If you’ve been in business any length of time at all, you have some idea of when your company will be busy and when you’ll have slower times. Whether it’s a certain time of day, day(s) of the week, or times of the year, seasonality likely plays a role for you. This year may be different, given the pandemic, but your best bet is to plan your marketing strategy around that seasonality. Here are a few things we suggest you take a look at:
- Historical data in Google Analytics.
As we mentioned in our post on analyzing your analytics, the data here can tell you a lot about planning your marketing. For example, if you own a dog kennel, historically you were likely to see a fairly big uptick in searches for dog boarding around the time school is ending and just before school goes back in session, and these terms remained highly searched throughout the summer. This lined up with when families are taking vacations and are more likely to need to board their pups. You can use this data to line up your marketing for the year by running specials and/or increasing visibility of this service in your advertising just before this time of year starts. Set time and budget aside for increased SEO, email blasts, online content, ads, banners, etc.
On the flip-side, also make note of your typically slower times. Prepare for this time by planning for longer-term marketing outlets. SEO is a perfect example of this. Results from SEO work done today can take three to six months to see in the search engine results pages (SERPs). If your slow time is typically three to six months from now, implement those changes now so that you’re showing in the SERPs then. - Gift-giving holidays and seasons.
Christmas. Hannukah. Wedding season. These times of year (and others) see folks looking for gift ideas. Plan your marketing – online and offline – to promote your goods and services that make fantastic gifts, as well as gift certificates if you offer them. Pandemic or not, these seasons will remain. Gift giving may look different, and your audience may have shifted from years past, but this will remain a need. - Easily shiftable marketing outlets.
It likely goes without saying, but this year is different. With lockdowns and closures and shifting capabilities in businesses being open, a shorter-term focus may work to your advantage. This may not be the year to take out double-page spreads in magazines that deadline months ahead of time. This may be the year to shift to pay-per-click ads, boosted social media posts, email blasts, online content, an increased online presence – things that can be edited/adjusted pretty much immediately and that take advantage of increased screen time and online searches. We’re not saying take your eyes off the long-term prize and not to plan for being around this time next year. But you may want to consider adjusting how you plan to get there.
At SBN Marketing, we preach integrated marketing HARD. We want to help you make your online presence match what you have going on offline so your brand and your messaging are consistent. If this is something you need help with, seasonally or year-round, use the button below to give us a shout and let’s see if we’re a good fit to help you meet your goals!
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