The holiday shopping season is upon us and with the right strategy in place, it can bring in as much as 30% of a retailer’s total sales in just one season. One of the biggest misconceptions about holiday marketing is that you need to get your ads up and running just in time for Black Friday. In reality, a recent study showed over 40% of US consumers plan to begin their holiday shopping before November, and a solid 31% plan to start before September or earlier.

Start early

Campaigns that start in October see a 7% increase in impressions, a 12% decrease in average cost-per-click (CPC) and a 20% decrease in average cost-per-impression (CPM) compared to other holiday months. These stats prove that by starting early, you’ll be able to reach both new and existing customers with strategic holiday messaging at a lower cost, which will positively impact your total ROI. It is also important to remember that the earlier you run your holiday campaigns, the better because of the less competition you’ll likely see. As the holiday season ramps up, so will the competition. However, you’ll be ahead of the game and can focus your budget on bringing your new high-intent users down the funnel to convert.

Keep them running

While October is the best time to start running your campaigns, this doesn’t mean that you should skip out on other holiday months. In fact, engagement is highest in November and December. Last season, advertisers saw a 9% increase in click-through-rate (CTR) in November and a 15% increase in CTR in December. This means during the two months, your brand needs more meaningful, engaging content and a clear understanding of your customer’s journeys.

The rise of mobile marketing

As content consumption habits shift further online and into mobile, so do shopping habits, and it’s crucial to build omnichannel engagement programs that meet consumers where they spend their time. Based on a recent study, this year consumers are planning to spend a majority of their holiday budgets online and via mobile devices this year. For the five-week holiday period from Nov. 21st- Dac. 26th in 2017, mobile shopping accounted for 41% of purchases. In fact, on Thanksgiving, mobile shopping accounted for more purchases than those that came from a standard desktop computer. Beyond that, cross-device campaigns feature some of the best performance when compared to regular desktop or social media campaigns. Plus the average CPC is 63% cheaper on mobile than it is on a desktop for the average holiday campaign.

Tapping into social media for success

One of the best ways to take advantage of a mobile audience is to make sure that you’re running your ads across social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. In fact, AdRoll customers saw a 400% increase in CTR on Instagram when compared to their display campaigns, and a 54% increase in CTR on Facebook.

Personalize the holiday shopping experience

Make sure you are planning your social media strategy around a user-centric approach. Try to think like your customers, figure out the platforms they use, and produce content they want to see and engage with. It’s not a secret that video marketing is a major trend to exploit. Providing something of value is often the key to success, and 77% of consumers are more likely to watch an online video ad if they would receive a discount off a holiday purchase.

Vary your promotions/sales

If you want to keep consumers interested, you’ve got to add variety to holiday promotions. Start by deciding how many different types of sales or promotional events you want to offer during the holiday shopping season. Here are a few ideas that you can use for different types of promotional offers during the holiday shopping season:

• Provide early access to those on your email list.
• Offer “VIP” shopping opportunities to your most loyal customers.
• Create a sale for different product or category of products each week.
• Ramp up your sales percentages as it gets closer to the holidays.