In the wake of high-intent promotional periods, businesses often grapple with the challenge of managing their advertising budget effectively to avoid unnecessary expenditure. This situation requires a strategic approach to ensure that the momentum of success does not turn into a drain on resources. Drawing from industry practices and expert insights, we outline a refined strategy to help your business navigate the post-promotion landscape efficiently.

1. Strategic Budget Adjustments

The first crucial step is to reassess and adjust your advertising budgets. After a period of increased spending to capitalise on high consumer interest, it's vital to scale back judiciously. This doesn't mean a drastic withdrawal from all advertising efforts but rather a calculated reduction to align with expected lower conversion rates. A recommended approach is to cut advertising budgets by 50-60%, a measure that should be tailored based on your specific performance data and the expected seasonal demand for your products.

2. Refine ROAS Targets

Next, revisit your Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) targets. During promotional periods, it's common to adopt more aggressive targets to maximise reach and conversions. However, as the promotional window closes, increasing your ROAS targets to pre-promotion levels—or close to them—helps ensure that your advertising spend remains as efficient as possible. This adjustment might require a few days of fine-tuning to strike the right balance between spend and return.

3. Implement Negative Seasonality Adjustments

Understanding the fluctuating nature of consumer behaviour is key to adjusting your bid strategies accordingly. If you anticipate a significant drop in conversion rates, employing Negative Seasonality Bid Adjustments can be an effective tool. This tactic informs your bidding algorithm of the expected decrease in conversion rates, prompting it to manage your bids more conservatively to prevent overspending.

4. Pause Overperformers Temporarily

During peak promotional periods, certain keywords, products, or campaigns might perform exceptionally well due to heightened consumer interest. However, maintaining the same level of investment in these areas after the promotion can lead to inefficiencies. Identifying and pausing (or significantly reducing bids for) these overperformers ensures that you're not investing heavily in areas that are unlikely to maintain their peak performance.

5. Reset Campaign Elements

Finally, it's time to reset your campaign elements to their pre-promotion state. This includes pausing all promotional-specific ads and assets, reactivating evergreen content, and ensuring that your product feeds and landing pages reflect the current offerings and prices accurately. This step is crucial for aligning your advertising efforts with your business's current focus and preparing for future promotional opportunities.

Embracing Efficiency in the Aftermath

By following these steps, businesses can navigate the post-promotion period with a strategy that prioritises efficiency and effectiveness. The key is to balance the desire to capitalise on remaining consumer interest with the need to conserve resources for future opportunities. Adapting quickly and strategically to the changing landscape will ensure that your business remains competitive and poised for continued success.

Date: 04/04/2024