Get Your Holiday Ads Ready Now (Before It’s Too Late)

The holiday season is the busiest and most competitive time of year for advertising. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Boxing Day can bring in more sales than some entire months combined. But here’s the truth: if you wait until November to prepare, it’s already too late.

If you’re planning to advertise for the holidays, now is the time to prepare. September is when you decide on your budget and promotions. Common options include:

• Percentage discounts
• Buy one, get one free (BOGO)
• Free shipping
• Bundle deals
• Gift with purchase

The right promotion depends on your margins and what motivates your audience.

Once your promotions are set, the next step is preparing your campaigns. By October, you should be testing different approaches (which headlines spark interest, which visuals get clicks, which landing pages convert best). 

By early November, your campaigns need to be built, approved, and live. Give platforms time to approve ads and exit learning before the rush.

Holiday ads aren’t just one sale graphic. You need a few things working together if you want results.

• Creative that grabs attention. Short videos, clean images, and headlines that make people stop scrolling. Keep it simple and seasonal.
• Landing pages that work. If your site is slow or messy, people won’t stick around. Every ad should click through to a page that matches the offer and makes it easy to buy.
• Tracking. Without proper setup you won’t know what’s actually working. You can’t improve what you can’t measure.
• Remarketing audiences. The people who already visited your site or engaged with your brand are the most likely to buy. You’ll want these lists ready before the holidays.
• Consistent messaging. Your ads, emails, and social posts should all say the same thing. When people see your offer in more than one place, it sticks.
• A higher budget than usual. Plan to invest more than you normally do if you want to stay visible and drive sales.

The holidays are different from the rest of the year. Costs are higher, competition is tougher, and ads fatigue faster. That’s why you can’t just set it and forget it. You’ll need to rotate creatives, keep your ads fresh, and constantly improve as the season goes on.

The good news? People are buying. A lot. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are huge, but December stays busy, and January often brings just as much activity. Customers use gift cards, make exchanges, and start “new year, new me” purchases. 

If you’re prepared to spend more, that bigger budget will pay off because demand is at its peak.

Holiday success isn’t about luck, it’s about preparation. At RTOWN, we’ve helped businesses across industries build paid ad campaigns that perform during the busiest time of the year. We know what it takes to get results in Q4.

Contact us today and we’ll help you build a holiday strategy that works.

Sources:

• https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2880335?hl=en

• https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/12423231?hl=en

• https://www.facebook.com/business/holiday