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The brands that will crush it in Q4 are the ones who treat August and September like it's the most important marketing month of their year because it kind of is. Hey friend, welcome back to In the Elements. I'm Alicia Egenhoff, digital ad strategist, mentor, and the heart behind social elements marketing. Around here we talk about marketing, motherhood, and what it really looks like to build a business while also being a human with limited time, energy, and capacity. I'm going to tell you something that seems slightly obvious, but most business owners will actually completely ignore this. And that is that the busiest time in the ad space is Q4. Everyone is fighting for attention during the holidays, which means ad costs go up significantly. But here is actually what most people don't realize is that if you are waiting until October to even start thinking about Q4, you have already lost the advantage because the brands that actually win in Q4 are the ones who started planning back in August. And honestly, that planning should have started even earlier, like July and June. So today I'm talking about why August is your competitive advantage, what to do right now to prepare, and how to actually crush Q4 without burning through your entire ad budget fighting for space. I have been in marketing for almost 15 years. I've watched this industry shift from print to digital. And one thing that has never changed is this the prepared win and the unprepared scramble. Let me just give you an honest reality of what happens in Q4. Everyone wants to run ads during the holidays. Like every brand, you know this, every brand, every business owner, every competitor you have, they are all showing up in November and December and they are ready to play, which sounds great, right? More customers are shopping because it's the busiest time of the year for shopping. But here's what that actually means for you. It means that your ad costs are going to skyrocket. We're talking 25 to 40% increases, depending on your industry, just because of seasonality. And that's on top of whatever else is happening. Black Friday and Cyber Monday, those are the most expensive days of the year for advertising. Like we're talking double or triple your normal costs. So if you're normally paying $10 per click, you might be paying $20 or $30 in November and December. And if you don't have your ads already tested and optimized before that happens, you're going to be paying those inflated prices while you're still figuring out what actually works for your business. Not a great scenario to be in. But here's where the strategy comes in. October is actually a really sweet spot. The costs are still very reasonable. People are starting to think about the holidays, but it's not crazy yet. You can run an awareness campaign and test your messaging before everything gets crazy expensive. And if you start even earlier, like now in August, you're building something really valuable. You're giving your ads time to run, time to be optimized, and time for meta to learn who your audience actually is. So by the time that November hits and everyone else is in panic mode and launching ads, yours are already warmed up. You've already got a warmed up audience. They're performing and they're optimized. That is the competitive advantage. You are not scrambling, you're not paying top dollar while you're testing, and you are already ahead of the game and winning. I'm gonna give you a real example for my own business right now. I work with an e-commerce brand. We're in August and we're already planning out all of our Q4 sales. We've already been planning this like for months. So our Black Friday campaigns, Christmas campaigns, it's actually they do a birthday sale in um the end of the year because that's when their anniversary is, like the whole thing. But we're not just planning the campaigns, we're also prepping the assets. So we are in the summertime, we're getting video shots done right now, we're getting product photos taken, we're building up the creative that's going to run for the next four months. And why are we doing this on August for something that doesn't happen until November and December? Because big brands have been doing this for years, like years and years and years, even when print was still a thing. Holiday photo shoots in July are completely normal practice in the industry because by the time the holidays actually come around, you don't want to be also scrambling to piece together your marketing assets. You want to be focused on managing the campaigns, you want to be focused on customer service, you want to be focused on that fulfillment, not trying to figure all the front end stuff out along the way. And you definitely don't want to be stressed trying to find product images or figure out what your messaging is going to be in the midst and chaos of holiday season when we're already stretched thin, both personally and professionally. So here's something I have learned through my years of marketing, and I've watched this industry completely transform. I started primarily as a marketing manager and we did a ton of print when I first started working in marketing. I'm talking like direct mail, print ads, like I'm talking phone book ads, guys. And that was like the game. But that world, while it's still there, it's not like it was. Digital is where it is at. And if you want to have an edge in Q4, getting online needs to happen now. Actually, yesterday. If you're not already online, if you don't have a website, you don't have that presence online, you need to get that online presence. And I'm not just talking about, you know, for ads, it's about having your whole online presence ready, your website optimized, your email list growing a way to capture emails, your social media has a presence, your messaging is super clear on who you're talking to, who your audience is. All of that takes time. And I realize that Q4 is like right around the corner. You can't build that in October or even in November when you're already trying to figure out everything else. You need to be building that now in a potentially quieter season for your business when you have that mental space to actually think strategically instead of reactively. And if you're thinking, oh my gosh, there's no way I can do any of that right now, like, or have that even remotely ready before Q4, then I just want to take it back a step and let you know that this is a good time to start, even still, so that next year when Q4 rolls around, you can be completely ready and set up to go. So let's talk about what actually needs to happen between now and Q4 before it hits. So, first, your strategy. You need to sit down and decide what you're selling in Q4, what are your promotions? What are your sales? What products or services are you going to be pushing during that time? If you're an e-commerce business, when is Black Friday? When is Cyber Monday? What are you going to be doing on those days to have that competitive advantage online? And then write it out, get super clear on it, and even do some research on like