The three things you HAVE to get right for Q4 Advertising in 2020
It’s here. It’s showtime.
At Foxwell Digital, our goal is always to help as many companies and agencies do the absolute best they can with Facebook and Instagram advertising and feel equipped to take on any challenge that’s thrown their way. Our commitment to being here for you in Q4 is no different.
This blog post is to simply give you brief thoughts on timing, targeting and creative heading into the most important time of the year. Let’s get right to it.
By the way if you love this, you’ll absolutely love our course: Q4 Tactical Roadmap, Your Guide to a Profitable Q4. Use code SECRETBLOGCODE for $50 off….(Also here’s a little validation if it’s needed)
Ad launch timing in Q4
When we spoke with our panel of experts about their plans, it became evident everyone was starting earlier. Here were some quotes from them.
“Start the week before BF, go big the week before and the weekend before, when there's less competition, then ramp down to the point where we are mostly sitting out the BFCM weekend, then making a last push on Cyber Monday.
“Launch BFCM sale at least a week prior to BF and some 2 weeks prior.
“Clients who are already offering their max discount will likely be stopping all discounting in October so their BFCM offer has more impact. “
“Begin actual sale on BF, but begin messaging about the sale two weeks prior with ads designed to get ad engagement.
“Launch ads a week before BFCM with some early-bird messaging (code to email subs + loyalty ads on FB/IG). The day before BF, begin automatic sitewide discount and official sale starts Thursday (Thanksgiving) night.”
So it’s evident we should all … start earlier.
As we think about targeting, there’s a myriad of ideas that advertisers can deploy during this time. As we looked at last year and spoke to our friends, here’s what we came up with.
Audience Targeting for Q4 by funnel placement:
Prospecting
Lookalikes of Purchasers during start of COVID-19 timeframe (mid-March/April)
Lookalikes of purchasers during this time in 2019
High LTV lookalikes
Multi-Purchaser lookalikes
High single-order purchaser lookalikes
Lookalikes of people who bought a big ticket item or a big bundle or pack
Lookalikes of Email Engagers/Openers (3x email opens in the last 60 days, etc.)
Broad ad set, 10% LAL Stack ad set, possible Social Engagers 10% LAL Stack - IG+FB)
Middle funnel
In-active email subscribers (bring them back into the fold)
2018 & 2019 BFCM holiday shoppers
2018 purchasers
Social Engagers 30 day, Social Engagers 90 day, Web Visitors 30 day
Opened / Clicked Emails Last 180 Days
Browsed Collections (Last 90 Days)
FB Custom Audiences: RSVPs for our sale events. AOV > $100 - 180 Days. ATC 3x 180 Days
Retargeting
Previous purchasers. Also hitting 2-week ad engagers from the previous pre-BFCM ads, and 50% watchers of that video. Also leaning into organic social heavily, so ad/page engagers as well
Standard sale creative, not DPA - VC 30d/90d/180d, ATC 30d/90d/180d
DPA Retargeting (VC 30d/90d/180d, ATC 30d/90d/180d)
Abandoned Carts (Last 180 Days)
Ad creative in Q4:
For creatives, it’s always hard to know, and varies by industry/product, but here’s what we’ll be focusing on:
4x5 and 1x1 images and video, collections ads during the holidays, and Stories
Animated GIFs with burst or slide-in text, unboxing videos, collections for TOFU in retail, and dynamic carousels with reviews in the copy
Carousels - they let people see a bunch of different options before they click over to your site. Also adding animation or videos into carousels will be something we’ll be focusing on as well
Short and sweet copy - Sale name, sale amount (percentage off), shop now
If you need more tangible examples and want our blueprint for what we’re doing during Q4, grab our Q4 Tactical Roadmap course right away HERE, and gain access to our Q4 Helpline Facebook Group in case you have any questions that need ours and our colleagues’ expert opinions.
