EP236 - Q5 - What Did We See and Learn

0:00 Happy New Year. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the PPC chat round up. Our first round up of 2023 in today's episode we have the awesome Julie bringing us back from our holidays to have a great chat about Q5 water. Did we see and learn save you listen to a couple of episodes back, one of our last episodes of 2022 ORS us talking about that last week in between December 25th. And January, 1st of what you do in terms of advertising, where people have, you know, open up their presents. I thinking of exchanging it or people have gotten gift cards or money for Christmas and, you know, how to best Target them to ensure that.

0:46 Yeah, your products gets old so it's very much a retail heavy period of time. Where brands are thinking there yet the years not out in terms of activity and where there could be opportunity for spend and return. On investment. So we talked about what learnings people sword if people did any activity during that time, what they saw, and what they plan on using it, in terms of learnings for the current quarter that we've moved into or for next year's Q5. So yeah, hope you enjoy.

1:27 Hello and a warm, welcome to this episode of the PBC CAD Roundup. Not just any episode. It's the first episode of 2023. So another happy New Year to you, this podcast is where I round up the Twitter discussion. That happens on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. GMT. I'm your host, Andrew. And I'm recording from my studio Hair in London UK, and I use this platform to share. Are not just expert but also my ideas and considered best practices about paid media and the direction the digital industry is going in. So if you want to keep up to date with my tips and tricks in the industry, and get the latest on the podcast that has been called your go to if you don't make it to the PPC Channel live discussions and even if you do then like, follow share and retweet. I'm not try Twitter with my handle the marketing, a new or join us in our LinkedIn group peeps each at round up or if you're on Instagram, why don't Check us out at PPC, chat on this called Roundup to get the quotes and Snippets from our previous episodes.

2:26 So today, yeah, we've got Julie taken us on a great topic and I feel little bit self-serving to say was a great topic because earlier today, Julie asked what should we talk about today? And I advised that we talked about, you know, Q5 performance and how that went. So, yeah, I came up with a great topic, but we should chat about today. Yeah, Julie goes. Hello, thank you for joining. Today, first, how are we doing? And so yeah, we got a fair few joiners although quite a few locked as well as myself because I don't do Hands-On paid search management anymore. Not many of my clients really fell into this category and many have B2B clients at Marin. So yeah it was very much more of me trying to get information from the industry or get our experts to talk about something that they're doing and seeing how that works for other marketers.

3:19 Not necessarily Share my own personal experience, so apologies for that, that I didn't particularly have much to share on this chat. But many people did Fraser joined us here. Who says he's tired and he's new baby. And first day back at work have been mental Diana. Elena goes doing good. Ready for a fresh start, and happy to actively participate to another PPC chat. I said, I'm doing good. Still trying to switch on for this year, by do have high hopes for this year. Overall, I think it's going to be a great 2023. I do. We believe sir and as holes response am not so good. Today, headache feeling cold stomach. Ache might not hang all the way but wanted to kick off the new year with you all blessing. I hope that's not covid.

4:01 Someone's has already said that be called covid. Sudol, covid stuff still out there. So keep safe and healthy guys. Serious team responds saying glad to be not sick. Yep, definitely guilder goes doing great today. New year, new, whether yeah, that's a that's one phrase. I've not heard of yet, silly. Lots of with a PSA as usual saying before we get to questions, this chat is intended for PPC, Professionals of all levels. If you have something you want to share, please do we are a friendly and supportive community, and please don't be afraid to participate luck. As are, of course. Always welcome to. He also reminds us that we do have a PC acronym page. So if you go to official PPC chat.com /p p c, hyphen acronyms, you can find out what people are talking.

4:49 About and no one needs to know you looked it up. So yes because official PPC, chat don't come forward slash PPC, Dash acronyms. So yeah he takes us on to question one saying we talked about strategies for Q5 back in November but I will ask again. Are you familiar with the term, Q5? I learnt it from the last chapter that we did about Q5 and the performance. During that time, Julie herself goes, I was not familiar with the term which is defined As the period between December 25th and 31st before our chat in November. And this goes, oh, I see, it's definitely a very different time promotion wise than the time up until 24th.

5:32 Yes, very much. So, it is why I was a very interesting topic. Do you live ice goes familiar, but it's not in wide, use around me. Technically right now, it's Q4 for public sector. And as response saying, guessing it is one that comes after Q for making us. Think about continuty and consequence. It's for example, use goes, I get it, but it makes me cringe. Every time I use it, like, when I use the words touch base. Diana goes I heard of it but never used it. Gil gonna goes. Yes, Q5 is my favorite time of the year for PPC. So Judith and Texas on to question 2. There are six questions today. So, yeah, I felt she wanted to quickly, get through them. You know, make sure we fit all of them in and we get some good answers for all the questions.

