What’s your marketing plan for Q5 looking like? You do have one, right? Don’t worry, we hear you, we hear you. Well, according to Snap, Q5 is the period after Christmas till late January, when demand for ad inventory declines, but consumers are still looking for good deals. So no, while it has the same name as Qs 1 – 4, it’s not really a ‘Quarter’, at least not in the same sense.
As Snap explains:
“Beginning on the last shipping date before Christmas, this often-untapped moment follows the peak of the shopping season period. And as supply chain disruptions continue and consumers are increasingly looking for better deals during a time of economic uncertainty, earlier shopping is leading to earlier shipping.”
Q5
Another interesting thing to note is that Snap says that the Q5 period continues to expand each year, which does present a major opportunity for brands to tap into this key period. Snap even lists a semi-detailed timeline illustrating the Q5 timeline.
“Targeting Q5 doesn’t just mean brands save on their advertising budget – it also means they can reach much larger audiences. For example, Christmas Day sees a significant rise in mobile-device activation among Snapchatters, along with a surge in app installations to prepare for the new year. Q5 shows particularly high consumer intent around self-improvement, such as health, wellness, and fitness, finance, career and education, and hobbies.”
One of the charts Snap uses illustrates the general trend associated with Q5 – the cost of reach declines in the period after Christmas, while as Snap notes, there’s still a lot of consumer interest, which could be a valuable consideration for your approach. And if you’re considering the potential, Snap also provided these ‘Golden Rules’ of Q5 marketing:
- Diversify your ad formats – We know that multi-product campaigns drive better results. Use multi-format delivery to increase efficiency and improve performance.
- Take advantage of app installs reaching an all-time high during Q5 – Expand your targeting to reach new user demographics who might be looking for new apps for their “New year, new me — why not?” mindset.
- Let us do the heavy lifting for you – Use dynamic Auto-Bidding to help manage your campaigns throughout Q5.
- Measure what matters, iterate, and optimize – Find out what’s working with our measurement tools, test, learn, and optimize your ad campaigns to reach your goals.
The Wrap
It could be a good consideration for your approach, especially as Snap notes how high the number of people installing new apps and checking out new features in the holiday period. While the addition of an entire new quarter might sound spine-tingling for marketers, you can relax since it’s only a theoretical quarter, but it does make sense, and it also presents an opportunity that you might have been missing for years.
Sources