It’s already that time of the year again when you start planning to visit an Easter Show, smash some hot cross buns and consume chocolate aplenty!  In amidst all this planning, you might also wonder should I pause my Google Ads campaigns?  It’s tempting to wind down for a few days and spend time with family and friends.  But while pausing your campaigns might save you some marketing budget in the short term, here’s three reasons why you should keep your campaigns live over the period.

1. INCREASE IN TRAFFIC VOLUME AND SPEND

Easter is a time of year when a lot of businesses close and people actually have time to research and buy things online. Australia Post online shopping research released in April last year, found Australians planned to spend an average of AUD $72 online on chocolate and other similar sweet treats and an average of AUD $90 on other gifts such as books, homewares and fashion items. Domestic purchases accounted for more than 80% of online sales with price, choice and convenience being the motivators. During this period, people also have lots of “micro moments”.  These are the I want-to-know moments, I want-to-go moments, I want-to-do moments and I want-to-buy moments.  These are the game changing moments that growing businesses don’t want to miss. In the lead up to Easter, I recommend looking at your campaign data from last year – before, during and even immediately after the holiday when people are in the spirit of giving and retail sales have the potential to trend upwards.  Look at conversion rate, traffic and ROI.  This will help you determine which days and times over the Easter break were the most profitable as well as how to best budget and staff for the period. Review your ads and consider writing some Easter specific ad copy or launch an Easter holiday sale for cut through.  Just make sure you’re prepared to handle an uplift in sales.  Leaving customers waiting when orders can’t be fulfilled quickly enough or seeing your website crash under the weight of increased traffic could lead to damaging reviews and ratings.

2. BE THE BUSINESS WITH PRESENCE

With some tradespeople and services closing over Easter reducing supply, it can be a high demand period for those who remain open.  Because of this, if you run a trades or service business, it’s good to stay open if you can and continue advertising.  In your ads make sure you clearly highlight that you are still open over the break, have your call extensions live and answer your phone so you can convert the calls.  Consider this if you’re in a similar field where others close for the holiday.

3. AD RANK

Ad Rank is the value used to determine your ad position.  The score is determined by a number of things including your bid amount, quality score and use of ad extensions.  The better your ad rank the higher your ad position – in comparison to competitors. If you pause your campaign over the Easter break not only will it remove you from all the auctions giving your competitors an advantage, it means you will need to re-build your ad rank when you want to re-launch – meaning higher bids to get your ad position back.  If you really want a break over Easter, you’re better off reducing your budget and reviewing your ad schedule to keep everything running as this will help maintain your average position and ad rank.

I hope you enjoy your Easter and don’t forget the impact of continuing your Google Ads campaigns during the break! If you have any comments or other topics you’d like me to write about let me know below.