
When the sun goes down
Evenings are a really important time to factor into the marketing schedule, particularly from a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) perspective. The PPC pricing model is based around an auction system; generally, the more competition there is advertising on a keyword, the more expensive the click. Therein lies an opportunity. PPC budgets are set daily, and they can often become exhausted by the evening if day-parting – the process of dividing the day into several parts and providing unique programming during each – isn’t applied. This means the evenings can be an extremely efficient time to advertise, as exhausted budgets means lower competition, and lower competition means cheaper costs-per-click. Across some of our clients, we see the evening cost-per-click as much as 50 per cent lower than the middle of the day. However, it’s important to understand how purchase intent and internet usage differs at different times of the day. Just because people are connected on their devices, doesn’t mean they are looking to take the action you want them to take.Carrying out a strategic audit
The starting point is to use data to understand behavioural differences. Here is a snapshot of real data from a piece of work we carried out:- White represents the standard average daily budget;
- Red represents when we should spend less than the average; and
- Green represents when we should spend more than the average.
Easy like a Sunday morning
While Sunday is regarded as the day of rest, it’s no time to relax your marketing activities. Sunday mornings are particularly great with low competition and high conversion rates but beware of the impact of the weather.Embracing another dimension of marketing
Successful marketing does not happen through sheer coincidence. You have to use data and insights from hourly device and network data, coupled with the knowledge that evenings are generally lower cost than daytimes. The flexibility of modern PPC platforms gives you the ability to employ strategies that will reach the right people, at the right time, on the right devices. It’s time to accept the ‘dark side’ of marketing and build in sundown strategies that make the most of the ‘Twilight Zone’. Tom Smith is director of search at Fast Web Media. Image sourceShare this story