Imagine the holiday season: the air crackling with excitement, people bustling with last-minute shopping lists—and most importantly, millions of phones buzzing in hand. It’s no secret that during this season, mobile devices become the ultimate gateway to holiday shopping, gifting, and entertainment.
But as audiences scroll and swipe through holiday deals, a question looms: are your app marketing strategies truly reaching them or simply blending into the holiday noise?
The holidays present a unique opportunity for app marketers to make memorable connections. Yet, this season also brings heightened competition, rising media costs, and shifting user behaviors. Campaigns must be more than just timely—they must be insightful, adaptive, and prepared to navigate the complexities of mobile advertising in a saturated landscape.
In this guide, we unwrap the holiday app marketing dos and don’ts, revealing strategies from decades of experience in reaching and resonating with users. Let’s dive in to make this holiday season your most impactful yet.
Common Mistakes in Holiday App Marketing Campaigns
The holiday season brings both opportunity and competition to new heights. To avoid blending into the holiday rush, it’s essential to steer clear of common pitfalls. Here are some of the key mistakes marketers make—and how to avoid them.
1) Missing Out on Retargeting Opportunities
As the holiday season drives an unprecedented surge in mobile activity, app marketers can be tempted to focus on the excitement of acquiring new users. But with so much attention on fresh audiences, one essential strategy often slips through the cracks: retargeting.
Re-engaging past users, especially those who have shown interest but didn’t convert, can deliver a more substantial return than casting a wide net. Imagine a user who added items to a cart last year but never completed the purchase—targeting them with a limited-time holiday discount could make all the difference. Retargeting isn’t just an option; it’s a missed opportunity if overlooked.
If you’re unsure whether to focus on user acquisition (UA) or retargeting (RT) for your holiday campaign, it’s worth evaluating the strengths and contexts of each approach. To help guide your decision, explore our detailed comparison in Retargeting vs. User Acquisition: Which Strategy Suits Your Next Campaign?
2) Getting Tempted to do Broad Targeting
Another common pitfall? Broad, untailored targeting. While the reach of mobile advertising is vast, relying on sweeping demographic segments during the holidays can lead to missed connections and underwhelming performance.
Tailored, hyper-personalized ads are the name of the game, especially in a period when ad spaces are hotly contested, and only the most relevant messages cut through the clutter. Broad targeting may increase your exposure, but it won’t necessarily engage users in a way that translates to value.
3) Ignoring Seasonal Messaging
The holiday season also calls for a shift in tone and messaging. Yet, many brands overlook seasonal messaging altogether, failing to account for the unique needs and shifting demographics of holiday shoppers.
For example, a brand that typically caters to younger audiences may not consider that holiday gift-givers could fall into entirely different demographics, like Gen X may be buying gifts for Gen Alphas. Missing this nuance means missing out on potential sales from gift-focused buyers, and the solution is simple: tailor your creative assets to fit holiday themes and diverse buyer personas.
4) Overestimating Exposure without Adjusting Budgets
Finally, there’s the assumption that more exposure equals more conversions. It’s a season when everyone’s vying for user attention, which means media costs skyrocket. Without thoughtful budget allocation, pouring ad-spend into top-tier placements can quickly exhaust resources, leaving limited room for testing and optimization.
A more effective approach involves identifying strategic pockets of lower-cost ad inventory and balancing a variety of ad formats, from video to banner, to maximize engagement without breaking the bank.
Strategies for a Standout Holiday Marketing Campaign
The holiday season offers app marketers unique opportunities to engage users in meaningful ways. Here’s how to maximize this high-stakes period with targeted, strategic approaches.
1) Personalized Retargeting with Seasonal Bundles
To stand out during the holidays, personalized retargeting campaigns are essential. Tailoring offers to individual users with time-sensitive holiday bundles or product-specific incentives is a proven way to drive engagement.
Using Dynamic Product Ads (DPA), marketers can retarget users with ads that align with their browsing history, showcasing the items they’ve shown interest in or abandoned in the cart. Holiday-themed discounts and exclusive bundles add urgency, making it more likely users will take action. This kind of hyper-personalized retargeting strengthens loyalty and ensures your app remains top-of-the-mind for holiday purchases.
2) Data-Driven Strategy for Optimized Ad Timings
As ad costs surge during the holidays, timing becomes as important as the message. By analyzing historical data, marketers can identify optimal windows for ad placements, targeting periods of lower competition and CPMs.
Look for “pockets” of time when CPMs drop—whether during certain days of the week, times of day, or weeks when user engagement remains strong but competition lessens. This allows for smarter budget allocation and ensures ads are shown when they’re most likely to capture attention without burning through your holiday budget. A data-driven approach to timing can help you maximize reach and efficiency.
3) Keep Audience Lists Up to Date for Better Reach
Audience lists can go stale quickly, especially during seasons of high device turnover. New phones and devices flood the market, meaning older user data may be less relevant. Refreshing audience lists helps keep campaigns accurate and effective, ensuring your ads reach active devices. Consider updating these lists more frequently during the holiday season, and leverage machine learning tools to identify new users and their devices in real-time. With accurate, refreshed data, your holiday campaigns will hit their intended targets, improving match rates and boosting overall campaign effectiveness.
4) Flexible KPI Setting and Funnel Focus
During the holiday season, flexible KPI-setting is vital to measuring immediate success. Instead of focusing solely on conversions or deep-funnel metrics like Day 7 or Day 30 purchases, prioritize upper-funnel indicators such as app installs or ad engagement rates. These metrics give a clearer picture of real-time campaign performance.
Using DSPs like Aarki, you can track how users progress through the funnel, helping you refine strategies and optimize budgets for deeper engagement. Shifting KPIs allows for a more adaptable approach, ensuring your campaigns capture holiday attention and lead users toward conversion over time.
5) Capitalizing on the Post-Holiday Period (‘Q5’)
The holiday season may wind down, but marketing opportunities don’t end there. Enter “Q5”—the post-holiday period from late December to mid-February, where CPMs drop significantly. This quieter period is a golden window to reach users at a fraction of the cost, making it ideal for extending campaign momentum into Q1.
Users are still active, often with new devices in hand, so tapping into this period allows you to secure
additional installs and conversions. With reduced competition and lower ad costs, Q5 is an ideal time to optimize campaign budgets and continue engaging users even after the holiday frenzy.
Keep Your Holiday Marketing Momentum Going
As you gear up for the holiday season, don’t let a single metric bog you down—broaden your approach to see the complete picture. While conversions and ROI are vital, upper-funnel metrics like engagement rates can reveal immediate wins that set the stage for long-term success.
Keep the momentum going beyond Q4. Many campaigns taper off after the holiday rush, but continuing strong into Q1 can yield significant rewards. Capitalize on the post-holiday period when competition dips and CPMs fall, ensuring your campaigns maintain traction when others slow down.
Lastly, remember that every DSP brings unique strengths. A strategy that works seamlessly on one may not perform as well on another. Tailor your approach to fit the specific features and advantages of each platform—because, in holiday marketing, a one-size-fits-all strategy fits no one.Ready to make the most of your holiday campaign? Partner with a team that understands the intricacies of strategic holiday marketing. Get in touch with Aarki to elevate your campaigns and turn holiday insights into year-round growth.
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