‘Twas six months before Christmas, when all through the land, Marketers were thinking how to get the upper hand; Now is the time Christmas campaigns need your care, Because the end of year rush soon would be here; As campaign questions and ideas swirl around your head, Let AdRoll’s APAC MD, Ben Sharp put all your fears to bed; With guides on best practice, tips and tricks, Right here is where you’ll find your Christmas marketing fix.

1. Time flies when you’re having fun

The second half of the year always goes so quickly and Aussies begin their Christmas shopping early, which means your campaigns should launch by mid-October. Start planning your creative and media spend now so it’s ready to go!

2. Keep your creative fresh

Avoid ad fatigue this Christmas by updating your creative once or twice a month. Updates don’t have to be major just try tweaking the original concept with news colours, border, images or buttons.

3. ‘Tis the age of data. Embrace it!

Check last years data. Might seem like an obvious one but looking at last year’s most popular products or colours in ads that performed the best can help you make informed marketing decisions.

4. It might be warm in December but that doesn’t stop code freeze

Most digital properties have a code freeze during Christmas to prevent bugs shutting down sites and effecting sales. Make sure you place all the elements needed for your Christmas campaign before the unseasonable chill sets in!

5. Be social

No I’m not referring to hitting every Christmas party in ad land. Facebook and Instagram are no longer just for brand-awareness campaigns these social platforms drive some serious and measurable sales. Get amongst it!

6. Lights! Camera! Action!

Has the team been working on an awesome video ad? Now’s the time to make the most of it. Shoppers that check out your video are twice as likely to make a purchase compared to those who don’t.

7. Think like a customer

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Create smart segments and relevant, interesting content they’ll like! Remember that your customers don’t log into social media or surf the web to look at ads so to stand out make it special!

8. Personalise with a capital ‘P’

Remind them of that amazing pair of shorts for their brother or perfect book for mum with the most personalised ads available, dynamic creative. DC is a technology that allows you to serve unique ads to your customers based the actions they took on your site

9. Customers have an interest in Pinterest

A huge 59 per cent of Pinterest users purchase something, during the Christmas shopping period, that they saw on Pinterest. The community catalog site drives a higher average order value than any other social platform, including Facebook and Google.

10. Create a gift guide

Show off your products with a gift guide. Be bold and creative with how you display your products. Don’t be afraid to show your customers how to pull together gifts for different segments, we all need a little gift inspiration every now and again and the more inspiring and thoughtful your guide the more likely customers are to convert.

11. Make sure you’re mobile

The lead up to Christmas is often the most busy and stressful time of year for Aussies. We’re getting ready to go on holiday, trying wrap things up for the year with work, organising travel and purchasing gifts for family, colleagues and friends. Customers need to be able to access your site on the go so ensuring that your mobile site is in order is a non negotiable, especially considering a whopping 79 per cent of shoppers who have trouble with a website’s performance say they will not return again.

12. Plan for the increase in traffic