Branding Never Stops: Why Seasonal Businesses Should Advertise Year-Round
Seasonal businesses play a huge role in every community they serve. Think about all the different types that operate in your local area. The landscapers, gardeners, snow removal services, tax services, holiday retailers and vacation destinations – just to name a few. These businesses offer helpful services to the neighborhood, but they have one obvious limitation that separates them from traditional year-round businesses. They compete during a shortened time frame each year to win over the hearts, minds and budgets of local consumers.
Many seasonal businesses choose to spend the majority (or entirety) of their advertising budget during these busy in-season months. It’s when sales are booming and competition is the most abundant. This might sound like the most logical route to go, but if you take a step back to analyze how branding actually works, you’ll find that many seasonal businesses would be better off taking a balanced, year-round approach to advertising.
Maintaining a Year-Round Presence
Every business wants to remain top-of-mind with consumers in their area. This isn’t an easy goal to achieve. When a business decides to allocate their entire advertising budget to just a few short months, they often won’t accomplish this goal. Seasonal advertising leads to seasonal sales – but it’s not always the most effective way to build loyalty to a brand. What matters the most is repetition and consistency over longer periods of time. By routinely putting their brand in front of potential clients, seasonal businesses can build loyalty and recognition within the community and begin to create separation between themselves and their competitors.
Targeting Customers in the Offseason
Even though seasonal businesses only operate several months a year, they should still continue to target potential clients during the slower months. While there are certainly more sales to be made during the busy months, there’s also much more competition spending money to gain attention in the community. This makes it more likely for a seasonal business’ message to get lost in the mix. Targeting customers during the offseason is a great way to stay top-of-mind while other seasonal businesses go silent.
Understanding the Sales Cycle
It’s important to keep in mind that the sales cycle often runs longer than what conventional wisdom would tell us. For example, nobody needs their driveway plowed before the first snowfall of the year, so a lot of snow removal services will wait until then to begin an advertising campaign. When that time finally comes around, the market is saturated with every competitor in town fighting for the same customers. To win over those valuable customers, seasonal businesses should focus on branding themselves during the course of an entire year, especially during the months leading up to their busy season.
By maintaining a presence throughout the year, targeting customers in the offseason and understanding the full life of the sales cycle, seasonal businesses can win over more customers and beat their local competitors. Taking a year-round approach to branding is the most effective way to become number one in the community. Visit our Advertise page to learn more about Best Version Media’s highly-effective branding strategies.
