Your Holiday Ad Playbook Starts Now - Issue 292

Hey there,

The holidays aren’t just coming.

They’re a traffic surge waiting to be captured.

🎄 Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Christmas. New Year’s.

From October through January, buying intent goes through the roof.

But here’s the catch:

Every brand will flood ad platforms.

Costs will spike.

Competition will be brutal.

If you want profitable growth this holiday season, you need to plan smarter, test faster, and align PPC with email to squeeze every ounce of ROI.

This week, we’re covering:

✔️ How to prepare your PPC campaigns for the holiday rush

✔️ What to test now before ad costs explode

✔️ How to integrate email campaigns for double the impact

Let’s turn seasonal chaos into record-breaking revenue.

🚨 The Problem: Brands Wait Too Long

Every year, we see it:

❌ Campaigns launched the week of Black Friday

❌ Generic ad copy (“Big Holiday Sale!”)

❌ No email coordination

❌ Budgets blown on clicks that never convert

The result?

📉 CPCs go up 30–50%

📉 ROAS drops

📉 Teams scramble with last-minute fixes

The holidays reward preparation, not panic.

✅ The Fix: Start Early. Test Smart. Integrate Channels.

The brands that dominate Q4 don’t just “spend more.”

They plan months in advance and create an ecosystem where PPC and email feed each other.

Here’s your roadmap:

🎯 5 PPC + Email Strategies to Own the Holiday Season

These aren’t surface-level tips.

They’re profit levers you can pull right now.

1️⃣ Build Audiences Before the Rush

Why it matters:

During November/December, CPCs skyrocket.

But today, clicks are cheaper.

💡 How to do it:

• Run awareness and traffic campaigns NOW to fill remarketing lists.

• Push blog content, gift guides, or early-bird promos to gather leads.

• Use lead forms to capture emails for later conversion campaigns.

⚡ Quick Win:

Launch a “Holiday Preview” campaign on Meta or Google Display today.

Offer a small incentive (early access, VIP discount) to collect emails.

📩 Email Integration:

Create a Holiday VIP List email segment and start nurturing them with exclusive previews.

2️⃣ Test Creative & Offers Early

Why it matters:

Holiday ad inventory is expensive.

Testing in-season burns money.

💡 How to do it:

• A/B test headlines, images, and CTAs before peak dates.

• Validate your best offers (discount % vs bundle vs free shipping) in October.

• Use small-budget campaigns to find winners.

⚡ Quick Win:

Run a 2-week “micro-campaign” with 3 offers:

→ 20% off

→ Free shipping

→ Buy-one-get-one

Scale the best-performing one into holiday ads.

📩 Email Integration:

Use test results to craft high-performing subject lines and email CTAs.

3️⃣ Align PPC & Email for Maximum Impact

Why it matters:

PPC gets the click.

Email closes the sale.

💡 How to do it:

• Sync ad audiences with email lists using Meta Custom Audiences or Google Customer Match.

• Create parallel messaging: same headline, same offer, same urgency.

• Trigger automated emails for anyone who clicks an ad but doesn’t convert.

⚡ Quick Win:

Example workflow:

→ Ad click → Viewed product → No purchase → Trigger 24-hour “Don’t Miss This Deal” email.

4️⃣ Use Dynamic Remarketing for Abandoned Carts

Why it matters:

Holiday shoppers are distracted.

Dynamic ads bring them back with exact product visuals.

💡 How to do it:

• Set up dynamic product ads in Meta, Google, and Pinterest.

• Use countdown timers or “limited stock” overlays.

• Pair with urgency-driven email sequences.

⚡ Quick Win:

Create a 3-part abandoned cart flow:

1. Reminder email (1 hour later)

2. PPC remarketing ad with product photo

3. Final “Offer Expires Tonight” email

5️⃣ Scale Budgets Before Key Dates

Why it matters:

Algorithms need time to optimise.

Launching huge budgets on Black Friday is like slamming the gas in neutral.

💡 How to do it:

• Start ramping budgets 7–10 days before peak sales.

• Gradually increase spend 20% per day to avoid learning phase resets.

• Monitor CPC and ROAS daily.

⚡ Quick Win:

Set automated rules:

→ Increase budget if ROAS > target

→ Pause underperforming ad sets instantly

📩 Email Integration:

Pair budget ramps with teaser emails (“Our biggest deal drops in 48 hours”).

An e-commerce brand selling fitness gear used this exact playbook:

✔️ Built audiences in October with early gift guides → 45% lower CPC

✔️ Tested 3 offers → “Free shipping + 15% off” outperformed all

✔️ Synced PPC + email with dynamic remarketing

Result:

📈 ROAS increased 62% year-over-year

📉 CAC dropped 33% despite higher CPCs

💥 Q4 revenue hit an all-time high.

🛠️ Tools to Execute

• Google Ads + Meta Ads for dynamic campaigns

• Klaviyo / Mailchimp for automated email flows

• Triple Whale or Northbeam for multi-channel attribution

• Canva / Figma for fast ad creative testing

✅ This Week’s Action Plan

📌 Launch audience-building campaigns NOW

📌 Test 2–3 offers before mid-November

📌 Create a synced PPC + email content calendar

📌 Set up automated abandoned cart + remarketing flows

📌 Schedule daily budget adjustments for peak weeks

🚀 Bottom Line

Holiday marketing isn’t about spending the most.

It’s about preparing the earliest, testing the smartest, and letting PPC + email work as one machine.

The brands that start today will own Q4.

The ones that wait?

They’ll spend more and get less.

Talk soon!