The Frequency Funnel: How we scale brands in Q4

The majority of eCom brands approach Q4 by playing the “persuasion game”.

They focus on “convincing” people to buy with sales tactics like flashy deals, discounts, scarcity, etc.

Those things have their place… but they’re not the biggest lever you can pull during this season.

Because during sales periods, people aren’t just looking for the best deals.

They are looking for the best deals from brands they’re familiar with.

Think about it like this.

You're deciding between 2 brands offering similar products.

One brand you've seen before and trust.

The other you're encountering for the first time.

You'll probably go with the familiar one… even if the unknown brand offers a slightly better deal.

In other words:

Trust decides where the money goes

And the most important thing you can do during Q4 is to maximize how often people see your products with the right messaging

Yet so many brands ignore this during their biggest sales period of the year.

Meanwhile, shoppers are getting hundreds of other offers from 5 different channels.

That leaves a wide open lane for smart brands to exploit.

If your product shows up five to seven times that same week…

You’ll completely blow your competitors out of the water.

Now, here's where it gets interesting.

There's a method we’re using for some clients using YouTube that capitalizes on this.

We call it the Frequency Funnel.

It works in 3 phases:

Phase 1: Pre-BFCM brand building

A few weeks before Black Friday hits, we launch YouTube Ads targeting colder audiences.

The main objective is lead generation.

We're generating buzz and awareness... getting people familiar with your brand and what's coming.

We also set up dedicated early access landing pages where people can sign up for exclusive VIP access to your biggest deals.

Think of it like planting seeds that'll grow into sales during the actual event.

This phase builds the foundation and the remarketing lists that will pay off during phases 2 and 3.

Phase 2: BFCM frequency blitz

During the BFCM week, we shift gears completely.

Now we're running non-skippable 6s and 15s YouTube Ads to those warmed-up audiences from Phase 1.

We set up Reach campaigns... the kind that guarantee people actually see your message.

Here's the key:

We don't optimize for sales. We optimize for frequency.

We tell Google: "Show this ad to these people X times this week."

We want to own the most mental real estate during this period.

Funnily enough, this is how you generate more sales.

When they finally decide to buy, your brand comes to mind first.

The beauty of this approach is that you avoid the expensive auctions where everyone is bidding for conversions.

While competitors are fighting over conversion placements... you're buying cheaper reach inventory and showing up way more often.

That way, you can afford to show up multiple times without burning through the budget.

It also works extremely well with your Search & Shopping campaigns.

Because you'll get more people searching for your brand name when they're ready to buy.

Phase 3: Post-BFCM second chance

Here's where most brands leave money on the table.

After BFCM ends, we launch "delayed gratification" campaigns retargeting everyone who visited during the sale but didn't buy.

People get busy during the holidays. Items get left in carts. Decisions get delayed.

So we hit them with a "last chance" offer on a dedicated post-BFCM landing page.

It's a simple message: "Couldn't snag our Black Friday deal? Here's a special post-BFCM coupon just for you."

This squeezes extra revenue from traffic you already paid for.

If you want our team to set all this up for you and start building a smart Q4 system that gets you more sales and makes every dollar of ad spend worth more…

Click here to book a call with us. 

We'll walk you through how we can make that happen.

Jackson

Founder and CEO of Echelonn.

How we can help:

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