your competitors. Like, what did they do last year? What could you do this year? Anyways, second, your assets start gathering or creating that content that you're going to need now. I'm talking like product photos, videos, testimonials, anything that's going to live in your ads or on your landing pages or even on your website during that time. This is the time to do photo shoots if you need them. This is the time to create that content and to gather that social proof. Don't wait until October to figure it out. Like figure it out now. And then if you already have some of that stuff ready, like great. Third is that your tech stack. Make sure that your website is ready. Does it function on mobile? Make sure your email marketing is set up. Is it like, do you have a funnel to collect email addresses? And then what happens after you collect an email address? Make sure any conversion tracking that you have set up is working properly. I'm talking about like Google Analytics and MetaPixel tracking. And if you listen to episode 17, you already know that this matters, but make sure it's all in place before Q4 hits and that it's working properly. And then fourth, your audience building. You have October and early November to build out that email list to grow your followers and warm up your retargeting audience. This is the audience that is most likely going to buy from you, not a cold audience because they already know who you are, and this is gonna be a great audience to have set up before you launch or do anything in Q4. So do that now. Build out your list, get people on your email, and create those retargeting audiences because by the time November, December hits and things get crazy, those audiences are going to be ready to convert. Here's how I like to think about Q4 in advertising strategically, not just like frantically. Phase one is really it's July through September. I realize we're in August, and that's your strategy and asset prep. This is what we're talking about right now. And then phase two is October, where we're building our audience and our awareness and getting them warm and ready. And then we're also running ads that are about getting in front of new people to build up that audience. We're getting those retargeting pixels firing and don't worry about immediate sales yet. Worry about like getting people into your funnel, and then when Q like four really hits off in November, December, you're gonna launch like retargeting and email campaigns and all this stuff to that audience that's gonna be more likely to buy, if that makes sense. And then phase three, November, this is when you pivot to that conversion, Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales, these are all about getting that warmed up audience ready to convert. And then by December, this is like the last push. People are still shopping, your ads are still performing, and you can recapture some of those last-minute gift buyers. And it doesn't matter what industry, you could be a service-based industry and still be running sales and campaigns in Q4, like you're a spa, a med spa, or something like that. You could have some really great offers running that people will buy as like gifts or even for themselves. So just because you're a service-based industry or an e-commerce industry, it doesn't matter. You can still be running sales. I've even seen ads managers like me run sales over Black Friday because it's the time of year that everybody's thinking about spending money and doing things, and there's some really great deals out there. But here's the key: if you don't do phase one and two, phase three and four are going to be expensive and underwhelming, honestly, because you have to build up that audience, you have to have the strategy in place, it takes time. I've said that before. So, really, phase one and two are key to making this work. And I want to point something out that might feel a little counterintuitive. Most business owners think Q4 is about running ads. They wait until it's super busy and then they panic and they launch. But actually, Q4 is one back in September. It's one now, it's like one in the planning, the preparation, in the boring quiet work that nobody sees months before the holidays actually hit. And the brands that will crush it in Q4 are the ones who treat August and September like it's the most important marketing month of their year because it kind of is. Okay, so my advice to you pick one thing this week and do it. It's still August. You have time. It could be mapping out your Q4 calendar. It could be, is it, you know, scheduling a product photo or video shoot because you don't have those assets, or even making sure your email marketing is fully set up and working, checking your conversion tracking, just you know, pick one thing, don't overwhelm yourself and start there and then next week pick the next thing. And then by the time that September hits, you're going to be so far ahead of everyone else that's going to feel unfair to them. And I like I said, I've been doing this for years. I've watched the marketing landscape shift completely, but the one thing that's never changed is this the prepared will win in Q4. In print, in digital, and every channel in between the business owners who thought ahead, who planned, who prepared, they always came out on top. So Q4 is your opportunity to show that you are different, that you're strategic, and that you are thinking ahead. And honestly, your competitors are probably not there yet unless they're some sort of big brand. So I know not everyone has a time or a bandwidth to do all of this on their own. And some of you are already overwhelmed by marketing. Some of you are probably juggling a million and one things, and some of you know you need help but you're not sure where to start. That is where I come in at Social Elements Marketing. I work with business owners who want to actually win in the ad space in Q4 without losing their minds and sanity in the process. And I handle the strategy, the ads, the optimization, and the creative planning. So you can focus on what you do best running your business. If you are interested in having a conversation about what your Q4 could look like with the right strategy and support, I would love to talk to you. You can find all the information about working with me on my website at socialelements.com and feel free to reach out through my website. I personally answer and look at every email and inquiry. I don't want you to leave this conversation feeling anxious about Q4 or panicking. I want you to feel smart and prepared. So start now. Plan, use the phases that I listed out, and by the time everyone else is scrambling in October and November, you're going to be executing a plan that actually works. If you want to stay connected, I'd love to have you on my email list. I send two to four emails a month with honest thoughts on marketing, motherhood, and building a business that fits your real life. You can join through the link in the show notes. Thank you for spending time with me in the elements. Until next time, keep building with intention and give yourself grace as you grow.