Ice cream and dessert shops sell a lot more products in the summer than in the winter. Beachfront vacation houses accommodate more guests in the summertime, too. Meanwhile, ski resorts get an influx of visitors during winter but experience a downturn in other seasons.
Unfortunately, this type of decline in business is a reality for all seasonal brands. That said, slumps are not the end of the world. With the right strategies and mentality, seasonal businesses can use their offseason to create marketing opportunities and prepare for the next peak season.
The Wonders of Offseason Marketing
Businesses that successfully execute their offseason marketing campaigns can create top-of-mind awareness with their audiences. This memorability goes a long way when setting up revenue goals for the next peak season. Staying relevant in a customer’s mind, even during your off-season, is what will ultimately help you increase sales during your peak seasons.
In addition to top-of-mind awareness, businesses that market themselves in the offseason stay a step ahead of those that don’t. This is because offseason marketing allows businesses to engage with audiences. With offseason marketing, businesses can educate potential customers regarding the value of their brand.
How Seasonal Businesses Can Do Marketing In The Offseason
In this post, we’ll review our top three tips to help seasonal businesses effectively market their brands during the offseason.
1. Get More People To Notice
Seasonal business owners are not nearly as busy in the offseason, meaning they can devote a lot of time to expanding their audience.
The vast majority of consumers prefer to receive promotional content through email. Brands should take advantage of email marketing and encourage website visitors to join their mailing list.
To start, they can optimise their subscription forms and landing pages. More often than not, this means simplifying forms and making it as easy as possible for visitors to subscribe.
Businesses should avoid designing lengthy forms that ask for too much information. Instead, businesses should ask for only the most essential information, which includes the visitor’s name and email address.
Business can also ask for one or two pieces of information that will help them to create subscriber segments. Depending on the nature of the business, this could be age, geographical location, interests, etc.
2. Create Valuable Content
Seasonal businesses can entice people to visit their website by publishing new, high-value content that offers readers helpful information. Not only will it drive web traffic, but it will also help generate excitement among potential customers for any new products or services that businesses might be introducing for their next peak season.
Source: Campaign Monitor
It’s not just about new content, though. The offseason is the perfect time for seasonal businesses to take a look at all of their high-performing content and make any necessary updates. This can include updating obsolete information and replacing old, subpar images with better-quality ones.
The offseason is also the time when potential customers reach out to businesses to ask about products and services, so organizations should make it a point to keep their websites and social media pages up-to-date.
Businesses need to ensure that all information (contact info, pricing info, product descriptions, availabilities, etc.) are completely accurate to avoid miscommunication with potential customers.
3. Ask For Feedback
In today’s digital age where people can instantly access information, online reviews have grown in importance. In fact, a recent survey indicates that 84% of people trust online reviews in the same way they trust personal recommendations.
Online reviews can make or break a business. A customer who’s treated like royalty by a certain establishment might post a glowing review which could influence others to do business with that particular business.
Conversely, a customer who has a less than stellar experience with a business can write a review online and potentially damage that business’ reputation.
Source: Campaign Monitor
To spread the word about their brands in the offseason, businesses need to collect reviews during their peak seasons. Businesses that sell seasonal products like winter gear can send emails to customers and ask for honest feedback on their most recent purchase.
On the other hand, businesses like hotels, lodges, and resorts can send customer feedback emails and ask visitors to take a survey. These businesses can ask customers about:
- what they liked about their experience
- what they didn’t like
- how the business can improve
Brands can leverage positive reviews by posting them on their website and social media pages. If their marketing team has the time and budget, they can also do video interviews with happy customers and post those videos on their website and on YouTube.
When potential customers see these positive reviews, they’ll be more inclined to try out the business.
Wrap Up
Seasonal businesses don’t have to dread the offseason. It’s not just a time where businesses experience low sales. Rather, the offseason represents an opportunity to focus on marketing strategies and try out new ways to engage with potential consumers.
By trying out the mentioned strategies, businesses can build lasting relationships, ensuring that people remember them for more than just one season.
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