If you’re selling online media, you better start watching the weather forecast. Online Media Daily tells us that paid-search marketing clicks and revenue increase during inclement weather; but it seems like adjusting any of your online media for those shoppers stuck inside would be a safe bet.
“In the Northeast last year, it snowed during the most important retail shopping weekend of the year,” but PM Digital’s clients experienced a 30% increase in sales. “They attribute it, in part, to following weather patterns and bringing the information to ‘landlocked consumers.’” PM Digital tracks weather-related spending for its search clients and recommends acting fast to capture spikes in online traffic due to a rainy day.
Suzy Sandberg, PM Digital president, explains, “You have to push bids higher to catch as many clicks as you can,” because online bids are impulsive. “Rain is a little trickier than snow. We have clients that market in Japan during the June rainy season that do incredibly well with paid-search ads.”
Now — “only about a week into September, the weather has begun to raise the needle for some women’s clothing lines.”
And here are some tips on planning ahead for next August’s back-to-school season. PM Digital estimates that “marketers spent about 68% more on paid-search advertising in August 2010 compared with the same month the prior year. Clicks and conversions also rose.”
According to Online Media Daily, “The sales metrics of order volume and revenue were generally higher in the latter 1/2 of August, with the peak date falling on Monday, Aug. 16. While the 1st 1/2 of the month had several days with above-average sales, all 3 of the top sales days came later in the month. Mondays tend to skew higher. Vacation time continued its uptick. Paid-search spend for August rose early in the week, and dropped lower late in the week. All 3 top days for paid-search spend fell on Monday, and all had very similar indexes. The highest peak in clicks for August fell on Monday, Aug. 2.”
[Source: Sullivan, Laurie. "Paid-Search Marketing Changes with the Weather." MediaPost's Online Media Daily. Sept. 8, 2010.]
Friday, Sep 10, 2010
Courtney Huckabay