Adjusting Your Local Service Businesses Google Ads Strategy for Seasonality

If you run a local service business and want to reach a specific group of people, Google Ads aims to connect with potential customers who are near your business location. The best part is that you only pay for things like when people click on your website or call your business. This means you can keep track of your advertising expenses and make sure you’re getting value for your money. It’s a cost-effective way to promote your business and see real results.

You should keep seasonality in mind when running a Google Ads campaign. Seasonality is all about the patterns and changes that a business encounters during different times of the year. These changes can be influenced by both the regular calendar seasons and specific commercial seasons. By paying attention to these patterns, businesses can adjust their strategies to either reduce their marketing spend or raise it to attract hungry customers.

Dive into this article to better understand seasonality and how you can build a seasonal Google Ads campaign that optimizes your budget.

Understanding Seasonality in Your Business

Analyzing the impact of seasonality can help you plan how to use your resources, optimize sales, and ensure long-term success. But how do you begin?

Evaluate historical sales data

Studying your company’s past sales records can yield patterns that occur during different seasons. This information should help you anticipate periods of high and low demand.

Look at industry trends

Keep an eye on the overall market. You don’t have to necessarily play “follow the leader,” but you can realign your marketing approach with industry trends, identify possible opportunities, and overcome challenges related to seasonality.

Understanding Seasonality for Effective Google Ads Strategies

Seasonal trends influence how people shop. Past data and understanding patterns in their industry affect how you run your business as a whole and how you market your products and services. When you identify the best times to reach your target audience, you can change who you target, what you say in your ads, and how much you spend. Making your ads more relevant can help you get the most from your advertising.

Adjusting Your Google Ads Strategy to Seasonality

Google Ads’ Smart Bidding features already take care of managing common seasonal events like holidays for you. You only need to use seasonality adjustments when you anticipate significant changes in conversion rates. These adjustments work best for short events that last between 1 to 7 days. However, they may not be as effective if you use them for longer periods, like more than 14 days at a time.

Let’s say you’re running an HVAC business and planning a weekend flash sale the week before the summer season. Based on historical data, you’ve noticed a sizable change in conversion rates when running similar sales in the past. You can adjust your Google Ads to let Smart Bidding consider the anticipated conversion rate while aiming to achieve your target cost-per-acquisition. You might spend more money, but you should be making more.

Focusing more resources on high-demand periods and scaling back during slower seasons can help you save and make money. Scheduling your ads according to seasonality promotes your relevant products and services to the people who need them the most. This precise type of marketing captures their attention and increases the likelihood of conversions.

Don’t forget to adjust keywords to seasonality

Keywords push your ads in front of your target audience. If you want to boost your chances of generating more revenue, then you need to use keywords that are specifically relevant to the season or event. These can increase your ads’ visibility and draw in prospective customers.

Building a Seasonal Google Ads Campaign

1. Know your highs (and lows)

Identifying seasonal trends means studying past data, observing how customers behave, and understanding industry trends to find the busiest times when people need your services.

2. Spend accordingly

Investing more during busy periods when demand is high. Reduce spending during quieter times to make the most of your advertising budget.

3. Pick the right keywords

Selecting terms that align with the specific needs and interests of your target audience during each special time of the year.

4. Schedule your ads for peak periods

Time the display of your ads to reach your target audience when they are most likely to engage and do business with you.

Tips for optimizing your seasonal Google Ads campaign

Research your audience

Understand who your target customers are, what they are interested in, and how their preferences change with the seasons.

Plan ahead

Create a clear plan and timeline for your seasonal campaign to ensure you’re prepared and can make the most impact during peak periods.

Customize your message

Create ads that speak directly to your customers during specific seasons, highlighting products or services that are relevant and appealing.

Use ad extensions

Take advantage of additional features like location information or call buttons to provide extra details and enhance the performance of your ads.

Test and improve

Experiment with different ad variations, targeting options, and messaging to find what works best for your audience and continually optimize your campaign.

Evaluating the Success of Your Seasonal Google Ads Campaign

You should know how well your Google Ads campaign is so you maximize your return on investment. There are a few metrics you should consider:

• Impressions: how often your ads were shown.
• Clicks: how many times users interacted with your ads.
• Click-through rate (CTR): the percentage of users who clicked on your ads after seeing them.
• Conversion rate: the percentage of users who completed a desired action (making a purchase, scheduling a demo, etc.).
• Cost per click (CPC): the average amount you pay for each click.
• Return on ad spend (ROAS): the revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads.

Using Google Analytics to track the performance of your seasonal campaigns

Google Analytics is a free tool that provides insights into customer behavior across web and app platforms. It uses machine learning to predict user behavior and offers valuable data to shape the customer journey based on emerging trends.

Although it may seem complex, understanding the major features of Google Analytics can enhance your website’s search ranking and attract potential customers. These features include automation, where machine learning analyzes data to predict user actions. Real-time reporting allows you to monitor website activity as it happens, enabling you to make timely decisions about your site’s content.

To get started with Google Analytics, you simply need to create an account or sign in if you already have one. Follow the provided instructions to set up Analytics on your website and/or app.

Tips and Best Practices for Seasonal Google Ads Strategy

Recap of key strategies

• Identify seasonal trends.
• Adjust the campaign budget.
• Choose relevant keywords.
• Customize ad messaging.
• Optimize ad scheduling.
• Monitor performance.

Bonus tips for maximizing the impact of your seasonal campaigns

• Adapt your campaign to seize new opportunities as they arise.
• Create seasonal landing pages.
• Target users who have previously shown interest in your products or services.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Neglecting proper planning.
• Not altering budgets.
• Ignoring ad copy.
• Overlooking keywords.
• Not tracking performance.

Outsmart the Seasons, Outshine the Competition

Understanding and modifying your Google Ads strategy to align with seasonal trends can promote your company to the right audience at the right time. Don’t shy away from seasonality. Embrace it as an opportunity for growth and success.