6:16 Julie goes for question 2 saying, did you do anything special Q 5 2002 defined as the period between December 25th and December 31st Gil goes. We have a large account which knocks it out of the park every time every year after Christmas. Outperforms Black Friday Cyber Monday. Every time this year it was around six hundred percent rowers and around two times Revenue. Year on year, we worked hard on this one. Wow, those are some amazing numbers and is goes done. A lot of event focused campaigns during 2022. To Prime days back to school. Black Friday we set up a three-phase strategy, each time built audience, boost budget and conversion retarget Peak audience, Q5.

7:00 And I have to admit three didn't work for us. Yeah, Julie goes where you using audiences. That you uploaded customer mad, for example, audiences built by Google ads or Google analytics. So yeah, that depends Julia voice goes. Yes, we did that particular week is very big for return. And shopping for New Year's Eve. If you have Retail Partners turn returns into upsells and if you have liquor Partners, pop them bottles before the 31st phase Andrews goes. Yeah. A lot of automation this year, as the team was offered During the period and Sharon rules and scripts were in place, and that we had processes to check in over the period without checking everything daily Julie goes nice.

7:45 Did you use any tools for this as well or only rules and scripts in? Forms Fraser goes only in platform. Scripts wise have been making use of meals regimens SCA, that's Neil's region and his Mega scriptlets there. He's all about the scripts of the Fantastic resource to as well as his newsletter. Jillian and answers question to say and I did not do anything differently. During the Q5 period for the Brand's, I work with, but I'm doing all lead gen right now. Ashton clock replies to question. One saying, I was generally familiar That time of year for advertisers but didn't know of the specific term Q5 until November's PPC, chat. And then we have a system clock responding to question, 2 same. Since most of my clients, I in the B2B space or are focused on lead generation.

8:35 Q5 was very quiet and we didn't run any special ads campaigns Etc. Sarah Steelman as well response to question to say, and I would say just making sure all our essays are set with all headlines, leaning more into automation, which was scary for some clients. He asks, Leah, automation leaning. Too much is automation. Especially Google automation, can be, scaring Dannelly know is well response to question to say, no, we did not have any special campaigns for this period. Also, we did impose anything and surprisingly, we had a very good December in terms of performance better than October. For instance, I got a little bit confused with that answer because she was like, yeah, we didn't have any special campaigns but we didn't impose anything. So technically you did have stuff life for the Q5 period but I As she's talking, my not anything, that was specially, created for the Q5 period.

9:24 They're just their continued campaigns and levels of optimization pre Q5 and we have Tim Heller and responding to question 2 saying for a few clients. We scaled back and did less spend for one client, we expanded the abandoned cart campaign to 90 days to increase, new customer orders before end-of-year both approaches worked for different use cases. Nothing too fancy though. And really goes, great to see you here today to We are happy to be here. I'm going to make New Year, resolutions, participate more where and when I can I always leave these PVC chats refreshed or at a minimum validated lovely and then we have Julie taken us on to question 3 saying is the Q5 time typically a busy time for the Brand's you work with and in what industry or Industries are you working?

10:11 Sarah goes. Yes, not only is it busy from a performance standpoint, but for planning as well. Making sure we roll up learning report. It's into next year's plan Gil. Gonna respond saying, it's dead for many of our clients, especially Texas recruitment type stuff, but it's always slammed for e-commerce or retailers. Our biggest clients are usually in some form of e-commerce or retailers during that time, yes, that's the Brand's. I feel will work out the most Julie goes no, for the Q5 period is typically not a busy or high-interest period for the Brand's. I work with, I do lead gen for B2B and b2c and this is Oz question 3, I have had Biz in the past where it was a busy week HVAC and plumbing with Emergency Services needs.

10:57 But not with the mix right now. And Sarah goes, oh, it's freezing temps. It was definitely an HVAC Plumbing, busy time in Ohio, and then Diana Elena response to question 3 saying I'm working for SAS. And this time of the year isn't usually too busy for us. Julia voice response to question 3 saying. Yes, this is a big week in the retail And and alcohol space. In some cases. You want a particular budget for that week but mostly it's offers and reminders creative and then we have Sarah responded to question 3 saying yes not only is it busy from a performance standpoint but for planning as well. Making sure we wrote up learning reports into the next year's plans Tim Heller and response question 3 scene right now is the busy part of the second half of Q 5 and beginning of Q 1 which is the same thing.

