Most B2B marketers treat December like an extended holiday break. Budgets get slashed, campaigns go dark, and teams mentally clock out until January. But here’s what they’re missing: while your competitors are asleep, your ideal customers are still online—researching, planning, and preparing for the year ahead.
Staying active in December isn’t about chasing holiday sales. It’s about playing the long game: protecting your campaign momentum, capturing cheaper visibility, and setting yourself up to dominate in Q1.
TLDR
The Hidden Advantages of December Marketing
When half your competitors pause their campaigns, the auction dynamics shift in your favour. Fewer advertisers bidding means cost-per-clicks drop, sometimes significantly. Your budget suddenly goes further, reaching the same audience for less money.
Decision-makers may not be signing contracts in late December, but they’re absolutely still active. They’re catching up on industry reading, exploring solutions for next year’s challenges, and building their shortlists. If you’re not visible during this research phase, you won’t be remembered in January.
Here’s the part most marketers overlook: platforms like Google, Meta, and LinkedIn rely on continuous learning. When you pause campaigns for weeks, the algorithm loses its optimisation rhythm. Restart in January, and you’ll burn 2–3 weeks (and budget) while the platform re-learns what was already working. You’re essentially resetting your progress.
A Smarter December Strategy
You don’t need to maintain full throttle, just stay active.
Keep awareness campaigns running. Even at reduced spend, maintaining top-of-funnel activity keeps your brand visible when competitors go silent. This isn’t about conversions; it’s about staying present and feeding your remarketing audiences for January.
Use December as your testing lab. Lower CPCs and reduced competition create the perfect environment for experimentation. Test new ad creatives, messaging angles, or audience segments at a fraction of normal costs. Come January, you’ll have validated insights ready to scale immediately, while competitors are still figuring out what works.
Maintain remarketing pixels and audiences. Even if you reduce new prospecting, keep remarketing campaigns active. Website visitors from November and December become warm leads in January, but only if you’ve stayed connected with them.
Final Thought
Brands that stay present in December consistently see smoother January performance. No learning phase delays. No wasted budget on cold starts. Instead, they hit the new year with optimised campaigns, fresh insights from December testing, and remarketing pools primed to convert.
Think of December as an investment, not an expense. While others take the month off, you’re building momentum that compounds when budgets return and competition heats up.
