As we approach the end of Q4 and prepare for Q1, it's a critical time for lead generation brands to consider how seasonality impacts their paid media strategy—particularly in paid search. While this discussion will focus primarily on paid search, the same approach applies across other channels. Paid search was chosen because, even though it’s one of the most bottom-funnel channels in a digital mix, the intent of hand-raisers can vary significantly throughout the year, creating opportunities to adjust budgets and strategies accordingly. By understanding these seasonal shifts, lead gen brands can fine-tune their approach to ensure efficient budget use and a sustained presence, avoiding overspending during low-intent periods.
In planning for seasonality, it’s essential to draw insights from multiple data sources to validate seasonal trends and understand their impact on customer behavior. Making informed decisions requires a commitment to continuous testing and adjustments based on real-time results, allowing brands to refine their strategy and optimize budget allocation over time.
Analyzing Search Demand Trends for Your Industry
A great and easy place to start when planning seasonal budget adjustments is to see how the industry trends overall by month based on paid search keyword fluctuations. Reviewing a period of at least 24 months should reveal if clear seasonal trends exist. Utilizing third-party data provides a valuable temperature check that isn’t influenced by your own performance metrics, which can fluctuate due to unrelated factors. This objective view helps identify true seasonal trends, allowing for a more informed approach to budget planning and strategy adjustments. Various tools, such as SEMRush, AHrefs, and Google Keyword Planner, offer month-by-month search volume estimates for keywords, which can be analyzed collectively to reveal seasonal trends within a specific topic or segment. While the precise numbers may vary and should not be taken as exact figures, the goal is to uncover overarching patterns and shifts in search demand.
Validating and Aligning Industry Trends with Your Performance
When validating industry trends against your own performance, begin by examining top-of-funnel metrics like impressions and clicks to observe how activity varies month by month. While these figures may be impacted by budget or strategy shifts, tracking changes in click-through rates (CTR) can reveal whether prospects are actively seeking solutions at different times. Additionally, monitor softer conversion metrics—such as PDF downloads, email signups, and interactions with interactive tools like calculators—to gauge initial engagement and interest levels.
To gain a deeper understanding of seasonal effectiveness, analyze conversion volume and rates within channels like paid search to identify months of higher impact. Comparing bottom-funnel metrics, like lead gen form submission rates and associated costs, helps reveal how intent fluctuates. For instance, if search demand remains steady during the holidays but conversion rates dip, it may be wise to scale back certain ad investments during this period, reallocating the budget to times when CPAs are more favorable. This data-driven approach ensures budgets are efficiently aligned with periods of higher conversion potential.
A Closer Look at Leveraging Lead Quality Analysis to Capitalize on High-Intent Periods
When analyzing seasonal patterns, it's crucial to understand how periods of high search intent often correlate with increased engagement from key and strategic accounts. Our analysis showed that when industry-wide search volume peaked, it's typically because companies are actively in research and purchase mode—creating prime opportunities to engage high-value prospects.
This alignment between high search intent and strategic account activity isn't coincidental. When entire industries enter their buying cycles, decision-makers at key accounts are more likely to actively research solutions and submit lead forms. By tracking historical data of when strategic accounts are most engaged and overlaying this with broader search intent data, we can identify optimal periods for scaling up budget investment.
For example, if historical data shows that Q2 consistently delivers both high search volumes and increased engagement from strategic accounts, this presents a clear opportunity to scale up budget allocation. Conversely, periods showing lower search intent typically correspond with reduced strategic account activity, signaling times to reduce spend (like during the holidays) strategically.
Utilize Audience Segmentation for Strategic Budget Shifts
One of the key strategies for seasonal budget adjustments is selective audience segmentation and targeted budget reductions where conversion potential is lower.
- Avoiding a “Go Dark” Approach: While it may be tempting to pause campaigns in lower-demand periods, going completely dark often results in missed opportunities to stay top-of-mind with audiences. Instead, consider which segments may warrant reduced investment, while maintaining a presence with high-value, targeted audiences.
- High-Intent Keywords and Audiences: Focus on keywords and audiences likely to drive high intent, even during seasonal lulls. For example, search terms related to "solutions" or "service providers" may remain relevant for lead gen audiences, as these searches may be prospects raising their hand very high in looking for solutions.
- Brand vs. Non-Brand Strategies: Depending on the season, brand-focused campaigns may warrant a different approach from non-brand efforts. Brand campaigns can maintain visibility, familiarity and countering competitor conquesting, while non-brand efforts might be scaled back during lower-demand periods if budget constraints are a factor.
The Q4 Effect: Increased Competition and Focus on Shopping
During Q4, many brands compete for consumer attention, which can result in higher costs for paid media placements. For lead gen brands, this often means facing elevated costs due to lower conversion intent in their audience, who may be more focused on shopping rather than lead-gen offers. Like preparing and shopping for the holidays, summer months can also have more competition in concentration focus with lower conversion intent (and rates).
At Chartis, we understand that strategic seasonal adjustments are crucial to delivering cost-effective, impactful paid media campaigns that make the most of our clients’ annual budgets. By implementing flexible budgeting, we ensure a portion of media spend remains adaptable, allowing shifts based on real-time performance and seasonal insights. Through continuous optimization, we monitor trends and adjust targeting or messaging as seasonal changes evolve, ensuring our clients stay aligned with current demand.
We take a data-driven approach, leveraging insights from search, CRM, and audience data to continuously refine seasonal strategies. This multi-channel, data-informed methodology not only improves budget efficiency but also maximizes ROI across the year. With our focus on strategic adaptation, Chartis helps clients navigate seasonal highs and lows, ultimately positioning them for consistent success and growth.