11:49 Lee lots of beginning of year strategy, Noob is starting January and New Year sales, Etc Industries, e-comm retail software brick-and-mortar Health Specialists and little higher ed tomb. So yeah, right there with you, Sarah, go. So, yeah, Q5 and early q1 kind of rolls off with a similar strategy. Do you find that to be the same? I think, loggers know, for B2B a lead gen, which is the major T of our clients. We keep as running with the same level of budget so that we Still capture any searches. But overall, Q5 tends to be pretty quiet, all around and then continues. I should specify that from a client and performance perspective, it's fairly quiet. So I agency also does a lot of planning on updating internal processes during Q5 instead and Melissa goes same here for our B2B clients yes that's a good time to put processes in place the quiet time at the end of Q4.

12:47 And then Julie then takes us on to question 4. Did you see or learn anything in Q5? 2002 that was interesting. And, or expected, Barry Smith response to that. Same, people have been more interested in health insurance over the Christmas and New Year than any previous month, Christmas day, being one of the most popular days of the years. As Judy says, I find that very interesting at Villa response. Question for saying it was much quieter this year with sales than in Prior years, there are home based product client account Where we focused on lead gen as their sales team is involved. Had their best week of the year during Q5 cpc's.

13:27 Dropped 41% from prior weeks and our budgets went further Gil. Gil me respond saying, yeah, Canadians love, boxing week and buy everything. Yes, so do the UK as well. Greenbaum responsi sales were really awful this year. Lots of people staying home or not shopping. Compared to past boxing days. In some cases, way better deals during black Friday this year, Gil goes interesting, our Canadian client knocked it out of the park. This year, probably 25% higher sales than Black Friday must just be Niche specific and during those. Yeah, when I said sales, I meant the promotion's that brand were Runnings. When I went online or in store for shops the deals Brands offered, we're not as good as black Fridays, or past sales as a customer, so people were shopping but not necessarily because of the sales deals as what I think, doing the same And is in response to a question for as well. Saying that you, unless you have a, particularly well-suited commercial offering for that period, I would use Q5 to save some budget.

14:29 I have not seen benefits from retargeting for e-commerce, clients in that period boost clients in dating and Fitness Gear instead and then we have Diana Elena responding to question, forcing not something new but maybe it helps others reading. This people still search even if it is Q5, the world doesn't stop. So be sure. Sure to be present, Julie goes interesting, take more time, on phones with time off work. Yes, Danna goes, people have more time now to scroll, they won't necessarily buy off the bat but you will be top of their minds when the decision must be made in the coming weeks and Amanda Folly goes in response to Diana when she said people will search even if it is Q5 Amanda goes, I second this as we still see leads come in on holidays even in B2B interesting.

15:19 So yeah, so basically Be companies who are like, yep, everyone's on holiday, let's not do anything, you may be missing out. I mean Kappa response to question to say, no. Most of our clients are lead generation so we don't really need to do anything special during this time period to question for stare esteem and response. Same the bind period brought along some of the strongest rowers periods during mid December traffic is still incredibly High through Christmas but intends to purchase is hard to predict. It is risky to pull back in my honest opinion Pinion Julie, advise goes not really unexpected, but very proud of my team from the smooth week. Nice to know that she's proud and I'm Tim goes, that's always the best smooth and predictable is underrated, Julia goes? Yeah, it's my favorite actually and we have phrase Andrews responding to question.

16:07 Forcing revenue of e-comm Clarence was relatively High, having discussed with clients, the consensus seems to be that consumers are tending to spend more due to the wider poor economic climate. Pending to forget their worries are ya go? Good night goes. I think that's definitely true with my no luxuries, which always spikes during economic woes. IE beauty products and liquor. Yeah, when I was leaving a party, the other night unlikely, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, I decided to buy Victoria Beckham as eyeliner because I've been seeing ads. Oh God. Secondly, so I was definitely a sucker for that green brown response to question for seen, at least for our book of Brands, nothing new this year. Our sales down compared to last year, which was expected - the clients who did better than last year. Ashton clock Response Team based on what we saw throughout last week.

