Marketing according to season allows you to capitalize on consumer trends and buying throughout the year. Even if you are not in a seasonal business, your consumers are reacting to the seasons in predictable ways that you can leverage. Coming up with a plan of action to coordinate your marketing efforts according to the season can help drive additional revenue throughout the year.
To capitalize on this, first make a plan. Analyze your traffic from the previous year, and note the busy times vs. the lulls. Consumers will respond differently when their priorities, schedules and activities shift, and thus your messages should shift as well so as not to lose valuable opportunities to generate sales. Tune into the dominant seasonal and leisure behaviors of your customer base, and think through how those behavioral changes impact your points of connection, digital or otherwise. Then tailor your marketing efforts to those shifts.
Summer is typically a great example of a shift in activity for consumers. People are spending more time outdoors and less time tethered to a computer, and thus will be checking in more often on a mobile device. Make your marketing campaigns mobile-friendly, and your offers fun-inspired: think travel, restaurants, and outdoor activities – a special on sunglasses would be an example of an appropriate campaign to kick-off summer.
Conversely, in winter we could see much of the opposite. People are indoors more often, and have a different mindset about how to spend their money. Holiday shopping is bound to be at the forefront of the consumer mind, and they will thus be more susceptible to promotions and events.
The topic of holidays opens up another discussion about the timing of your campaigns—in addition to the four seasons, there are specific days within the seasons to target consumers. Part of your initial marketing plan should be identifying which of these holidays (if any) provide the most relevant opportunities to market your business. For example, New Years is often associated with improving one’s self, a “New Year, New Look” campaign could be used to promote frame sales in January.
The changing of the seasons provides additional opportunities to promote your business. Making the effort to market by season will help to increase sales and position your practice as proactive and considerate of potential patient needs.
