Valentine's Day is less than two weeks away. For marketers looking to take advantage of the holiday, Google and Microsoft adCenter have provided several ideas based on what users are already searching for.
Valentine’s Day is the second most popular gift-giving holiday (behind Christmas), according to a recent survey by ORC International. More good news for marketers: Valentine’s Day falls on a Tuesday this year. This is a really good thing for online marketers considering you typically get better optimization with your ads on weekdays.
Check your ads and set up specific ad groups and campaigns that are targeted toward this specific event.
Valentine’s Day Search Trends
Daily "valentines day" related searches have increased 35 percent over last year, according toGoogle. Across relevant categories, jewelry is seeing a 42 percent increase in mobile and desktop queries compared to January of last year; gifts jumped 27 percent, and flowers saw an 18 percent spike.
Mobile advertising is expect to hit $2.6 billion in 2012. You need to start capitalizing on mobile traffic this year. With Valentine’s Day being the second biggest gift-giving holiday this year, you can't neglect this traffic or pretend it doesn't exist.
Among the top searches people are conducting on Google:
- valentines day meals
- diy valentines gifts
- valentines day border
- valentines day drinks
- valentines day baskets
Top Products that Benefit Online on Valentine’s Day
If your business offers any of the following services below, you should bid on them as millions of people are searching for them:
- Flowers
- Chocolates
- Lingerie
- Travel/Short Trips
- Jewelry
- Dating
I recommend that you set up a separate ad campaign. Make sure that you don't have more then 5 keywords per ad group as to write very descriptive ads for each one of your ad groups.
That being said, if you market other relevant items they will also sell around Valentine’s Day so don't count your products out.
Optimization Tips
Here are a few tips from Microsoft to get the most our of your ads:
- Be Specific with Locations: Geo-target ads regionally and use dynamic text... so a searcher in Cardiff knows cupid’s arrow can land on their doorstep, not a 2 hour train journey away! (Try targeting your ads in different demographic locations, this will help you narrow down what parts of your local area will work the best. Use this information for all major holidays.)
- Inspire Confidence in Searchers: If you have tens of thousands of members, mention that you have “tens of thousands of genuine singles”.
- Include Seasonal References: Affirm what the searcher is looking for, for example, “New year, new love” and “Find Valentine’s Love” work better than “Online Dating Site”.
- Use dynamic text: Increase your chances of highly relevant ads by using dynamic text in your ad titles, so a user searching for “London singles” will see your ad that had been set up as “Find {keyword}”... they’ll see it in their results as “Find London Singles”.
- Calls to Action: Encourage searchers to “Join the fun” or “Find love”.
- Brand Your Ads: Make sure you include the brand name within the ad copy. If you are advertising offline or running a display campaign the brand recognition will encourage clicks.
- Include Your Promotion Info: If you have an offer, such as 30-days free membership, make sure to say so in your ad copy. (Because you'll get busted and banned if you don't!)
Source: searchenginewatch
