Marketers and entrepreneurs usually divide the year in 4 parts — these quarters are referred to as Q1 through 4. However, there is a seemingly paradoxical fifth hidden quarter — Q5. This is how they call the post-Christmas season up until mid-January. Q4 is all about spending the leftovers of the yearly budget on advertising and hitting hard on e-commerce due to the concentrated sales+holiday season. The following Q5 seems like it has to be a slowdown for shoppers and a rather uneventful time for marketers, but has it really? Let us dig deeper and unravel the hidden tendencies that reign on the market when all the gift exchange is over and it’s time to finally relax.
Where should you turn?
As it follows, e-commerce is dropping as your audience have already bought all the things they wanted for the holidays. People have received their gifts and are spending their days off in blissful relaxation: watching movies, reading books, playing games, brushing up on forgotten skills and hobbies.
This means that Q5 is a powerful time for anything digital, especially all things mobile (because we want to be comfy, right?).
- Invest your energy in promoting gaming apps and streaming subscriptions as people will love to catch up on the latest games and series while they have the time.
- Fitness apps and courses are a great hit for the «after-holiday over-indulgence remorse». They will need to get back in shape after all the celebrations.
- Educational courses are just the thing for such a season when your audience has more time than usual. The new year’s resolutions to be a better version of yourself coupled with the holidays bring many leads to education offers.
- Local travel: the travel vertical is not fully back yet, as the restriction measures still impede international flights. Most people prefer to spend their spare time at home, but those who crave a bit of action will likely choose some local destinations. Keep that in mind while driving traffic to travel offers in the near future.
- Rule of thumb: the more accessible your content is – the better it converts. Push on anything in-app. It is much easier to download a dozen new apps while you are lying snugly on a couch than to get up and sit in front of a PC.
Swords up, shields down
As the big boys (the international corporations with huge ad budgets) are crunching their Christmas numbers, catch the audience while it’s hot.
Pick a vertical and a GEO, but bear in mind that in some countries people go on holidays from the 1st January and not after the 25th of December. If you start too early, you risk losing potential profit from the last days of the sales period.
Research creative angles and ideas for in-app campaigns. There will be a drop in CPM prices after the sales, as most advertisers will have closed the accounting period and will resume their usual spending habits.
If you still wish to run e-commerce, it’s not a problem at all. But your main focus should shift from «gifts for friends, family, and colleagues» to «treat yourself, you deserve it». At the beginning of a new year, we are bound to re-evaluate our life, general situation, the things we have or don’t have. It’s the perfect time to finally get something you have wanted for a long time, bring your fresh resolutions to life (fitness and beauty products).
Whatever your course of action for this Q5 is, be sure to analyze the audience, do your research on their preference, and prepare the most fitting creatives. Don’t forget, that Q5 is the time for mobile devices, so tread wisely.
If you want to reach new GEOs and audiences, maybe it is all waiting for you on Telegram? We’ve prepared some material about Telegram audiences. What are the messenger’s users like this year? How old they are, what they do, and what they are interested in!
