendar. 

For example, you can create specific campaigns targeting Christmas shopping that start during mid November and end one week after Christmas. This is a useful tool to ensure you don’t over run and waste your budget. It also means you can put your feet up over the Christmas holidays!

7. Take the Google ‘seasonality adjustment tool’ for a spin

If you are the kind of business that experiences significant changes in your conversion rates, and over a short period of time, then Google’s Seasonality Adjustment Tool could be the next toy for you to try.

Google seasonality adjustment is an advanced tool that can be used to inform Smart Bidding of expected changes in conversion rates for future events like promotions or sales. They may not work as well if you use them for extended periods (more than 14 days at a time), but it’s certainly worth a try for any short, sharp sales. Find out more on how to create a seasonality adjustment.

Are you a non-profit organisation?

If you are a non-profit organisation, then Google Ad Grants could be a great option for your next pay per click campaign. The scheme can give organisations access to £10,000 per month. First, they’ll verify your organisation's eligibility, and then you'll be able to activate your Google Ad Grants. You must hold a valid charity status in the UK. See their eligibility requirements here and get in touch with us for support with your Google for Nonprofits application.

Following these seven steps will help you build a clear, effective and fruitful campaign, allowing you to squeeze as much juice as possible out of your seasonal business harvest. If you’d like more support on creating Google Ad campaigns, take a look at Wild SEO Agency’s Paid Search Marketing services.