Q4 can create some of the biggest opportunities of the year, but more traffic, deeper discounts, and bigger budgets do not automatically mean more profit.
For episode 300, Smart Marketer CMO John Grimshaw and Smart Marketer Agency CEO Pep Hufen break down what ecommerce brands should be thinking about as they plan their holiday strategy.
John shares lessons pulled from Black Friday 2025 performance across Smart Marketer Agency clients, including when different customers actually buy, why deeper discounts can hurt more than help, how gifting can increase perceived value without giving away margin, and why your holiday sales page may not be the best destination for cold traffic.
Then Pep takes it into paid media and planning, covering how to set monthly targets, when higher CPMs may still make sense, how aggressively to scale spend during promotional windows, why underspending can hurt your bottom line, and which evergreen campaigns should stay running throughout Q4.
As John puts it:
“If you open and close and open and close and open and close the exact same offer, you haven’t created scarcity. You have created a lie.”
You Will Learn
- Why Q4 promotions should be built in distinct phases
- How different customer types shop at different points in the holiday season
- Why some brands should shift more budget into late December instead of Black Friday
- Why free gifts can outperform deeper discounts at higher cart thresholds
- How to protect margin while increasing perceived offer value
- Why cold traffic may perform better on evergreen product and collection pages
- How to warm up your email list before major promotional windows
- Why plain text emails can still be powerful during Q4
- How to set monthly revenue, ROAS, spend, and profitability targets
- When increasing ad spend can produce more total profit even at lower margins
- Why evergreen ads should stay live during Black Friday and holiday promotions
- How AI can support reporting, forecasting, creative analysis, and inventory tracking
Links & Resources
- Free AppLovin Ads Masterclass: Get free access here
- Growth OS powered by Gary: https://smartmarketer.com/growthos/
- Smart Marketer: smartmarketer.com
- Smart Marketer Free Trainings & Resources: smartmarketer.com/free-resources
- Smart Marketer Agency: smartmarketeragency.com
- Mentor Table: smartmarketer.com/mentor-table
- Omnisend Sponsor Offer: smartmarketer.com/omnisend
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