Optimise Ad spend for BFCM

Here are several strategies to help control ad spend during this high-demand period:

Tactic: Before the BFCM rush, define strict daily and campaign-level budget limits. Allocate budgets across high-performing channels, campaigns, and ad sets based on historical performance data.
Why: This ensures that spending remains in check and prevents overspending on underperforming campaigns.
Tools: Use tools like Google Ads’ automated bidding strategies and Facebook Ads’ budget rules to cap daily or campaign-level spending.

Tactic: Utilise automated bid strategies such as Target CPA (Cost per Acquisition) or Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). These automated strategies optimise bids in real-time, focusing on conversions or profitability, ensuring that Ad spend is directed toward high-return actions.
Why: Automated bidding helps avoid inefficient manual adjustments and ensures you stay within your desired performance goals.
Tools: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other platforms offer automated bidding to optimise for specific outcomes during high-demand periods.

Tactic: Prioritise retargeting warm audiences (website visitors, email subscribers, past customers) over cold audiences. Retargeting campaigns are generally more cost-effective and convert at a higher rate than prospecting campaigns.
Why: Targeting people who have already shown interest reduces the cost per acquisition and increases the likelihood of driving conversions during BFCM.
Tools: Google Display Network, Facebook Pixel, and other retargeting platforms.

Tactic: Narrow down your audience targeting by focusing on high-intent segments such as loyal customers, cart abandoners, or those who have engaged with your brand recently.
Why: Limiting your audience ensures that your Ad budget is spent on people who are most likely to convert, reducing waste on low-intent users.
Tools: Use platforms’ custom audiences, lookalike audiences, and interest-based targeting to narrow focus.

Tactic: Use dayparting to run ads only during peak hours when your audience is most active, based on historical data. For example, focus spending during the high-conversion hours of the day.
Why: By focusing on hours with the highest likelihood of conversion, you can reduce unnecessary spending during less productive times.
Tools: Google Ads and Facebook Ads both offer ad scheduling options to control when your ads run.

Tactic: Use data-driven creatives that are proven to work, with clear CTAs (Calls to Action), simple messaging, and optimised formats for both desktop and mobile.
Why: Well-optimised creatives can boost click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates, improving overall campaign efficiency and lowering the cost per conversion.
Tools: A/B test creatives in advance and use winning formats during the BFCM rush. Facebook’s Dynamic Creative tool is helpful for automatically optimising creative combinations.

Tactic: Focus on channels that historically offer lower CPMs (cost per 1,000 impressions) during the BFCM period, such as email marketing, organic social media, and affiliate marketing.
Why: Lower-cost channels can supplement your paid campaigns, helping you maintain reach and visibility without increasing spend dramatically.
Tools: Email marketing tools like Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Klaviyo, or Mailchimp can run highly targeted campaigns for low cost.

Tactic: Use real-time analytics to closely monitor campaign performance, especially during BFCM when trends can shift rapidly. If a campaign is not performing well, pause it or reallocate the budget.
Why: Real-time monitoring allows you to make quick adjustments, preventing budget from being wasted on underperforming campaigns.
Tools: Use Google Analytics, Facebook Ads Manager, or any custom dashboard tool to keep an eye on performance.

Tactic: Use urgency-driven copy and creatives, such as “Limited Time Offer” or countdown timers, to encourage immediate action. This can lead to faster conversions, reducing the time and budget spent on remarketing.
Why: Limited-time offers drive quicker decision-making, which improves conversion rates and ensures that your budget is used efficiently.
Tools: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or any display network with customisable ad copy.

Tactic: Utilise ad extensions like Google’s promotion extensions and sitelinks to promote BFCM deals directly in the ad copy. This increases visibility without needing to raise bids or increase budget.
Why: Ad extensions enhance the ad’s effectiveness without incurring additional costs for higher positioning.
Tools: Available in Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising.

Google Ads / Facebook Ads: For automated bidding, audience targeting, retargeting, and performance tracking.
Google Analytics / Custom Dashboards: To monitor real-time performance.
Klaviyo / Brevo (Sendinblue): For email campaigns to reduce reliance on high-cost paid channels.
Dynamic Creatives: To automatically optimise and scale the best-performing ads.

By combining these strategies, you can control and optimise your ad spend, ensuring maximum profitability during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

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