17:00 Nothing really stood out in terms of account performance, other than some slightly lower such volumes, he continues. Also to be honest, I haven't had a chance to really dig into Q5 performance yet, had to focus on some campaign launches and new team members starting today, but will definitely be looking for any major. Chef's when I get to it. So yes, we nose will look out for that. And answer the question for I meet Cobra as well, answer saying, not really. I just because most folks are on a break. It doesn't mean that users aren't searching so ensuring we're still present is something. I'd encourage most brands to do, then you'll it takes us on to question. Five. Seen are any Q5 2022.

17:42 Strategies being carried into q1 2023. If so why and if not, why not go answers? Good five. Same answer include five about Q5, huh. I've learned that the last week of the year always has different behaviors, so it doesn't always carry over into Jan or fehb. And then you live ice response. Question 5, say not from just that one week. No. But any data in context does help with future plans and goals and we cover a response saying no, not from Q5 since we're not implementing any new strategies during that time period. Sarah, steamer response. Question 5, seen in some ways. As we were more fluid, the past month that is because having spent a year working on top of funnel. The performance was there.

18:27 So hopefully, we can keep that going and build over the next year. There are no response to question five saying, I think anything that performed well in Q5 can be carried in q1 as well. Unless of course, we talk about something that is time-bound to that specific period and cannot be extended. Also, every learning should be remembered for next Q5 to improve. Move the strategy. And then Julie takes us on to the last question of the chat saying what's coming up for your Brand's in early 2023, anything new, you're planning to test or hoping you get the chance to test Gil response, question, 60. They're saying we have some brand scaling up some brand scaling down, I think we're going to see a lot of campaigns.

19:10 Tighten their belts and start trimming the fat 2023 is not going to be a great year economically and advertisers are going to Let and then we have Julie advice responding to questions sex scene. It's Q4 for public sector. So lots of a ramp up and big spans for my other partners. We're in planning an evergreen mode. And when Brown had responded to question five, he said we end all ideals on December 31st or sooner otherwise really hard to create any urgency. Sarah goes, we did as well. We capitalized on last day to ship last day to save excetera but overall I wish we change the deals during the A full month of sales versus the same sale for the whole month with a brief huge sale. Black Friday Cyber Monday when Brown goes Cuts changed their copy and image, but it was the exact same cell for the full month before Black Friday Cyber Monday. So yeah, some people just repeating their ads, Tim Halloran response to question 6, saying something. I've been thinking about lately, more out of Ott or top of funnel and faster deployment.

20:20 More testing of out-of-home top of funnel more consistent Evergreen retargeting on Boutique social, like Korra Reddit Twitter. In terms of bottle of funnel improving Clarity, in Google ads, too much motion between funnel confusion lately. Sir, there was a little bit of meat hesitating because team used a lot of acronyms in this. But as we said, if you go to official PPC, chat don't come to PC, hyphen, acronyms, you'll understand what all those acronyms. I mean, Sir. Same and then goes and what Julie Puccini said, keeping in mind, the backdrop of the economy is going to be important. Also for our clients, figuring out how to test in this AI. Environment is a new kind of challenging. So yeah, this isn't answer to question 6. In terms of what's upcoming for brands in early 2023 doing Brandon response to question six. Same, we will talk 2023 planning with clients in our Jan meetings.

21:18 We have some Days, we will pitch them as well. I spent part of last week thinking about clients and what we want to do with them and yeah that brings us to the end of our chat here today without that brings us the end to First chart of 2023. We're fully back. We're back into the groove of things delicious. Thank you all for a great chat today. Look for the recap post which will be my episode as well as Korea dot-coms blog. A recap of the chat as well there. It will be an audio version of this PC chat on Thursday at 12 p.m. eastern time. 6 p.m. no 5 p.m. even mgmt's the same 5 p.m. on Tuesdays for the Twitter chat and 5 p.m. on Thursdays for the audio chat to join their own Twitter spaces. So yes, hope you can join us.

22:11 So yeah, I'm I hope you found this tutorial useful, taking some great takeaways but if you don't want to yeah, continue the chat. Join us on Thursday for anything. Back about the podcast, or maybe even some corrections and anything that has been shed, do get in. Touch with me on Twitter, my DMs are open on the handle, the marketing, a new. So yeah, it will also be great for any long-standing, a brand new listeners, to give the podcast a rating or review. Please go to the link. Tree.com /p P c-- chat underscore Roundup. And please remember PVC live. UK is happening on the 2nd of Feb 2014. 14 weeks to go still time is going to be back. You are the first location that we had so that's accelerator by showed it so yeah please come there is going to be limited spaces.

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