For those of you interested in learning more about optimizing your campaigns for the holidays, I wanted to make sure you saw the Holiday Advertising Guide on advertising.microsoft.com. The guide includes some interesting data:
Online retail shopping increases in November by more than 100 percent.1 Adding promotions like free shipping make an enormous difference—57 percent of consumers stated that free shipping is a reason for them to shop online.2 For search and display advertising, online buying will peak on Black Friday, November 28, followed by Cyber Monday, December 1.
The guide also includes some key tips to help you with your campaigns. Check out November Suggestions for Search Holiday Advertising for ad copy and keyword strategies, and budgeting and optimization tips.
As we get closer and closer to the holidays, let us know if you have any holiday optimization questions in our forum.
1. Hitwise Market Share in all Categories, 2008.
2. iCongo/Harris Interactive, April 22, 2008.