Expert Advice: Ad Spend Across the Holiday Season (TEMPLATE INCLUDED)

The marathon through the holiday season is here. Advertisers, how do you handle your ad budget during some of the most expensive periods of the year?

We brought together our team of AdRoll experts, who work with hundreds of advertising clients across industries. Here’s how they recommend you handle the holidays, whether you’re in B2B SaaS or B2C retail.

Holiday Ad Budget Template

If you want to follow along and plan your own budget with our advice, we've also created this downloadable holiday ad budget template for you:

Divide Your Budget Into Four Phases

Dallan Whatley, our Principal Agency Relationship Account Manager, suggested that advertisers should distribute their holiday budget in four phases: 

• Pre-launch (September-mid-October)

• Warm-up (early November)

• The main event (BFCM)

• Post-BFCM (December)

Pre-launch is for creating awareness and excitement. Through this period, run brand awareness campaigns to build hype — social ads are a good channel for pre-launch promotions.

Through the warm-up, start capturing leads and contacts with pre-launch promos and early access links. Display retargeting and email marketing are good ways to tap into audiences that are already aware of your brand and primed to buy during holiday sales.

BFCM weekend is go time, and that’s where advertisers should push the most budget across the funnel. Then, before the last ship date, keep the heat on: retarget your site visitors and offer last chance deals that create urgency.

When Black Friday Counts, Ramp Up to the Sale Week

For those of you who are counting on Cyber Week sales, don’t blow all your budget on Black Friday. 

Our Senior Customer Onboarding Manager Stephanie Funkhouser suggests an approach that prepares customers for the sale in October and November, then capitalizes on last-minute purchases after BFCM.

For the advice on her spend calendar: “I’ve split up this calendar assuming we have $10,000 from the end of September until the end of December, also assuming we know we are going to ramp heavily and run BFCM and Christmas promos.”

For Non-Retail Advertisers, Consider Other Sales Dates

Not every company will excel with BFCM campaigns, particularly if you’re not in the retail space. 

One of our Senior Account Managers, Sarah Nebelung, mentions that ad strategies for this season fluctuate for advertisers outside the retail vertical.

“For example, my non-profit client does not run any BFCM messaging, but does lean heavily into Giving Tuesday promotions,” she notes. “They then only focus on a Christmas Match that usually runs 12/1–12/25 and then an EOY Match that runs 12/26–12/31. 

“The EOY Match is typically where a majority of their media budget goes and where a majority of their donations come in, which is atypical compared to our generic retail customers.

With retail advertisers, she notes that sales “days” are becoming sales “weeks,” which shifts CPM for all industries.

Keep the Lights On for B2B Customers

B2B customers are still online during the holidays. In fact, many people will still work through the year, and some of them need to burn through their “use or lose” budgets.

Aja Quinn, our Senior Strategic Customer Success Manager, had advice for advertisers in B2B:

“We do not recommend strategy shifts or lowering budgets during this time as CPM costs typically increase. We do recommend increasing advertising spend, doubling down on the buyers you can’t afford to lose (such as the in-market/engaged audience). Advertising during the holidays is critical to maintain a healthy pipeline in the new year.”

Here were Aja’s holiday B2B tips:

1. Move budget to display to capture customers where they’re spending time during holidays 

2. Narrow your focus to most in-market accounts, but go broad with personas to target 

3. Leverage all ad sizes and formats available for even budget distribution — this is the most bang for your buck in Q4

4. Keep your reach constant by increasing spend 

Invest Hardest in Your Promotional Windows

Since most industries have their eyes on particular sales windows during the holiday season, this drives their pacing.

Our Senior Account Manager Candice Brogan notes that “many of [our] customers run a cadence of back-to-back promos, such as pre-Black Friday sales, Black Friday itself, Black Friday Extended, Cyber Monday, and Cyber Monday Extended.”

Candice knows that customers invest the most where conversion intent is at its peak — during their promotional windows. Then, they spread budget across the remaining days to maintain their competitive presence.

Start Prospecting Early

Each year, the push to Black Friday starts earlier. Big names like Amazon and Walmart are leading the charge with October sales. However, CPMs in October are still nowhere near their Thanksgiving-week peak.

Our Account Manager Julian Narvaez explained that pacing your ads with prospecting first is what wins customers over the holidays: “I typically recommend that BA/prospecting budgets be prioritized in late September and October to build up demand for the upcoming promotions. CPMs are also lower during this time frame, making reach more cost efficient. 

“Depending on the budget, I then advise clients to heavy up during the specific time frames during which their promos run while leaving enough remaining budget to keep a presence even during the after-holiday lull.”

Plan an Omnichannel Strategy for Your Industry

Our Agency Relationship Manager Andrina Fernandez gave her approach to holiday spending for a variety of industries and goals.

With her agency clients, plans are tailor-made: “For many, this means a shift from just thinking about retail and e-commerce to seeing the holiday season as a universal opportunity.”

This is how Andrina breaks it down for a few example industries:

1. “For e-commerce and retail brands, the strategy is clear: capitalize on the surge of shopping. I recommend they double down on brand awareness in early Q4 to build demand before the inevitable rise in CPMs. In December, they should then shift a significant portion of their budget to retargeting and dynamic product ads to capture high-intent shoppers as they make their final purchases. 

   We can create custom dynamic ads with banners that showcase snowflakes, red bows, or even Black Friday messaging. This is also the perfect time to leverage our Experian data to identify high-value shoppers, like those with a history of purchasing gifts, Black Friday shoppers, or even those who visited holiday sale locations during the holidays in 2024.

2. For financial and healthcare clients, the goal isn’t a quick sale but a long-term conversion. The holidays are an ideal time to run campaigns for end-of-year enrollments or to remind clients to use their remaining benefits. The messaging should focus on preparation and security for the new year, rather than urgency.

3. With non-profits, the focus is on end-of-year giving. I guide my agencies to run campaigns that highlight the impact of donations and make it easy for people to contribute while they're in a giving spirit. Why not? Everyone is online shopping anyway!”

Andrina also highlighted that regardless of industry, the omnichannel approach gives you a competitive edge. This year, holiday CTV is a strong choice of channel: “CTV is a great way to prime audiences for a later retargeting push on their mobile devices, where most holiday sales actually happen. Families are watching TV together with a mobile device in their hands.”

Need Help With Ad Strategy?

Andrina left us off with the reminder that planning for the holidays is easier with the experts: "I'm here to translate big-picture strategies into actionable plans, from identifying the right audiences to ensuring their creative assets are ready for the busiest time of the year."

We can help you fill in your holiday budget template with our managed services and create tailor-made plans for your upcoming promotions. Interested in getting started? Check out AdRoll.

Last updated on October 8th, 2025.