Diwali campaign planning checklist for digital marketing
Diwali is the biggest sales opportunity of the year for Indian businesses. Here is the complete checklist to plan your digital marketing campaign and not miss a step.
Diwali arrives at the same time every year. And yet, every year, I see Indian businesses scrambling to create ads and land on offers in the week before the festival. Businesses that plan ahead earn the most during the festive season. Those that improvise leave money on the table.
This checklist works backwards from Diwali day to help you plan a campaign that is ready when the traffic arrives.
Six to eight weeks before Diwali
Define your Diwali offer clearly. What are you discounting, bundling, or adding value to? The offer needs to be specific and compelling. "Diwali special" is not an offer. "Buy any annual plan and get three months free" or "Flat 30% off on all jewellery, no minimum spend" is an offer.
Set your campaign budget. Decide how much you are spending across channels: Google Ads, Meta Ads, email, and WhatsApp. Allocate more to remarketing audiences who have visited your site or added to cart in the past 60 days. These are your warmest prospects.
Brief your creative team on assets needed: static ads, carousel ads, video reels, email headers, WhatsApp broadcast templates, and website banner creatives. Festive creative takes time. Starting this late is already cutting it close.
Four weeks before Diwali
Get Meta ad creative reviewed and approved. Meta has sometimes taken 24 to 48 hours to approve festive ads during high-volume periods. If your ads are rejected for creative policy reasons, you need time to fix and resubmit.
Set up your Google Ads campaigns. Create specific Diwali ad groups with festive ad copy. Adjust audience bid modifiers to increase bids for past buyers and website visitors.
Build and segment your email list for the campaign. Segment by purchase history, engagement level, and category interest. A customer who bought electronics last Diwali should receive different messaging than a first-time subscriber.
Two weeks before Diwali
Send a teaser email to your list. "Something special is coming this Diwali" with a countdown or early access sign-up. This primes your audience and gives you a warm segment to hit first.
Test your website under load. If you are running significant ad spend, anticipate a traffic spike. Check whether your hosting can handle it. For WooCommerce stores, enable caching and test checkout speed from mobile.
One week before and during Diwali
Launch your primary campaigns. Send your Diwali email on the day or the day before, timing it to the morning when open rates are highest.
Increase WhatsApp broadcast frequency slightly. One broadcast at campaign launch, one reminder mid-festival, one last-day urgency message.
Monitor ad performance daily. Diwali campaign performance can shift quickly. Be ready to reallocate budget to whatever ad set is delivering the best cost per conversion.
Frequently asked questions
How far in advance should Diwali ad creatives be ready?
At least four weeks before Diwali for Meta ads and three weeks for Google Ads. This gives buffer for creative revisions, ad approval delays, and any technical issues that come up during campaign setup.
Should Indian e-commerce businesses offer discounts or gifts with purchase for Diwali?
Both work but for different customer segments. Discounts drive volume from price-sensitive buyers. Gifts with purchase (complimentary items, gift wrapping, special packaging) drive value perception and are effective for premium brands where heavy discounting would undermine positioning.
How do I avoid wasting budget on Diwali ads that do not convert?
Remarketing your existing customer base and website visitors should be the priority spend, not cold audience prospecting during peak festival time. Cold audiences require time to warm up. Your Diwali budget converts best when focused on people who already know you.