For digital marketers, January can feel like a strange in-between month. The holiday rush is over, budgets are resetting, and consumers are emerging from their seasonal spending sprees.
It’s a slower pace, but this makes it the perfect opportunity to roll up your sleeves and try something new with your ads.
Here’s why January makes the perfect testing ground for digital advertising and how you can make the most of it.
Lower Competition = Lower Costs
Post-holiday, many advertisers scale back their spending. With fewer brands fighting for attention, CPCs and CPMs often take a noticeable dip. This drop creates the ideal environment to test different ad formats, creative angles, or bidding strategies without draining your budget.
For example, you may find it’s the perfect time to test broad match keywords or explore audience expansion tools without the pressure of high costs. If a test doesn’t perform well, you’re not spending as much as you would in peak periods like Q4.
Consumers Now Have ‘New Year, New Me’ Goals
January audiences are unique. People are reflecting on resolutions, new habits, and fresh starts. This mindset makes them more open to discovering products or services that align with these goals.
If you’ve ever wanted to test messaging that focuses on self-improvement or future planning, now’s your moment. For example, instead of pushing discounts, try emphasizing long-term value or benefits. A/B test ads that focus on different emotions—like security vs. ambition—to see what resonates with your audience in this reflective season.
Pro Tip for Health and Wellness Brands: January is your spotlight moment. People are actively seeking ways to kickstart healthier routines. Highlight how your product or service makes it easier to stick to their goals.
For example, use testimonials that show real, achievable progress or create ads that position your brand as their partner in transformation, whether it's fitness equipment, meal plans or supplements. Now is also the perfect time to test lead-generation campaigns offering free resources like workout guides or meal prep templates to build your audience for the rest of the year.
Fresh Data for Fresh Strategies
New year, new analytics! See what we there?
As January rolls in, you should have a wealth of performance data from Q4 campaigns. Use this data as a foundation to set up experiments.
Here’s how:
Audience Segments: Which demographics drove the most sales during the holidays? Test campaigns targeted at lookalike audiences built from those high-performing groups.
Best Performers: If certain ad types dominated during the holidays (e.g., video ads or carousel ads), now’s a great time to iterate and experiment further.
Underperformers: Flip the script. Use January to retest or refine strategies that didn’t work as well in Q4.
New Tools to Play With
Ad platforms often push out updates and features in late Q4. By January, you can fully explore these tools without the chaos of holiday deadlines.
For example, Meta’s Advantage+ campaigns or TikTok Search Ads are excellent tools to experiment with in January when there’s room to tweak and learn. Want to test the effectiveness of Performance Max campaigns on Google? Now’s your chance to analyze without the distraction of peak-season metrics.
Set the Stage for the Year Ahead
Experimenting now isn’t just about immediate wins; it’s also about setting yourself up for success later. Testing your creatives, audiences, and strategies in January gives you insights you can carry into busier months.
For example:
If you discover that responsive search ads are driving better CTRs in January, you’ll be confident scaling them during high-stakes periods.
If broad match keywords underperform, you can adjust your keyword strategy before the next big campaign cycle.
Tips for Running Experiments in January:
Limit Variables: Stick to testing one variable at a time, like headlines, creatives, or audience targeting to pinpoint what’s working.
Focus on Metrics Beyond ROI: Instead of obsessing over ROAS, track softer metrics like CTRs, engagement rates, or time on site. These can indicate what’s working and what isn’t.
Document Everything: Keep detailed notes of what you tested, when, and the results. Doing this will help you replicate successes later or avoid repeating mistakes.
Final Words
January isn’t just about coasting on the holiday afterglow. It’s the ideal time to work on your ad strategies, test out-of-the-box ideas, and lay the groundwork for a successful year ahead.
Lower competition, reflective audiences, and fresh tools all make this month a playground for experimentation.
So, what are you going to test this January?
SO, WHERE DO YOU FIND THIS PARTNER?
Well, aren’t we glad you asked! We at DigiCom are obsessive data-driven marketers pulling from multi-disciplinary strategies to unlock scale. We buy media across all platforms and placements and provide creative solutions alongside content creation, and conversion rate optimizations. We pride ourselves on your successes and will stop at nothing to help you grow.
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