What is Q5 in Marketing? The Secret to Hitting EOY Goals

Q5 refers to the time period between late December and early January. More and more businesses are taking advantage of this liminal space to boost profits — read on to find out how you can do the same.

Four quarters make a dollar, but five quarters make a more profitable business.

Amidst talk of the Black Friday-fueled holiday rush and marketing strategies for the year ahead, marketers are buzzing about Q5.

Just last year, TikTok for Business reported that Q5 was a “golden opportunity for marketers,” thanks to gift cards, New Year’s resolutions, and time off. More recently, Meta announced that it was adding lead gen product upgrades for Q5.

This time period is becoming a big opportunity for companies that take advantage by upping digital marketing efforts, rather than letting ad campaigns sit static and get lapped by more proactive competitors.

We chatted with Nicole Goodnough, senior lead of paid social at HawkSEM, to learn more about the fifth quarter and how to take advantage of it for the best possible sales beyond the holiday season.

Fewer marketing campaigns mean less competition, making Q5 a cost-effective opportunity for most businesses. (Image: Unsplash)

What is Q5?

Q5 is the period between the Christmas holiday and the first few weeks of January.

“It’s the hidden quarter that exists after the ecommerce push to buy for the holidays, but before the world goes back to ‘business as usual’ in January,” explains Goodnough.

In fact, Google itself has gone so far as to call it “one of the most profitable windows of the year.” That’s because you’ve got a pool of high-intent shoppers browsing social media, Amazon, and thousands of online retailers.

Why Q5 planning matters for marketing

“In previous years, I’ve had clients ask to go completely dark on paid media during Q5,” Goodnough explains.

They’re planning new marketing budgets, brainstorming next year’s campaigns, or just taking a breather after the holiday rush.

“Sometimes a company’s logic is that they don’t want to pay for ads with their target audience on vacation, or maybe their own staff is out of the office and can’t follow up with leads as quickly as usual,” she adds.

But fewer marketing campaigns mean less competition, making Q5 a cost-effective opportunity for most businesses, even B2B and B2C lead gen.

Further reading: LinkedIn Ads for B2B Marketing: 6 Steps to Scale

5 expert tips for Q5 campaigns

Ready to maximize your ROI? Take a page out of our playbook and leverage these tried-and-tested Q5 tips from the pros.

1. Keep ads live

We know ad spend is tight for many businesses. During Q5, “take advantage of falling platform costs to make your budget go farther than it normally would,” Goodnough says.

“Even if you’re B2B or D2C lead gen, pausing paid initiatives completely and going dark will restart all your campaign learning phases (up to 30 days in Google Ads!) and in the digital age, everyone is online multiple times a day, so the opportunity to reach your target market is still there.”

For the education space, she says application decisions can be made while families are still gathered, talking about where their high schooler might attend or which MBA program their spouse might start soon.

“The B2B space shouldn’t sleep on Q5 either,” she adds. “Budgets have been finalized for the new year, so the search for new vendors can start anew with high intentions now that the holidays are behind us.”

2. Create a custom holiday email flow

If you’re running a lead-generation campaign, you can create and automate a custom holiday email flow to let leads know you’ve got their info, suggests Goodnough.

Some processes (like demo appointments) might take a bit longer than usual due to the holidays and the New Year. However, offering up a few educational pieces, like a whitepaper or webinar, can keep leads interested in real-time while your sales team catches up from vacation.

This is a great time of year to refresh some of your key pages, such as service and pricing pages, to improve CRO. (Image: Unsplash)

3. Run an EOY-specific campaign

For B2C brands, now’s the time to run an end-of-year campaign with updated messaging focused on fresh starts and beginning the new year strong. Think: exclusive discounts on a new gym membership, starting a college application, refining your skincare routine, or landing that dream job.

Financial services are gearing up for tax season, new investments, and more going into the new year. For retail and ecommerce, running an end-of-year sale can help clear out inventory if need be, while running New Year messaging could generate excitement for trying new products.

Further reading: Influencer Marketing: How to Do It Right (+ Pitfalls to Avoid)

4. Take this time to refresh key pages

This is a great time of year to refresh some of your key pages, such as service and pricing pages, to improve conversion rate optimization (CRO).

Not only that, but ecommerce brands are usually coming down from their highest-traffic period of the year during this time, so you can use that extra data to generate CRO insights.

5. Leverage retargeting to bring back holiday shoppers

With potentially lower ad costs around this time, Q5 is the prime time to remarket those shoppers who showed interest in your product or service but never completed a purchase.

You can explore various marketing channels, from display ads to email, to circle back and hopefully close the deal — after all, consumer behavior reports show shoppers are still ready to buy.

Further reading: 13 Holiday Ecommerce Tips for Your Best End-of-Year Sales Yet

The takeaway

“I think the Q5 concept is starting to get more attention in recent years because of how connected the world is now,” Goodnough says. “NYC is the city that never sleeps, but the same can be said about business.”

Somewhere, at any given moment, there is a potential customer looking for your product or service, even after the holidays.

It’s been an overlooked period in the past, but businesses are catching on and realizing how much of a missed opportunity those few weeks can be.

Ready to take your digital marketing to new heights next year? We can help you get there.