Even if your business is seasonal, it's important to stay ahead and continue marketing to remain top of mind when the peak season returns. Business owners often consider pausing their ad spend during the off-season, but the fact is that this doesn't save money. Instead, putting a halt to your marketing only puts you behind. Slower times of the year are perfect for putting more time towards marketing efforts.
You must look at marketing as a perpetual, ongoing process that's worth continuing year-round. Here we'll explore the benefits of off-season business marketing that will keep your business in the spotlight.
Do I Need to Advertise During My Business's Off-Season?
If you're wondering whether you need to engage in off-season advertising, the answer is a resounding yes. Through consistent, continued marketing for the entire year, you'll be able to avoid setbacks that put you behind competitors. Even if you close down for part of the year, it pays to keep up your marketing efforts to attract new customers and continue engaging with existing ones.
For example, if you own a summer business, you must continue to attract buyers to your business in the winter or spring. People often begin planning vacations in the winter, and advertising in the spring can inspire audiences to think about their summer plans.
If you need real-life examples of off-season marketing, you’ll see it all of the time in retail stores. Holiday marketing starts as early as July, with holiday items hitting stores right after Halloween or sometimes earlier. With so many worthwhile marketing periods, you'll benefit from taking advantage of them throughout the year.
Keep in mind that marketing is always about reminding people about the next upcoming thing. You'll get people excited about new offerings by marketing your seasonal business in the off-season while ensuring that audiences won't forget about you.
There are many creative ways to make sales during the off-season as you continue marketing your business. Some seasonal business advertising ideas include:
- Updating or creating a blog — Before your peak season, you can publish blog content that continues to engage audiences and brings traffic to your website, which increases traffic for the peak season.
- Staying relevant through social media — Social media is a great way to market during the off-season. You can connect with audiences during the holidays with holiday-themed photo contests or create trending hashtag posts.
- Connecting with audiences via email — Once the peak season has ended, use email marketing to your advantage to stay connected. For instance, send monthly newsletters with valuable information and updates, such as tips for consumers and industry news.
4 Reasons Year-Round Marketing Is Necessary (Yes, Even for Seasonal Businesses)
There are many reasons why off-season marketing strategies are critical for any business's success. Some of the main reasons include the following.
1. Stay Top of Mind Among Audiences
Building and maintaining brand awareness is crucial. Around 59% of shoppers want to purchase products from brands they know well, making it necessary to launch seasonal marketing campaigns year-round to stay top of mind.
2. Stay Ahead of the Competition
If you're not developing and launching off-season digital marketing strategies, you'll fall behind competitors who continue to grab people's attention. When peak season starts, you may find your audience turns to competitors who keep up with their advertising and marketing all year long. By advertising during the off-season, you'll maintain a competitive edge while standing apart from other more lax competitors.
3. More Insights to Guide Your Campaigns
Want to know how to increase sales in the offseason? You can find out by collecting data throughout the year based on your marketing campaigns and uncovering certain trends. For example, you might believe that your best season is the winter, when you see a demand surge in the middle of summer. Without conducting year-round marketing and data collection, you might not become aware of these unexpected opportunities.
4. Continued Testing
Off-season marketing also enables you to continue testing your efforts over the year. You could test marketing strategies for seasonal products during different times of the year and see if sales pick up at some point off-season. Additionally, you could better determine what creative elements and messaging drive engagement among audiences as you optimize your campaigns. By the time peak season rolls around, you'll have a deeper understanding of what worked in your marketing strategy and what needs improvement.
Experience the Benefits of Year-Round Marketing
Don't make the mistake of stopping advertising and marketing campaigns once peak season ends. While you may believe that eliminating ad spend helps you cut down on costs, doing so will cause you to lose money. If you want to maintain the momentum you gained during peak season, it's best to keep your campaigns going. By marketing year-round, you'll give your business the chance to succeed and experience long-term growth.